Contested Waters: The Tajo River in Spain
GSD 1401, Fall 2007, with Christian Werthmann

It is now commonly heard, that "water is the oil of the 21st century." Spain seems to exemplify this issue. For decades fierce debates have occurred over the rights and access to water. More water is claimed than exists. Prolonged droughts caused by global warming will further decrease water availability and lead to widespread desertification. In the meantime the nation's metropolitan areas are experiencing unprecedented growth, creating higher demands on potable water than ever before.

Under these circumstances, the studio focuses on the future of an internationally critical water resource: the Tajo River. The Tajo is the second largest river in Spain, stretching from the Albarracin mountains to the Atlantic Ocean at Lisbon, crossing the rapidly growing Greater Madrid Region. Its length exceeds 1,000 km and its watershed comprises an area of over 80,000 km. The Tajo is a historically important river that flows through the royal summer residence in Aranjuez (Spain's version of Versailles) and carves a steep canyon around the city of Toledo, the former capital of Spain and a Unesco World Heritage site today. Downstream, the Tajo passes through the center of Talavera de la Reina,—a city that will gain regional importance by a planned high speed train station. These three cities mark the southern edge of the Greater Madrid Region and currently experience an unprecedented growth. The population of the Greater Madrid Region will soon grow from six to ten million inhabitants, not only causing a massive infrastructure build-out but also putting tremendous development pressure on Aranjuez, Toledo and Talavera de la Reina.

Through all of this, flows the Tajo, a river that has declined from being considered as a royal river into being a symbol of Spain's water problems. The majority of its water is diverted for irrigation-intensive agriculture within and beyond its watershed and for large new urbanization projects along the Mediterranean coast. At times the river's flow is reduced to a trickle. Although several tributaries originating in Greater Madrid replenish some of its volume, the incoming water quality is so poor that the Tajo effectively becomes an open sewer for long stretches. Despite its critical state the political battles for the Tajo's flow are contentious and the expanding nation continues to develop new proposals to drain the river even further.

Studio Objective
The studio explores the revival of the upper Tajo River into a real "living" river. We study a 120km segment between Aranjuez, Toledo and Talavera de la Reina, as the most historically important, urbanized and polluted stretch of the river. Thereby the studio evolves around a main question: How can an open sewer be transformed into a regional asset?

Studio Process
The studio begins with an orientation week of problem assessment, followed by a one week field trip to Spain (September 23 to 29). After our return, the studio explores as a group overall scenarios for the 120 km segment, including river cleaning strategies, and compare possible restoration with further decline of the river. This phase ends with a review attended by Spanish experts. In the second phase students choose strategic locations along the river and individually (or in small groups) develop detailed design proposals at a smaller scale. In a third phase the whole group composes the individual local proposals and the large scale scenarios to one product that are presented in form of an exhibition and lecture in January 2008 to the ministries and agencies of the communities of Madrid and Castilla-La Mancha. The results of the studio is published in a bilingual book.

Instructors
Christian Werthmann is the lead instructor of the studio. Carl Steinitz teaches part-time, mostly in the first and third phases of the studio. Doctoral students Stephanie Hurley and Juan Carlos Vargas Moreno participate as teaching fellows. At key moments, an array of acclaimed Spanish experts accompany the studio, foremost Arancha Munoz Criado, Barbara Pons-Giner and Miguel Angel Sanches Perez.

Protecting and Developing the Landscapes of Don Quixote,
Province of Castilla - La Mancha, Spain
GSD 1401, Fall 2006, with Christian Werthmann

Professor Carl Steinitz and Assistant Professor Christian Werthmann, propose a study leading to design proposals for the protection and development of the landscapes of Don Quixote in the Province of Castilla-La Mancha.

The studio is sponsored by the Fundacion Civitas Nova and has the full cooperation of both the provincial and local authorities in Castilla-La Mancha. The specific studies and projects undertaken are identified during initial investigations and discussions with provincial and local authorities. The intent of the work of the studio is to support the Province's interest in promoting landscape protection, tourism, and economic development as exemplified by the activities associated with the 400th anniversary of the publication of Don Quixote. The studio proposes landscape protection and development plans, policies and designs directed at the long-term sustainability of the attractiveness of "The Landscapes of Don Quixote," which must clearly be a central element in the economic strategy of the Province. Example projects might include:

• a visual management plan for the road between Cuenca and Toledo,
• a landscape conservation plan for the windmills of Campo de Criptana and Consuegra,
• a new entrance road and parking area for the historic core of Toledo from the Madrid direction, and
• a strategy to protect the historic image of Toledo.

