How to Build Quality Cities: Respecting the Surrounding Landscape

WHEN: Thursday, March 6, 2025 / 1:00 PM–3:30 PM
WHERE: At the premises of the House of Nature of Hodonínská Dúbrava, Lipová alej 19, Hodonín

 

What is the most challenging aspect of working on landscape and public space restoration? One of the hardest things is explaining that inertia plays a role in both landscapes and natural processes. I see this a lot in open landscapes. On the surface, everything seems fine—birds are singing, plants are growing. However, issues such as water shortages, a lack of organic matter in the soil, chemical pollution, or other imbalances don’t immediately disrupt the environment’s equilibrium. Their effects become visible only over time. And even more time is needed to correct those imbalances. When the problem was developing, no one paid attention to it. Now we are aware of it and, as a society, we are beginning to address it. But how long will the recovery take? The time factor is fundamental in landscape architecture. We see it in Hodonín as well—nothing can replace the value of hundred‑year‑old oaks, and we are grateful that half of the forest remained more or less intact. A bench can be placed in a park immediately, but by the time a tree grows over it, the bench will have long since decayed. Sometimes we are pushed toward quick or instant solutions, but we try to explain that some things cannot be rushed. What we do is not for us—it’s for our children, or even for their children. And that is what makes it meaningful.