[Robert Schäfer]

oh, i must have missed the insult 😉

[Robert Schäfer]

I understand and I heard this argument while attending the (expensive) ASLA meeting just now. How much is a mediocre hotel room per night? How much do you pay for a dinner for two in a reasonable restaurant?
Exactly!..plus tip 😉
So, should culture, and I see books and journals as part of culture, be delivered for free? A rhetorical question, for sure.
The US market is spoiled because the amount of advertising allows low prices for journals. Depending on ads is unconvenient, see LAM.

[Robert Schäfer]

I am so sorry. I do not really know the interna, but I guess there is no funding like in the Highline case, in China these projects are just investments, private and state money.
So far Topos featured all Chinese projects in a friendly way as we did with the US ones. Pretty pictures are essential. But you are right, we should start to publish more critical reports – and loose even more subscribers. This is the sad truth with critic. Or?

[Robert Schäfer]

Well, so far as I know: Turenscape is doing well. But I may ask Kongjian when I meet him next time. In PR of China most firms do well, ask AECOM or Hassell orany other firm.

[Robert Schäfer]

It is so funny. Topos did publish Turenscape’s work since 5 years. Does nobody read reviews those days in the US?

[Robert Schäfer]

Dear Ellen,
we tried to look behind the scenes with the latest issue of Topos on Landscape Urbanism. meanwhile the copies did arrive in the US and some subscribers will have started to read and think. Some people still read printed material as far as I know. In the general section of land8lounge I asked about ecological urbanism. Topos, coming from European design matters is now covering more and more the bigger international context which is obligatory in respect of the challenges the globe and we are facing. It is agood question if journals and reviews and magazines can play a leading role in solving environmental problems. I guess, dissemination and communication will remain essential for this relatively small group of landscape architetcs around.
When it comes to the colleagues in the US, we invite them to show up on the Topos booth in the ASLA Expo in Washington, September 10 and 11.

(Liebe Ellen, ich werde am Samstag in Nürtingen aus dem Zugfenster winken !)

[Robert Schäfer]

Yeah, I threw 2 baits in the pond. The reading aspect was eaten first. I agree, it is much more interesting to investigate new terms and find out if they are hollow.
Karen Weintraub wrote in the Boston Globe April 19 this year that landscape architects reinvent roles and link diciplines at Harvard. I think this is another proof that issues only exist in reality when Harvard pretends to discover or develop them.
Oh boy, the history of landscape architecture is one of ongoing interdisciplinaary work.
But nothing against Harvard spending the grant from the Canadian Irving family (money they made with gas stations), to move the field of Landscape Architecture forward. John K.F. Irving is right when he identifies needs of ” … intellectual rigor and thought and science …” in our profession. But couldn’t we build on knowledge and technics and even terms already there?

[Robert Schäfer]

You are right. But we just experience that students never use libraries. And so many publishers do not believe in the future of print!. But I do. To my opinion a review such as Topos is not much worth in a digital version. So we have to build up other media aside, digital and daily updated. There is many fresh information to be sent out immediately, but there is the real thing we like to hold in the hands.

[Robert Schäfer]

Hi Claudia,
on one hand I expect intelligent technical solutions saving energy and ressources, minimizing waste etc. There are so many good technics available already. At least in Germany they get accepted quickly. On the other hand, as you say, the behavior of ourselves must change, solutions for housing and traffic are key issues.But we are only at the beginning. If you noticed the lamento after 5 days without air traffic in Europe recently, you know how economical reasons dominates our society. Good to hear that CELA is dealing with those questions now. I am not sure if I can attend, but I should come and share opinions.

[Robert Schäfer]

dear Roland,
the question is not about doing a better job than others. What we all need is doing a good job. It may start with the compost and bike lanes and does not end with sustainable sites. We do have to change the way of living on many levels. If you have a look in European books from 1920 or so and later, city planning, housing, ecology, ecological engineering you will be astonished and ask why all those ideas were skipped later. To show how broad the field is nowadays we just published Topos 70 on Sustainability. Have alook, if you want and if you do not mind me promoting my own journal;-)

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