Prof HITCHMOUGH’S INSPIRING TALK

James Hitchmough, Professor Emeritus of Sheffield University, last night gave this year’s John Simpson Memorial Lecture entitled “Three Projects: opportunities and paradoxes in contemporary planting design”. The large audience was treated to a stimulating yet thought-provoking presentation of the design goals, problems and joyful vision of three recent work schemes.

The Knepp wilding garden, his own home garden and the Melbourne Arts precinct were deliberately chosen to celebrate the richness, complexity and diversity of planting and landscape experience, integrating long-term ecological management into their design philosophy. They reveal key paradoxes: while interest in ecological diversity grows amid climate and biodiversity crises, landscape architecture often lacks the vegetation (gardening?) expertise to deliver this, and public resources for long-term care are shrinking. Rewilding, in this context, is not hands-off but about collaborating with natural processes to guide positive change within acceptable ecological limits – but ‘do no harm’. The projects show how gardens can be biodiverse, dynamic and self-sustaining while simultaneously rethinking beauty and human roles in ecological systems. Continuous change, both spatial and temporal, and flower abundance underpin the vision.

The lecture was recorded and will be published with a link for public viewing (https://estream.glos.ac.uk/View.aspx?id=114379~69~j3EXzmpuxNaQ)