There are approximately 10 such projects all of which are coordinated into a single overall landscape plan for the chosen portions of the Province of Castilla-La Mancha. The studio is not be "one student, one design." It is an organized collaborative effort with substantial self-management by the students. There are issues ranging from the metropolitan/regional to very detailed project design.

Zip, Padova, and the Parco del Roncaiette
GSD 1401, Fall 2005

ZIP (la Zona Industriale di Padova) is the largest “industrial park” in Italy, employing around 25,000 persons. The ZIP consortium owns a large adjacent area, the Parco del Roncajette, which will become a major new park for the city. The site has flood control channels which contain polluted water from the city, the industry and the upstream areas, and which eventually flow into the nearby Venice lagoon. There are proposals to reduce pollution, and ZIP is committed to implementing a “Sustainable Industrial Area Model” consistent with recent directives from the European Union. The site also has the city’s sewage treatment plant, the famous analog model of the Venice Lagoon, and residential and agricultural inholdings. While the parco site may have been initially conceived as a barrier between a great old city and a new industrial zone, it now is seen by some as a link in a greater landscape system. ZIP and the city are committed to building a new city park on this land, but there are many unknowns…….

There are other linked issues. Padua has a “green spaces strategy” which includes connecting many small “green areas” and reconsideration of the future of an existing local airfield, while ZIP has major expansion plans on nearby farmland which is linked to the parco by a river-canal. In a sense, a large new park is being designed while an adjacent existing industrial zone is being ecologically reconsidered and another nearby industrial zone should be preplanned in the context of the city’s landscape strategy and regional infrastructure.

The studio is not "one student, one design”. It is an organized collaborative effort with substantial self-management by the students. The aim is to produce and compare three or four alternatives for the parco and its ZIP and urban context, based on different sets of assumptions, so that the student’s designs can be the focus of what can be expected to be intense local debate. ZIP and the city want the proposals so that they can clarify their needs, assumptions and preferences.

There are issues ranging from the metropolitan/regional to very detailed project design. I would like to have a diverse a group of students from any of the GSD’s programs.

The studio is sponsored by the ZIP Consortium and has the full cooperation of the Mayor and government of Padova.

There is an early site visit, from September 4 through 10. Travel and per-diem costs are covered by the studio budget. There is an intensive agenda that includes an orientation to Padova (one of Europe’s great ‘cultural’ cities) the region, and considerable activities ‘on site’.

Alternative Futures for Tepotzotlan, Mexico
GSD 1401, GSD 1505, Fall 2004

The studio focus is on the municipality of Tepotzotlan, which is part of the Mexico City metropolitan area. We work in collaboration with a faculty/student team from the Universidad Autonoma Metropolitana (UAM) and with the full cooperation of the municipal government.

Tepotzotlan is a municipality at the northern edge of what may be the largest city in the world. It is facing enormous development pressures, as it is on the main highway to the north of Mexico. It has, and is surrounded by, considerable amounts of 'social housing and distribution warehouses. There are increasing amounts of 'informal housing'. The untreated sewage of the entire Mexico City area flows via Tepotzotlan, some in canals and some in a broken pipe system under Tepotzotlan. Yet the municipality retains the character of a group of relatively small settlements, with some agriculture and large adjacent National Forest lands.

The main attraction of the town of Tepotzotlan is the church and monastery of St. Francis Xavier, founded in 1584. This extraordinary complex is now the national museum of colonial art, and a major Mexican tourist attraction. The sponsor, FUNDEA, is the leading Mexican environmentally-oriented NGO. It has a large landholding in the municipality, and this area is partly developed and operated as an environmental-education park. Tepotzotlan has been identified by the Mexican Ministry of Tourism as one of 10 national priority areas for tourism development.

