(Not) A baneful place. Rehabilitation of swamp landscapes in the urban context

/ Thoughts /

Rotting gorse, heron-sized mosquitoes, marsh gases and the howling of the Hound of the Baskervilles at night. Our imagination draws approximately such pictures when we hear the word "swamp". The image, formed by the thousand-year struggle of man for a place under the sun and hyperbolized in literature and cinema, still remains frightening. However, more and more often we meet examples of swamp-water landscapes in the context of green-blue urban infrastructure, and architectural magazines publish inspiring photos of complexes surrounded by swamp flora and fauna. What is happening and why is the commandment "beware of going out into the swamp at night, when the forces of evil rule inseparably" losing its relevance?

Lyudmila Bilodid, the founder of the Beloded Landscaping office, a valid member of the Society of Garden Designers (SGD) and a member of the board of the Guild of Landscape Architects, talks about the rehabilitation of swamps in public opinion, inspiring interpretations in urban landscapes and practical benefits for the infrastructure of a big city.

 

Fighting nature is like shooting yourself

I started to study the peculiarities of swamp landscapes in the process of developing a strategy for the transformation of the historical center of Lutsk and a project for the reconstruction of the territory around the Lubart Castle. We prepared the strategy together with Urban Sustain Architects and Aldis Blicsons. The ancient capital of the Galicia-Volyn principality is located in a bend of the Styr River. It was surrounded by swampy forests and meadows - these natural obstacles protected the city more reliably than any fortress walls. In the middle of the XNUMXth century, reclamationists filled up the Hlushets River and drained the lowland swamp in order to lay a highway and build a market. In those years, such an exchange seemed justified.

Since a landscape architect must always focus on the historical DNA of the area, and Beloded Landscaping was responsible for the landscape part of the project, I delved into research to offer the best landscaping and landscaping options for areas with high groundwater levels. The "swamp theme" turned out to be practically inexhaustible.

Qunli Stormwater Wetland Park - a wetland park with an area of ​​more than 34 hectares in the center of Harbin, China, works as a filter station that cleans stormwater. Turenscape studio project. Photo: Turenscape

What is the history of the epic 2-year struggle of the Romans with the Pontic marshes worth? By the way, historians often forget to specify that the swamps themselves were formed on the site of a once fertile area for ancient man as a result of an ecological disaster - total deforestation. Nature thus took revenge on the heirs of the loggers, forcing the caravans traveling the Appian Way to fight clouds of malarial mosquitoes.

Roman emperors, in particular Julius Caesar, and Roman popes unsuccessfully tried to drain the swamps. He defeated Mussolini's Pontic swamps, resolutely and without any sentiments draining them with the help of reclamation channels. The dictatorship demanded urgent food independence for Italy, and for this all methods were good. To quell the protests of scientists who warned of the dangers of such radical measures, Benito Mussolini left a small Circeo reserve in memory of the marshes. The harvests of the 30s and 40s on drained lands were indeed rich. But now the province of Lazio systematically suffers from destructive floods and large-scale fires.

The story of the titanic efforts of the military engineer Yosyp Zhilinsky, who tried to drain Polissia at the end of the 60th century, diverting water from the swamp to the Dnipro, is also instructive. As a result, wastelands were formed, and forests were destroyed by fires. The experiment was deemed unsuccessful, but the damage to nature was enormous. But people have not learned this lesson either. In the 20s of the XNUMXth century, in pursuit of quick profit from peat extraction, Polissia was again attacked by "reclamationists". I put my word in quotation marks, because land reclamation means improvement, and in reality the Polish marshes, which are called the green lungs of Europe, have been caused enormous damage. In just XNUMX years, their area has tripled. The flora and fauna of the lowland swamps were practically destroyed, and the floodplain meadows suffered. Today, the UN Global Environmental Fund supports the program of wetting and irrigation of Polissia, but environmentalists are opposed by a powerful lobby of peat miners.

Swamps play a unique role in the ecosystem of our planet. They filter water, accumulate it like a giant sponge during spring floods and rains, and then return it in doses to rivers and lakes during dry periods

Equally important, swamp vegetation actively absorbs carbon dioxide. A swamp is the result of the natural evolution of a body of water, which gradually overgrows, and the bottom sediments eventually turn into peat. Hundreds of years are spent on such a transformation. The age of bogs is determined by the thickness of the peat layer. It forms slowly, dries slowly. However, any gardener knows how difficult it is to re-soak dried peat with water.

In natural conditions, dried swamps are dead land with no chance of recovery. This is one of the reasons why wetlands are much more expensive than drainage. Currently, in many countries, the owners of wetlands receive compensation from the state so that they do not try to drain these areas for farming.

