TU Berlin
Faculty VI – Planning, Building, Environment
Institute of Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning

ÉLAN :::

Entwerfen von Landschaften im Anthropozän 

Designing Landscapes in the Anthropocene

Head of Chair: Prof. Dr. Lisa Babette Diedrich

At the Chair ‘Designing Landscapes in the Anthropocene’ we believe that landscape architecture has a role to play in an epoch often referred to as the Anthropocene, a term that points at the profound changes that human activity has wrought on all things planetary. Rather than seeing the Anthropocene as a prelude to apocalypse, we propose education, research and civic engagement to mobilise our designerly willpower and creativity to initiate change for the better and more beautiful. We believe that landscape design at all scales is an activity that supports life and its inherent beauty; that the design of space makes a difference in shaping social, environmental and economic realities; and that its aesthetics can inspire concern, critique, engagement, collaboration and change.

The Chair offers teaching and research along the following lines:

• Transdisciplinarity: designerly thinking as a basis for knowledge generation
• Critical Urbanities: fragmented cities and water landscapes 
• Working with Fragilities: Travelling Transect
• Radicant Design: adaptive design for landscapes in the Anthropocene

At the ÉLAN Chair, we practise parallel language use and teach in German and English according to the situation. We also welcome other languages. The ÉLAN team speaks German, English, Spanish, Swedish, French, Italian, Kurdish (Zazaki) and Turkish.