Diana Balmori: Landscape Manifesto - RA Forum

18 October 2010

Landscape is an art of the present, fundamental to how we shape and understand both the built and natural environments. In this event chaired by art critic Richard Cork, internationally acclaimed landscape and urban designer, Diana Balmori, proposes a twenty-five-point Landscape Manifesto that seeks to ‘realign’ landscape’s role as a transformative and potentially transgressive art. She presents the Manifesto alongside specially devised work of Japanese video artist Mami Kosemura and a response by Eric Parry RA.

Incredible Edible Todmorden London Conference Peckham

Incredible Edible Todmorden is a community group of local people, business, and schools in Todmorden. They are leading the way in response to the challenges of climate change through a commitment to the production of food by local people for local consumption. Their aim is to have the town self-sufficient in food by 2018.

The second Incredible Edible national conference held at John Donne School Peckham, on Saturday, October 9th. It was great time to have a exchange of ideas for sustainable positive living ways.

After a short welcome to the school, which is itself growing vegetables in the playground, and a brief history of the Peckham Experiment by Lisa Curtice. Interesting stuff done in the 1930's to see if what we would now call 'lifestyle' factors can influence health.

Professor Tim Lang in sober mood spoke about food security emphasising how much there is still to do, we have made a start.

The afternoon was dedicated to swapping ideas for moving Incredible Edible Todmorden and similar projects forward into the future as everyone broke into small groups to attend two workshops each.

There were four types of workshop topics. It was;
- Learning inside and outside the classroom Paul Clarke.
- Developing incredible building designs. James Darbyshire STACE partners.
- Communications: press, web, poster & word of mouth Alan McDonald
- Growing and the skills you need. Nick Green.

I was really glad to meet this active local community and to learn positive solutions for the better future.