Thus the several potential conflicts needing resolution....housing? distribution? sewage treatment? tourism? conservation? recreation?...and all in a rapidly changing, environmentally degraded, politically complex and relatively poor economy. There are issues and "projects" ranging from metropolitan-regional to very detailed scales.....and the need to play a constructive part in helping the municipality to shape its future.

There is a site visit from September 2 through 12, 2004. We all live at the FUNDEA complex in Tepotzotlan. There is an intensive agenda that includes an orientation to the metropolitan region, and considerable activities 'on site'.

The Future Urban Landscape of Cesena, Italy
GSD 1401, Fall 2003

A sponsored, option-level studio conducted during the Fall Semester 2003 under the coordination of Carl Steinitz. The subject is the urban landscape of Cesena, Italy.

The Research conducted in the summer produced an inventory of Cesena’s urban landscapes: its social roles and physical conditions.

Cesena’s urban landscape is viewed as an essential component of the city’s currently developing master planning efforts. Building on the inventory, the studio investigate issues surrounding design interpretation of complex and sometimes contradictory programmatic intentions for the city and its immediate region. Urban landscape strategies at a variety of scales will be developed, described in design guidelines, and tested by the detailed design of representative and special situations.

The studio encompasses both group and individual activities. It culminates in a single, coordinated, scripted visual presentation supported by an exhibition of the studio’s work. A printed publication based on the scripted presentation and the exhibition materials is likely.

Alternative Futures for Pueckler - Muskau Land
GSD 1402, Fall 2002

In the early nineteenth century, Prince Hermann von Pueckler-Muskau (1785-1871) laid out a huge landscape park on his estates at Muskau, now divided by the German-Polish border. As author of Hints on Landscape Gardening, Pueckler-Muskau is regarded as the founder of German landscape architecture. Like Prince Franz of Anhalt Dessau, Pueckler-Muskau had visited England for long periods. He saw the work of Brown, Repton, and Nash, and was inspired to remake the Muskau park, some 1,300 acres in extent, in the English style. His extravagant devotion to landscape as art, and a disregard for practicalities resulted in the forced sale of the beautifully embellished Muskau in 1846. He retired to his smaller property at Branitz, near Cottbus, and began work there, creating more English inspired gardens, and the famous pyramid tomb in which he and his wife are buried. Pueckler-Muskau died in 1781, leaving the property to a nephew, who completed the landscape proposed by his uncle in 1888, by which time Branitz covered 395 acres. The landscape park at Branitz has survived the twentieth century in surprisingly good condition, and was carefully maintained during its years as part of the G.D.R.

Muskau and the surrounding region were not so fortunate, however. The park at Muskau was sold to Prince Frederick of the Netherlands, who extended and improved it between 1852 and 1881, with the guidance of Eduard Petzold. The Schloss was rebuilt in Renaissance style, used as a hospital in the Second World War, and burned down in 1945, leaving a standing shell as a reminder. The portion of the park extending into Poland has been completely neglected since 1945, although concerns have been expressed about this situation. The G.D.R. maintained the German portion until reunification. The region surrounding the two landscape parks has suffered major devastation and related pollution problems resulting from extensive open cast lignite mining and industrial development. With the demise of mining and heavy industry, economic conditions in the region have deteriorated, resulting in very high levels of unemployment. Although efforts at reclamation and economic stimulation have been made, the problem is enormous.

Recently, the possibility of a study of Fuerst Pueckler-Land has been raised. With the improvement of regional economic and environmental conditions as its goal, the study would investigate the potential of the area as the site of an IBA (an international building and landscape exhibition) and its longer term benefits; identify opportunities for improvement to capitalize on its considerable tourism potential, and assess the appropriateness of the Muskau/Branitz area for inclusion on the World Monuments Fund list (see: www.iba-fuerst-pueckler-land.de).

The overall concept of the IBA proposes a set of linked Landscape Islands. The most important and problematic one, and the focus of this proposal, is the preservation and remaking of the Fuerst Puecklerland Cultural Landscape (or, as we call it Fuerst-Pueckler-Land). This region includes the town of Bad Muskau in Germany and its Polish sister-city, Leknica, with Puecklers large landscape park as a backbone and the surrounding area, including the vast and still partly active brown coal mining area of Nochten. Additionally, the historic and current routes between Muskau and Branitz are studied for their potential landscape, history, and tourism opportunities. Interest in the study has been expressed by the regional planning authority in Cottbus, and by the IBA director Rolf Kuhn.

