Study Architecture 
ProPEL 
Author(s): Noémie Despland-Lichtert
While much of contemporary architectural discourse around plants tends to focus on their aesthetic aspects, origins, and potential uses—such as to provide ornament, drought- resistance and/or cooling, etc.—self-seeded plants, weeds and other undesirables tend to be less of a direct subject of interest and object of study within the discipline. This paper proposes an alternative relationship between architecture and plants, in which urban and self-seeded flora are used as forensic material and studied as evidence of urban change, spatial politics and movements of people, ideas, and construction materials. For example, it looks at seeds traveling with construction materials, or under trains, as well as plants resurfacing as a consequence of bulldozed or demolished sites. The research argues that plants, rather than simply a soft landscape material counterpoint to the concrete reality of building, can be used to study the resilience of landscapes and uncover site-specific histories. Specifically, the paper introduces a series of case studies by describing participatory workshops hosted in Canada, the United States, and Germany developing a methodology for fieldwork, community engagement, and oral history through carefully investigating a chosen site and its weeds. The methodology also serves to question the so-called“vacant” and “abandoned” nature of the chosen site within the larger context & discourse about public revitalization and other gentrification endeavors. By reframing weeds as valid and worthy of interest, this paper contests the devitalized or under-vitalized nature of chosen sites by opening conversations around social, public, and environmental interactions at large. Ultimately, this presentation also explores a range of discursive models to complexify revitalization discourse, articulating a nascent model for public engagement with architecture and site-specific histories through urban botany.
https://doi.org/10.35483/ACSA.AM.112.33
Volume Editors
Germane Barnes & Blair Satterfield
ISBN
978-1-944214-45-6
