The Landscapes of Dieter Kienast

Dieter Kienast (1945-1998) is a key Swiss figure in European landscape architecture. Amidst a striking change in the relationship between society and nature in the 1970s, he sought a synthesis between design and ecology. As a designer, planner, researcher, and university lecturer, Kienast introduced new facets to those fields. Critiques of urban planning, processes of participation, and the significance of spontaneous urban vegetation played just as prominent a role in these discussions as did art, literature, architecture, and the popularity of postmodernism. This book not only vividly deconstructs the ways in which design, theory, and representation are interwoven in Kienast's work, but also sheds light on a specific period of landscape architecture.