The publication serves as a catalog for the exhibition "Landscape Architecture, 100 Projects for the City, Thessaloniki 2012," which was organized by the Department of Architects and the Master's Program in "Landscape Architecture," Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTH), as part of the commemorative events for Thessaloniki 2012, under the auspices of the Municipality of Thessaloniki. It was hosted at the Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art from June 6, 2012, to September 2012.
It presents one hundred proposals - projects for the landscape of Thessaloniki, arising from Laboratory Courses and Master's Theses of the interdisciplinary Graduate Studies Program of the Department of Architects, Polytechnic School, and the School of Agricultural Sciences of AUTH. With this exhibition and publication, the Master's Program offers to our city, which celebrates 100 years of its liberation, 100 designed works of Landscape Architecture.
These works are just a small selection of student projects with their professors, within the framework of the educational, scientific, and research work that has been ongoing since 2003. They concern the design of urban, peri-urban, and natural environments.
They address a multitude of issues with a contemporary perspective, related to sustainability and viability for Thessaloniki and the surrounding area. They emphasize the history of the place, both natural and cultural, the experiences of the residents, social and recreational aspects, the ecology, and the economy of the city's landscape, thus defining its transforming image.
The designed works of Landscape Architecture are developed in six sections. They unfold in a progressive transition: - from the urban to the peri-urban and the wider natural landscape of the city - from smaller to larger scales, - from highly artificial to natural, protected or unprotected environments.
The presented landscape design projects incorporate innovative methods of what is called green or environmental design. However, the main differentiation from any other specialization, be it bioclimatic, environmental, sustainable, or solely ecological design, is that all projects are approached holistically and comprehensively through the modern perspectives of the science, art, and technique of Landscape Architecture, with criteria that are social, ecological, and perceptual, emphasizing creative intervention for the design, upgrading, or restoration of the landscape.
Mary Ananiadou - Tzimopoulou (Director of the Master's Program in Landscape Architecture)
Included are the projects: - Reconstruction of the urban landscape of the city - Upgrading and shaping of public space - Shaping of public activity areas - Recovery and restoration of residual spaces, scoria-landscapes - Shaping and restoration of peri-urban landscapes in relation to technical works and natural resource exploitation projects - Restoration of natural spaces and protected areas.
