Speakers
Georges Descombes
holds degrees from the University of Geneva and the Architectural Association of London. He has taught in Europe and the USA, notably at Harvard and Berkeley, as well as the University of Geneva. Renowned for his interventions in the landscape, he very often associates contemporary artists to his work. He regularly collaborates with Carmen Perrin and has realised projects with Briton Richard Long and New-Yorker Max Neuhaus. His current works include the project “Lyon Confluence” and the renaturation of the Aire Canal in Geneva. Between landscaping and contemporary art, the work of Swiss architect Georges Descombes remains quite confidential. Very renowned in the landscaping world, especially in the USA and the Netherlands, he however stands apart from the current architecture scene.
A Landscape Manifesto
We must put the twenty-first century city in nature rather than put nature in the city. To put a city in nature will mean using engineered systems that function as those in nature and deriving form from them. By 2050, the UN estimates that 70% of the world’s population will live in large municipal centers. Cities are the place to work in and on for the 21st Century the population of the world is all moving to cities. And we need to intervene in it to make it more sustainable and livable using a variety of new tools one of them being landscape. The different projects described will show different ways of working in cities in the contemporary world.