A collaborative, sponsored, option-level studio was held in the fall semester between the Harvard GSD and the Anhalt University of Applied Sciences.

There was site visit in August, and this required an early EMAIL lottery to identify the studio participants. The site visit began in Berlin Germany on Thursday August 22 and ended in Berlin on Monday September 2. In addition to the substantial work of site assessment, the trip included visits to some of Germany's most important designed places: in Berlin, Potsdam, Branitz, and the Gartenreich Dessau-Worlitz. Studio members participated in the entire trip.

Alternative Futures for Hangzhou
Fall 2001, Richard Peiser, Carl Steinitz

The studio began with an intensive 13-day visit to China in late August. Extensive tours of Hangzhou and Shanghai provided students with the opportunity to evaluate the issues of development, growth management, and environmental protection now facing southeastern China. Detailed site visits and extensive surveys were conducted in Hangzhou to record and document existing conditions and types of development. Meetings were held with Hangzhou officials and planners and with representatives of its real estate development industry. In order to determine land use allocations, it was assumed that the study area would absorb one third of the region’s urban development in the next 20 years. From this assumption, the following built program was derived: 11 million square meters of residential, which can accommodate approximately a half-million new residents, 945,000 square meters of retail, 945,000 square meters of new office space, 500,000 square meters of civic space, including government and cultural, and 2 million square meters of industrial. It was also agreed that within the 20 year horizon the city would absorb a new University and Convention Center. Thus, 150,000 square meters was assigned to a University campus and 500,000 square meters was reserved for a Convention Center. Several planning concepts were represented in our three alternatives, which we believed should be incorporated in any plan for this area. There were major differences among the three alternative plans prepared in the studio. The most important differences were the location of a new Hangzhou government center, the distribution of office and commercial centers, transport systems, and major public amenities. Hangzhou’s important role in Chinese history, its West Lake, and its exceptional natural and cultural environment serve to create an "image" of Hangzhou as a great city. We believe that our alternative designs for a new city center on the Qiantang River envision a future Hangzhou that continues to enjoy the highest possible urban, environmental, and economic qualities.

Alternative Futures of the West Lake, Hangzhou, People's Republic of China
Fall 2000, Richard Peiser, Carl Steinitz

Translated into English, the title of this studio, “Tian Ren He Yi,” means “Nature and Humanity in Harmony.” Throughout its history, the West Lake has exemplified this Chinese ideal. The West Lake is located on the western edge of the City of Hangzhou, 200 kilometers from the East China Sea in the People’s Republic of China. The lake itself covers an area of 568 hectares within an area of 60 square kilometers designated by the City of Hangzhou as the West Lake Scenic Area. Bounded on two sides by a city with an urban area of approximately 150 square kilometers, the lake and its environs are threatened by the pressures of tourism and urban development. The work of this studio is part of an ongoing effort by the City of Hangzhou and the Bureau of Landscape to define an action plan to protect the cultural and natural integrity of the West Lake. Such a plan is essential for obtaining UNESCO recognition as a World Heritage Site. The studio approached the question of the West Lake’s future by exploring six issues: tourism, history, ecology, transportation, development, and visual quality. Key objectives were then established: to protect the West Lake and its resources; to accommodate future growth around the West Lake; and to direct future growth to other areas of the city. Development continues to occur in the downtown, but limited road access and stringent height requirements push taller, non-tourist-related development further away from the lake. New regulations resulting from UNESCO recognition of the West Lake as a World Heritage Site also control lakeside development. The new amenities and transportation infrastructure pull a significant amount of development away from the lake area to new locations. Smaller hotels and residential uses are able to compete for locations near the lake on the city side, reducing pressure to develop in the Scenic Area. New visitor centers, road improvements, and added tourist sites near the lake are likely to improve tourist circulation and achieve a more even distribution of visitors around the West Lake. Projects relating to the water quality of the West Lake will likely have the desired results, improving lake water. By simulating the development process in three alternative scenarios, the studio assessed the potential distribution of anticipated future development. Three alternative futures were developed, each with more amenities than the previous, more transportation and infrastructure projects, more ecological improvement projects, and increasing regulatory control. Each alternative was then evaluated according to the objectives in the six key issues. In addition to the implementation of projects and regulations, the studio recommended creating a new special management area, which would be proposed to UNESCO as the West Lake area-of-influence. A comprehensive management plan with specific performance standards, which would coordinate efforts among all stakeholders, should be adopted to protect and maintain this area. A centralized management agency must be designated to carry out the management plan. This agency must have the authority to enforce regulations and to grant discretionary approval for development in the West Lake area. It should also have legislative capabilities for drafting regulations—not general policies or informal agreements. Finally, it must have influence over regional development activities insofar as they affect the West Lake. Adequate funding is crucial for the plan to meet its stated objectives. This funding must be provided by stakeholders and not depend on revenues from further development around the West Lake. For the long-term future, greater investment and a broader base of support provides greater returns. Most important, this will assure the protection of the West Lake as one of the world’s most treasured landscapes. This studio was sponsored by the City of Hangzhou.

