Text

theses

Our relationship with nature is one that is constantly evolving. This can be evidenced by what we do not consider to be nature as much as what we do consider it to be. In New Jersey, our relationship with infrastructural corridors in the landscape is paradoxical. We want the benefits associated with them, but often wish for their physical forms to be kept out of sight and out of mind. This mindset is exemplified in our attitude towards power lines, which have long been considered the ugly antithesis of nature by many people living in urban areas. However, it could be argued that this interpretation of our infrastructural landmarks is becoming unhealthy, and that a more holistic view of power lines can open up greater opportunities and services that are currently closed off to us.

While a lot of thought has been given towards hybrid systems of humankind and nature in recent decades, ‘nature’ is often still regarded as an external force that exists independently of anthropogenic influence in its most pure form, and human interaction with it is often perceived as ‘unnatural '. However, when the boundary between humankind and nature is questioned, it becomes evident that while electric transmission towers may have represented one particular relationship with nature in the past, it does not have to remain that way. In this thesis, I focus heavily on the role of landmarks and post-industrial areas to explore the human-nature relationship and the perceptual boundaries between these two categories. This is broken up into two parts.

Chapter 1 delves into a literature review of the concepts of nature and place, ending with a summary of my experience traveling the Route of Industrial Heritage in Germany’s Ruhrgebiet. An explanation as to why this landscape provides a useful comparison for the landscape of northern New Jersey is provided, with the full narrative being located in the Appendix. Chapter 2 utilizes a research by design approach to explore the integration of functioning infrastructure into landscape design, so that power lines become visible to us both as the material and metaphorical conduits that they are. Rather than being perceived as separate from and in contrast to the natural landscape, the electric right-of-way can be viewed as a beautiful harmony in which the arrested succession of the meadow is maintained and framed by maintenance practices associated with the towers. Similar to the way that a host of ‘invisible’ ecosystem services and ecological processes are represented by the meadow, which could also have been considered ugly before its value was understood, electrical infrastructure represents important yet invisible landscape processes that our modern lifestyle depends upon. As a greater amount of attention is being devoted to hybrid systems and ‘4th nature’ today, our idea of the human versus nature relationship is still yet being reborn.

ETD_10803

M.L.A.

Includes bibliographical references

doi:10.7282/t3-p662-qf03

ETD graduate

The author owns the copyright to this work.