Re-envisioning the relationship between landscape architecture and the politicized food complex

Abstract

The built environment has a profound impact on society's food systems through exerting influence on social, political, and economic discourse and the ordering of spaces that inhibit/promote the production and consumption of food. Landscape architecture, as a discipline concerned with the design, planning, and management of the landscape, presents a significant potential for contributing to the creation of a food complex that is socially just, environmentally restorative, and contributes to the betterment of public health. The work of Leberecht Migge—an early 20th century German landscape architect who explicitly addressed the food complex—is presented and critically evaluated as a case study. A framework is proposed that situates the contemporary food complex as a multivalent phenomenon and describes its incorporation into the process and practice of landscape architecture through increased attention to landscape management and professional activities that involve mediation and advocacy in addition to design and planning.