Call for Submissions, GROUND UP Journal: Landscapes of Uncertainty

We are proud to announce a Call for Submissions for GROUND UP, the new student publication of the Department of Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning at UC Berkeley.  GROUND UP is is an annual print and web publication intended to stimulate thought, discussion, visual exploration and substantive speculation about emerging landscape issues affecting contemporary praxis.

Each edition will examine a critical theme arising from the tension between contemporary landscape architecture, ecology and pressing cultural issues.  The publication is intended as a discursive platform to explore concepts grounded in local issues with global relevance. We aim to cultivate action through this discourse, exploring paradoxes of the contemporary landscape.  The breadth of this discourse will be guided by the interests of our readers and collaborators. We operate on an open call with invited entries from academics, practitioners, students, designers, scientists, and activists.

ISSUE ONE: LANDSCAPES of UNCERTAINTY

The inaugural edition of GROUND UP examines the impact of recent radical economic, political and ecological shifts on the landscape. Previous models of prediction, projection, and simulacra are now obsolete, demanding new conceptual and spatial frameworks. The freefall of the economy leaves vacant space and spurs inventive reclamation through collective action. Drastic environmental transformation forces new paradigms of building, thinking, and living.

What will be the character of space that emerges from this instability? How can design tactics initiate succession of under-used space? How do we represent process and temporality over traditional determinism? How long is temporary? Facing uncertainty in the landscape, how do we adjust our way of thinking to move past merely physical proposals to more open-ended operational strategies?

Submissions are due January 13th, 2012.

For submission details, please vist http://www.groundupjournal.org, you can also visit us on Facebook and Twitter.

Take part!  GROUND UP.