Alternative Futures for the Region of Beit She'an, Jenin and Northern Jordan
GSD 1310-13, Fall 1999
Instructors: Carl Steinitz and Arie Rahamimoff 

One big issue is how to increase tourism-based employment and to develop links among Israeli, Palestinian and Jordanian cultural tourism. Another major theme is how to accommodate an expected doubling of all populations in an environmentally sensitive area [and one which can be 110 degrees in summer]. Another is how to expedite Palestinian-Israeli-Jordanian cooperation in these matters, which is an expressed desire on the part of all governments in a joint memoranda-of-understanding. Studies included a regional landscape plan and the design of many project-scale routes, places and facilities. The studio is sponsored by individuals in Cleveland, Ohio, which is 'sister-city' with the Beit She'an region.

The Gartenreich Dessau-Worlitz
GSD 1310-11, Fall 1998
Instructors: Carl Steinitz and Tess Canfield

The studio prepared alternative landscape plans/designs for the Gartenreich Worlitz at two scales: first, and for the entire "original" region and its immediate context in Sachen-Anhalt, future alternatives that consider economic development, ecologic sustainability and tourism oriented historic landscape restoration are prepared and mutually compared. Current regional and local plans are also be considered as alternatives. For the immediate contexts of the most important historic facilities such as Worlitz, Oranienbaum, and Luissium, and for the highest priority view axes, and for the key development areas detailed design proposals are made in a manner consistent with the objectives and patterns of the overall Gartenreich alternatives.

As study tour of sites in England that influenced the design of the Gartenreich and an intensive site survey of the Gartenreich region of Dessau precedes the graduate students studies.

The "product" is in the form of an exhibition, a CD ROM and a published monograph in German and English which contain all analysis, design proposals and comparisons of costs and benefits. It relies heavily on realistic computer animation, with the objective of being readily understood by all interested persons.

Alternative Futures in the Galilee, Israel
Fall 1997
Instructor: Carl Steinitz

This sponsored option studio focused on a part of the Galilee, in northern Israel. Much of the study region is controlled by Stef Wertheimer, who sponsored the studio. His group of companies, ISCAR, is Israel's leading "high tech" manufacturing and exporting company in machine tools and plastics. Stef strongly believes that commercial arrangements among entrepreneurs are the key to long-lasting peace in the region, and being a "doer," he wants to help make this happen.

His central concept is the sponsorship of Zur University, an international institute for entrepreneurs in manufacturing open to students from all of the Mediterranean and Middle East. The school, which was founded in temporary quarters in 1994, is located on a hill at Lavon, along with housing and "incubator" industry facilities. The curriculum is being developed by the MIT Sloan School of Management and the Harvard Business School.

The studio proposed alternatives for the future development and conservation of a 100 sq. km. area which is the context of the large Wertheimer land holdings. It includes several villages and nature reserves, industrial parks, and a new town. The studio also designed alternatives for the Lavon site, including a new Zur University. The studio was not "one student-one design." Rather, it was organized by the class as one large, multidisciplinary collaborative, whose task is to identify and design options that can be comparatively evaluated. 

