Research Events and Activities
Border crises? Managing landscapes for people and nature
As we approach the US election, Dr Charlotte Veal from the School of Architecture, Planning, and Landscape reflects on the humanitarian and environmental consequences of the US and Mexico ‘border problem'.
Read the full blog.
FoodScapes Atlas
Prof. Maggie Roe and Dr Maria Duggan have launched the ‘FoodScapes Atlas’, a digital, shareable, atlas with spatially-referenced stories of food in the Tyne-Tees seascape. This is an output of the FoodScape Project, part of the SeaScapes Landscape Partnership Project (Tyne to Tees, Shore and Seas). The FoodScapes Atlas - which comprises a Google Earth map with slideshow - can be accessed via the link below.
The Foodscapes Atlas reveals the ways in which people and communities interact with the rich resources of the seascape over time, through gathering, harvesting, preparing, cooking and eating food. It leads users on a ‘virtual journey’ through mapped locations along the Tyne-Tees coast, presented in ten thematic slideshows, and introduce them to unique food stories and images from the region, as well as food-based connections with areas far beyond. The food stories are based around evidence from research and investigation of archival material, documents, images, interviews, discussions and engagement projects. The focus is on how people have exploited, developed and interacted with the resources of the seascape, and how the Tyne-Tees landscape character has evolved and changed, along with its smells, sounds, sights, feel and flavours. The Atlas presents a complex and rich picture of both everyday and special foods, places that are connected to food, and the fascinating histories of sharing and enjoying food in this region.
SeaScapes is a landscape partnership project and is the first to be focused on the coast. The area covered is between the Tyne to the Tees rivers. The project has a wide range of partners including the four councils of Durham County Council, Hartlepool Borough Council, South Tyneside Council, Sunderland City Council with a range of archaeological, environmental and charitable partners including the National Trust and the Durham Wildlife Trust. There are almost 20 partners and these bring their expertise and knowledge to the project. The project is almost £5million made up of a grant of £2,787,200 from the National Lottery Heritage Fund and match funding from partners.
Atlas Image: Blackhall Rocks. Image: Maria Duggan and Maggie Roe
If you would like further information on the FoodScapes Atlas, or would like to tell us how you are using this resource, please get in touch with maria.duggan@ncl.ac.uk
A Vegetable Warm-up
The Annual TLC Garden Meeting kicked off with an experimental warm up exercise which asked us to ‘imagine a vegetable synonym for the way you think about landscape’. Starting at the end, we considered vegetable remains and the concept of ‘landscape as compost heap’; how layers become not-layers, how transformation occurs over time, thinking about the visible and invisible, the richness of the whole, and the essential action of the inhabitants in transformation. We then moved on to discuss the leek, which is a vegetable with regional cultural significance; the structure, growth, form and taste and the way grit is captured within the expanding folds of the layers. Memories of family gardens and the personal significance of the tomato stimulated discussion of alleles, companion planting and how we learn from being in landscapes with others. An elegant presentation of asparagus-and-landscape brought dimensions of vegetable-justice, vegetable aesthetics, taste, impact, seasonality and root systems to the conversation. Finally, we turned our attention to beans, particularly broad beans. We considered the importance of soil and how beans and other legumes fix Nitrogen, particularly in relation to a recent estimate that there are fewer than 100 harvests left in many of our agricultural landscapes as a result of soil structure destruction and lack of fertility. This brought us to a discussion about some of the fundamentals of landscapes – sustainability and how we are all connected by water, soils, air, food and much more.
The event took place on Friday 12th July 2024 and was led by Prof. Maggie Roe.
TLC visit the Glasshouse International Centre for Music
On the 12th May, TLC members visited the Glasshouse International Centre for Music in Gateshead to listen to the work of Scottish jazz pianist and composer, Fergus McCreadie and his Trio (McCreadie on Piano, David Bowen on Bass and Stephen Henderson on drums). Members of the TLC had been alerted to this concert because of his third album called ‘Forest Floor’ which had won several prizes and awards. McCreadie work is a fusion of Scottish traditional, jazz idioms and is inspired by landscape and nature. It has also been broadcast on BBC 6 Music and other outlets. Trees, woodlands and urban forests, and creativity and collaborations, are key research theme for TLC and this concert was seen as an opportunity to think about we can work with musicians to explore landscape themes in the future.
McCreadie now has three collections, Calm (2021), Forest Floor (2022) and Sketches (2023). His tracks often have landscape themed titles such as “The Unfurrowed Field”, “The Ridge” and the “Landslide”.
By Clive Davies
Second Annual ‘In Landscape’ Day
On Friday 21st June 2024, members of The Landscape Collaboratory took part in their second annual ‘In Landscape Day’. The event was led by ‘Trees and Woodlands’ theme-co-lead, Clive Davies.
Entitled ‘30 years on:- landscape impact of community forests and compliance with Countryside Commission guidance, 1993’, the programme of activities encouraged reflection and analysis of the original aim of the Forestry Commission and Countryside Commission "to create an attractive diverse well-wooded landscape whilst enhancing and protecting its existing strengths”.
During guided walks and walking conversations at South Burdon Community Woodland, Flatts Lane Woodland Country, and Cowpen Bewley Woodland Park, TLC members reflected on and critiqued key planning principles of forest landscapes: including density and character, local landscape features and future uses, extensions and links to landscape features, strategic wildlife corridor and ecological systems, water connectivity and waterscapes, urban areas/fringes, and the provision of local facilities. The planting success and changes in woodland design approaches over time were also considered and assessed.
The day also included a short visit to Tees Barrage Water Sports Centre where Maggie Roe reflected on some of her work conducting feasibility/environmental assessments, water flow modelling and changing attitudes to river sustainability issues, including in regard to flooding, drainage and the environment.
Members of TLC were also accompanied by Jemma Singleton (Special Collections, NU) and Andrew Butler (SLU, Sweden).
Urban Soundscapes - Book Launch
On May 13th 2024, members of The Landscape Collaboratory, alongside Newcastle University colleagues, local practitioners, and students (past and present), came together to celebrate the publication of Urban Soundscapes: A guide to listening for Landscape Architecture and Urban Design by Dr Usue Ruiz-Arana, published by Routledge, and available here: Urban Soundscapes | A Guide to Listening for Landscape Architecture an (taylorfrancis.com)
The event began with an introduction from Dr Ian Thompson (former Reader in Landscape Architecture at Newcastle University) and a Q&A between Dr Charlotte Veal and Dr Usue Ruiz-Arana. Alongside readings from the book, there were a number of soundscapes from her collaborative research playing, and discussion continued over a lively reception.
The event was supported by the Institute for Creative Arts Practice and The Landscape Collaboratory.
Photo credit: Stef Leach
