ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION AND DESIGN; The role of landscape architecture

摘要

Most people in western societies no longer have direct contact with their natural living environment and learn mostly about environmental problems from media. This lack of direct experience with the natural environment in urban landscapes will give rise to a different view on 'environmental education'. In this paper we approach environmental education from an integrated point of view that also includes design of the daily environment. This environmental education can be distinguished in three interrelated steps. First of all: learning about the daily environment from primary school to University. This education should focus on the dynamics of life cycles like water, energy etc.. At the same time it should relate the daily environment on the local scale to the global scale. Secondly, to create new experiences in the daily life where 'learning by doing' or 'learning by experience' gets special attention. There, young people can practice, find out and experience for themselves what they learned in the first step. Thirdly to design daily environments that show how (natural) systems work and function in the daily living environment. For instance, show where energy comes from or how the water system works. This will be for a large part the design of public space. All three steps should be consistent with each other; that is, what you learn at school should be experienced in the daily environment and be visible. It will mean that not only our concept of 'environment' will be extended far beyond ecology and traditional views of nature, it also focuses on the daily living environments of urban people and makes people directly aware what they can do in their daily lives with the global concept of sustainability.