Alternative Futures for the Region of Camp Pendleton, California
Fall 1996 
Instructor: Carl Steinitz

A research program at the GSD has been investigating the hydrology and biology of a six-watershed region in Orange, Riverside, and San Diego Counties, California, and assessing the prospects for the region's high biodiversity under anticipated conditions of major and rapid urban development. Assuming that we understand the ecological relationships and their vulnerability, what can be done about it? What design alternatives for urbanization and conservation should be considered by the several constituent governmental levels and the residents of the region?

Focusing on the Santa Margarita River Basin (the last free-flowing river in California), the collaborative studio proposes both project-scale and cumulative regional solutions to this important change-related conflict. 

Note: The studio is sponsored by the U.S. (Interagency) Biodiversity Research Consortium, and includes site visits. 

Alternative Futures for the Context Region of Camp Pendleton, California
Fall 1996 
Instructors: Carl Steinitz and Alan Shearer

Representation
In order to evaluate the dynamic processes at work in the study area, a computer-based Geographic Information System was designed to contain digital data describing the study area. The final study data base is in the form of 12 million "raster" grid cells at a uniform resolution of 30M square. In addition, a n umber of linear features were maintained as a linear "vector" data base. "Models" were developed to evaluate the landscape and produce a series of maps representing any time-stage. 

Process
The state of landscape is the result of many processes, both cultural and natural. 

Evaluation
Each of the component process models is used to evaluate the "base-state landscape." For example, the visual quality model assesses regional preferences for landscape views in the study area. The soils models evaluate erodability and the agricultural productivity of the area's soils. The hydrology models predict the 100-year storm hydrographs for each of the rivers and their subwatersheds, flooding heights and water discharge, as well as resultant soil moisture. The fire models assess the needs for fire to maintain vegetation habitat, as well as the risks of fire and fire suppression. The vegetation model assesses vegetation-rarity, as well as providing a basis for species-habitat relationships. Biodiversity is being assessed in three ways: (a) via landscape ecological pattern and function, (b) via selected single species potential habitat models, and (c) via species richness GAP analysis modeling. 

Change
Future change is simulate d via the "buildout" of six alternative projections for the study region. Alternatives #1 and #2 are based upon the current local and regional plans as summarized by SCAG and SANDAG. Alternative #2 also assumes the implementation of conservation programs and the application of a set of development constraints to wetlands and steep slopes. 

Four additional projections for the urbanization of the study region were designed by the studio participants. They reflect alternative development and conservation policies. Alternative #3 illustrates what may be considered the dominant trend: extensive, low-density growth. Alternative #4 also follows the low density trend, but as a means to conserve biodiversity. Alternative #5, focusing on cluster deve lopment and new communities, and Alternative #6, concentrating growth in a new urban center, also aim to accommodate growth while maintaining biodiversity. 

Impact
Each process model assesses the impact caused by the changes in each alternative. 

Decision
The alternative future scenarios may be used by stakeholders, including M.C.B. Camp Pendleton, to assess the desirability of the various policies which generated them. The models may also be used to devise and subsequently compare the desirability of additional development scenarios and conservation strategies. 

Alternative Futures for Monroe County, Pennsylvania
Fall 1993 
Instructor: Carl Steinitz

 This study of Alternative Futures for Monroe County, Pennsylvania, is the product of student work in a studio at the GSD. The project has been sponsored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region III, the Monroe County Commissioners, the Monroe County Conservation District, the Monroe County Planning Commission, and the USDA. Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. There is, however, no contractual obligation or consultative relationship between these organizations and Harvard University, its faculty or students. The work presented is the full responsibility of the students who were members of the studio group.

 This summary of the group's findings presents issues, planning strategies, and design proposals based on the conditions and options facing Monroe County today. The primary function of this study is one of mutual education: for the students who are or will become professionals in landscape architecture and planning; for Monroe County, which has the responsibility for developing its own proposals; and for the citizens of Monroe County who may benefit from the insights and ideas developed by the students.