Transformation: from Compaction to Correlation

The concept of urban transformation is often linked to a compact city paradigm, where densification is
regarded the legitimate mean to urban growth, clustering infills and urban transformations to existing mobility infrastructures, transportation nodes and urban/suburban centralities. The assumption is that compaction leads to more sustainable and liveable cities, though academics have disputed such claims. The concept of Green Infrastructures holds promises to mitigate negative environmental and spatial consequences of compaction. However, from a landscape architectural position, there are lingering concerns with the compact planning strategies, suspected to act ’blindly’ towards site-specific, deep landscape structures, their ecosystem services and spatial-aesthetic performance. By evaluating a case of compact planning, I develop support for these concerns, and argue that the generic spatial-concepts of the Compact City Paradigm may be a key barrier. I then discuss a demonstration-case as a landscape-literate alternative to the municipal plan. In the demonstration-case a group of municipal actors and landscape architects were invited to produce urban transformation concepts based on a landscape assessment process. Results show a release of alternative correlative imaginaries of urban transformation, than the ones encompassed by the municipal plan. On this note, I conclude the paper with a call for re-orientation of the urban transformation concept, from compaction to correlation.