A New Discourse
The Wild Commons Network aims to open up new forms of dialogue between key characters in the landscape; human, animal, plant, element. This is achieved both through the spatial qualities of the site, giving unrestricted space to allow for novel interactions, as well as the presence of technology to mediate new conversations. This is done with the belief that in order to achieve climate resilience, communication between previously divided and neglected communities needs to be restored.
SOCIAL LANDSCAPE
Wild Commons Characters
In a landscape currently dominated by human activity, the Wild Commons Network works to give space to other characters, letting them engineer the landscape for their own purposes and effectively adding their footprint to the landscape mosaic. Reintroducing key native species into the landscape also plays a fundamental role in restoring a healthy and climate resilient landscape by recovering key relationships between wind, water and the earth and boosting biodiversity.
Actively Introduced
Naturally Occurring
'"Animals are the drivers of habitat creation, the impetus behind biodiversity. Without them, you have impoverished, static, monotonous habitats with declining species. It’s the reason so many of our efforts at conservation are failing"’
Quote from Frans Vera, Grazing Ecology and Forest History and project lead of the wilding project Oostvaardersplassen in the Netherlands, in Isabella Tree, Wilding: The Return of Nature to a British Farm, p.59
On display at the exhibition is this Field Guide, designed to be used by individuals visiting the Wild Commons Network. It is designed to educate, and encourage involvement of human characters in the landscape and in the wilding process happening around them, whilst also creating another opportunity to gather data in the Observatories.
Click the image to open the Field Guide
Landscape of Multiple Perspectives
The Wild Commons Network aims to respect and represent how the landscape is experienced from the viewpoint of not just humans, but all actors present in the landscape, as these drawings show.
The Human Perspective
However, the project does not forget to include humans in the narrative of the landscape (as is often criticised of wilding projects). Instead, human communities and their individual needs and desires are carefully considered and integrated into the project.