Polish swamps are wild, picturesque and full of life

Dry swamps turn into a dry landscape eaten by erosion, but they burn beautifully. Actually, all residents of Kyiv are familiar with the consequences of the destruction of swamps in the north of the region - when the region is covered with suffocating smog with the smell of burning. Like burning peatlands, dust storms are also a symptom of the fact that the ancient Polish marshes are slowly but surely turning into a desert.

Scientists and specialists of the international organization Wetlands International believe that the fires and floods that the countries of Western Europe suffer from are a direct consequence of the thousand-year struggle with swamps. November 6, 2022 at the COP14 meeting (The 14th meeting of the Conference of the Contracting Parties to the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance. — Editor's Note) the Wuhan Declaration was adopted, which "recognizes the urgent need to halt and reverse the loss of wetlands as the most vulnerable of ecosystems and the most valuable for climate change mitigation, adaptation, biodiversity conservation and sustainable development."

 

5 reasons to create a swamp in the city

So, I talked about the global role of swamps in the ecosystem, now let's move on to the question, why do we need swamp landscapes in the city and, in fact, how are they created?

Cities are our, sorry for the new language, "decision-making centers." After all, weren't the average inhabitants of Polissia advocating drainage? Reclamation workers destroyed berry trees, the number of commercial fish in reservoirs decreased, and birds disappeared. The drained land gave generous grain harvests for a maximum of the first five years, and then it could not even be used as pasture. So, if we are to start educational work, then it is precisely from the cities.

First, the swamp is beautiful. Can it be an emotional work of art, cause admiration? Junya Ishigami proved that it was. "Art Biotop Water Garden blurs the boundaries between landscape architecture, art and environmental protection," was how the jury members of the Obel Award, one of the most prestigious international competitions in the world, motivated the awarding of the Junya Ishigami Prize in 2019.

Art Biotop Water Garden is a man-made swamp of Junya Ishigami. Photo: Nikissimo Inc.

At the foot of Mount Nasu in Totiga, on the grounds of an art residence where people come to paint, learn pottery or work with glass, a Japanese architect has created a flooded forest, an artist's impression of a disappearing swamp.

Scheme of transplanting trees and arrangement of water bodies in the Art Biotop Water Garden

He transplanted trees from a plot of land earmarked for development to the former rice field. And between the mossy trunks he created a lace of streams with swamp plants. The water level is regulated by a system of locks. It is certainly an artificial, artistic landscape — a compilation of natural beauty and human imagination. But it reminds us of such a miracle as a natural forest swamp.

Art Biotope Water Garden. Photo: via Nikissimo Inc.

Secondly, the swamp is prestigious. A purely urban interpretation of a meadow marsh landscape is a square in the business center of Bogotá, Colombia, transformed by the architects of Obraestudio. They were inspired by the wetlands of the Bogota savannah. Wild marsh grasses contrast with the regulated geometry of linear reservoirs filled with purified rainwater, creating a spectacular landscape. It should be noted that this landscape has a very expensive and prestigious look, emphasizing the status of financial towers around the perimeter of the square.

Usaquén Urban Wetland public space in Bogota, designed by Obraestudio. Photo: Daniel Segura

Usaquén Urban Wetland is surrounded by financial towers. Photo: Daniel Segura

Many people still consider the proximity of housing to water, even to a river or lake, and especially to a swamp, undesirable. For example, dampness, mold, mosquitoes. I will not even delve into the history and tell about the thousand-year practices of pile construction in flooded areas and wetlands, but simply give an example of the Xixi premium residential complex designed by the famous David Chipperfield in Hangzhou on the territory of a wetland reserve. Reeds and bamboo literally knock on the windows of the cottages "immersed" in the swamp. This complex is one of the most expensive in the Chinese metropolis. Real estate worth billions.

Xixi Wetland Estate is a "swamp" residential complex designed by David Chipperfield Architects. Photo: Simon Menges

The rudimentary fear of mosquitoes is no longer relevant. There are technologies that allow you to minimize this nuisance. I do not mean the application of chemical spraying. There are safer protection technologies. For example, this summer in the city of Chengdu in southwestern China, the Free-mosquitoes park opened to the public, where traps for these insects that imitate the smell of a person are installed.

Mosquito traps in a city park in Chengdu, China

Thirdly, the swamp is progressive and profitable. I want to talk about the first green-blue infrastructure project in Singapore, where the Kallang River was revitalized in 2012. In nature, rivers do not flow straight. But the rationalizing paradigm in the XNUMXth century pushed architects and planners to simple and effective solutions. To resist flooding and free the territory for construction, the riverbeds within the city were bound with concrete and straightened. Sometimes they were even lowered underground.

