Brent Greene lectures into the Landscape Architecture Programs at RMIT, is a PhD candidate at the University of Melbourne, and a visual artist. His research explores how diverse cultural interpretations of urban ecology and landscape (designed or otherwise) influence attitudes towards public open space in the City of Melbourne and internationally.
Alistair Kirkpatrick has had a varied career over the last 20 years working in the disciplines of garden design, landscape architecture, horticulture and academia. Through teaching and practice Alistair has been exploring and testing ideas of vegetation as being the primary form, distorting the current model of hardscape being the dominant element in projects.
NUANCING THE NOVEL
Introduced plants and novel ecologies are conceptualised in diverse ways across Australia. On the one hand, exotic species are important for Australia’s economy and food security with majority of the nation’s food supply composed of introduced plant and animal species, demonstrating the significance in engaging exotic species to secure jobs, increase trade and produce fresh food. While on the other hand, the introduction of exotics in 1788 greatly modified the continent’s ecological characteristics, such as its high levels of endemism. For instance, 66% of Victorian forests have been transformed into grazing pastures and introduced grasses such as Pennisetum clandistinum have become environmental weeds (Bradshaw, 2012). These swift ecological modifications are troubling as they have greatly reduced the rage of indigenous plants in cities such as Melbourne (Bernard, 1996).