Today, these urban planning reforms are recognized as erroneous, and efforts are being made to correct the situation. And although you have to pay for naturalization, in progressive societies such measures have general support. In the middle of the XNUMXth century, the Kallang River in Singapore was also turned into a channel with a concrete channel. This channel, which separates the residential area from the park, looked rather boring: no plants, no fish, no birds, no possibility to go down to the pool - just flowing muddy water.

The past and present of the Kallang River in Singapore. Photo: Dreiseitl consulting

In the early 2000s, it became clear that the concrete lining had deteriorated over the years, and the channel needed major repairs. Herbert Draisaitl, a landscape architect, planner and artist, proposed a fundamentally new vision of a possible transformation of the park based on the naturalization of the river: freeing the channel from concrete and returning the meanders - bends with wetlands that flood.

Bishan-Ang Mo Kio Park is a public park around the revived Kallang River. Photo: Dreiseitl consulting

Draisaitl is a unique person, a true hero of the new era. He not only inspires with his aesthetic and philosophical view on the landscape architecture of cities, but also knows how to convince politicians and officials to invest in infrastructure projects where water and plants play the main role. Draisaitl translates the humanistic and ecological rationale into the language of numbers, clearly demonstrating the benefits and advantages of implementing such innovative approaches.

The architect, together with a team from the National University of Singapore, prepared a financial justification: the restoration of the concrete channel will cost $94 million, and the naturalization will cost $50 million. So, the annual maintenance costs of the new landscape will amount to $4,5 million (previously in the article "A low-maintenance garden. A dangerous myth that is so easy to believe» I explained why there are no neglected urban landscapes).

But the direct and indirect socio-economic and environmental benefits from the release of the river and the modernization of Bishan-Ang Mo Kio Park will amount to about $100 million per year. The architect calculated not only the capitalization of real estate and CO2 absorption in the amount of 9 tons per year, but also calculated the benefits from the physical activity of residents and tourists. A project with a similar justification, agree, is simply doomed to support!

Bishan-Ang Mo Kio Park is the heart of a residential area in the center of Singapore. Photo: Dreiseitl consulting

Between 2010 and 2012, a 2,7 km long concrete drainage channel was transformed into a 3 km long winding river with quiet sedge and water lily backwaters teeming with fish, frogs, newts, turtles. A year later, waterfowl appeared here, the number of which is increasing. And from the concrete slabs of the former canal, the architects assembled a wonderful terrace that rises to the observation deck. According to a 2015 report, Draisaitl's economic predictions came true.

Fourth, the bog is a living laboratory and a natural filter.

The London Wetland Center is about 47 hectares in a bend of the Thames, in the western part of the British capital. 2300 species of birds, mammals, amphibians, reptiles and insects live here, including rare and red-listed species. It appears to be a wild, protected landscape adapted for educational tours and birdwatching. In fact, it is a man-made landscape created 20 years ago on the site of abandoned Victorian reservoirs. Four square huge reservoirs looked like an exclusively industrial landscape, devoid of any charm.

Flowering marsh grasses at the London Wetlands Centre. Photo: WWT London Wetland Centre

The London Wetlands Center serves as an education center and research laboratory. Photo: WWT London Wetland Centre

The charity Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust invited studio architects JPT and developers Berkeley Group, who specialize in unconventional projects, to create a 'wildlife corner in the heart of London'. 500 cubic meters of soil were redistributed to create a whimsical and maximally naturalistic network of canals and lakes. Over the next five years, gardeners were engaged in landscaping: 300 aquatic plants, 8 flowering wild perennials and 27 trees were planted by hand. The volume is impressive, isn't it? The result was also impressive.

Illumination at the London Wetlands Centre. Photo: WWT London Wetland Centre

Today, tourists and Londoners come here with their families for the whole day. Whatever the weather, there is something to do. You can observe birds or the local otters, who are not afraid of people at all, or study how a rain garden or a roof garden is arranged. And, of course, the center's employees talk about the role of bogs in the ecosystem. By the way, the residents of the nearest cottage village claim that they breathe the cleanest air in London, and consider it a merit of the swamp.

Fifth, the swamp can become the pride of the city.

I consider Hunter's Point South Waterfront Park in New York to be the most successful example of a multi-approach to wetlands on a particularly large scale. Two hundred years ago, the low-lying swamps between the East River and Newtown Creek were considered a truly noxious place, so they were used as an industrial dump, particularly for garbage during the construction of the East River Tunnel. But an abandoned industrial zone a few hundred meters from the central station in the most expensive city of the continent is very strange, you must agree. One could simply tamp down the garbage and build up the site with skyscrapers, but no, American capitalists have decided to follow the path of environmental and social consciousness and restore natural wetlands. Despite the fact that Long Island already had several swamp reserves and reserves.

Hunter's Point South Waterfront Park is a swamp with the best view of Manhattan. Photo: David Lloyd/SWA

It is clearly not enough to clear piles of slag and soil and plant the bank with reeds. Since the restored biotope is very fragile and must "ripen up" to a stable state, the shore was initially protected from strong tides by a dike. And they provided terraces in the park. The lower ones are flooded by a strong northerly wind from the river, but in this way they prevent erosion of the coastline. And the upper terraces collect and filter flood and rainwater from the streets. Sometimes a part of the park goes under water, which does not affect the functionality at all: bridges and paths on stilts allow pedestrians and cyclists to feel comfortable.

A map of the facilities and flood zones at Hunter's Point South Waterfront Park

They tried to make all landscaping in the park as sustainable as possible. Of course, the swamp park does not need watering, and the trees were chosen as durable as possible - maples, birches, hollyhocks, swamp oaks, and Japanese pine trees. The focal sculptural composition of the park is the installation "Luminescence" by the artist Nobuho Nagasawa. Nagasawa is a master of social-interactive sculpture. She devoted her work for Hunter's Point South Waterfront Park to ebb and flow. Another local landmark is the pier, which hovers over the East River, from which the most spectacular photos with a view of Manhattan come out in the rays of the setting sun.

Luminescence installation by artist Nobuho Nagasawa at Hunter's Point South Waterfront Park. Photo: David Lloyd/SWA

The project was implemented by such monsters as SWA/Balsley (landscape architects), Weiss/Manfredi (architects), Arup (technical design, infrastructure). Hydrologists, soil scientists, geologists, engineers, and botanists also worked in the team. But I would like to note that the leading role was given to landscape architects, who carried out the author's supervision, made sure that the builders did not deviate from the project in favor of simple solutions.

Hunter's Point South Waterfront Park has already become an iconic place. I will add that, despite its naturalism, it is a fully organized public park, with cafes, restaurants, children's and sports grounds. And in the depths of the park there are residential buildings. A win-win result — both nature and people won.

 

It's cheaper not to make mistakes

Let me return to our project for the territories around the Lubart Castle in Lutsk, which I talked about at the very beginning. We proposed revitalizing the central park area by creating skywalks over canals and wetlands, birdwatching platforms at treetop level, and greening the slopes and moat on the side of the castle.

The revitalization project of the territories around the Lubart Castle in Lutsk. Image source: Beloded Landscaping

The revitalization project of the territories around the Lubart Castle in Lutsk. Image source: Beloded Landscaping

In order to increase biodiversity, we proposed to supplement the already existing park plantings with new plants - trees and shrubs that can withstand root blockage, such as black elder, red sod, low birch, as well as moisture-loving perennials, decorative sedges. And although our concept did not win, the jury chose an even bolder project, which involves the opening of the Maly Hlushets river and the restoration of the market pavilions of the historical landscape. But so far, this idea is facing fierce resistance from local market entrepreneurs. Unfortunately, society has not yet matured.

Is it easy to bring the river back to life? Swamp the industrial zone? To create a living laboratory, so that this man-made landscape lives, breathes, develops as a sustainable biotope? No, it is not a front garden to arrange

This is a task for a specialist of the highest level. More precisely, for a team of specialists. Even the most educated and experienced landscape architect will not undertake the creation of a swamp landscape on his own. Knowledge and help of soil scientists, hydrologists, hydrobiologists is necessary. Revitalization projects are expensive, especially for our economy. That's why it's cheaper not to make mistakes. Carefully preserve areas of wild nature that can still be found in cities, even if they interfere with the development of areas for housing or road construction.

And if they do not interfere, but on the contrary, create additional value? When it comes to construction near the water, and sooner or later, as I think, Ukrainian developers will achieve a relaxation of the norms about the 100-meter inviolable zone, why use engineering solutions of the middle of the last century and strengthen the shore with concrete? The most banal option will be "to clean the pond and arrange the beach". Sometimes cleaning a pond means destroying the biotope.

Qunli Stormwater Wetland Park is a wetland park in the center of Harbin, China. Photo: Turenscape

Why not leave intact the reeds, where the birds used to nest, and show concern for nature conservation, which will only increase the benefits of the project? I have observed examples when only a couple of swans settled on a pond become a magnet for residents of an apartment complex, and a real battle breaks out for apartments "with a view of the birds". Marsh areas lead in the number of living creatures per square meter, and aquatic plants can overshadow the most sophisticated cultivated roses with their graceful beauty.

It is not by chance that wild carrot inflorescences are poetically called "Queen Anne's lace". You can further increase biodiversity by adding flowering orchids or planting berry bushes. Making swamps comfortable for people, not fighting nature, but using it as an ally, is what I see as an urgent task for landscape architects.

 

 

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