{"id":38489,"date":"2025-09-02T10:00:23","date_gmt":"2025-09-02T17:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/?p=38489"},"modified":"2025-08-29T10:27:55","modified_gmt":"2025-08-29T17:27:55","slug":"book-review-histories-of-ecological-design-an-unfinished-cyclopedia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2025\/09\/02\/book-review-histories-of-ecological-design-an-unfinished-cyclopedia\/","title":{"rendered":"Book Review – Histories of Ecological Design: An Unfinished Cyclopedia"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

Author: Lydia Kallipoliti (Actar, 2024)<\/b><\/p>\n

In an era when \u201cgreen\u201d is a brand and climate collapse is a backdrop, Lydia Kallipoliti\u2019s <\/span>Histories of Ecological Design: An Unfinished Cyclopedia<\/i><\/span> refuses to tell a comfortable story. True to its title, it is \u201cunfinished\u201d\u2014a sprawling, multi-entry exploration of overlapping and often contradictory histories of how humans have imagined, represented, and built in relation to the natural world.<\/span><\/p>\n

Rather than offering a single authoritative account, Kallipoliti maps an evolving constellation of ideas\u2014from 19th-century naturalists\u2019 \u201ctrees of life\u201d to 21st-century designers wrestling with toxicity, planetary limits, and post-human entanglements. <\/span><\/p>\n

The book\u2019s three broad eras\u2014Naturalism<\/i>, Synthetic Naturalism<\/i>, and Dark Naturalism<\/i>\u2014trace changing attitudes: from idealized, often colonial visions of wilderness; to mid-century systems thinking that framed nature as something cities and technologies could emulate; to our current moment, where climate disruption and ecological collapse demand a reckoning with uncertainty, inequity, and the dissolving boundaries between human and non-human life.<\/span><\/p>\n

The framework is deliberately non-linear. Readers can follow a chronological arc or dip into thematic clusters such as \u201cWorld Planners,\u201d \u201cGarbage Architects,\u201d or \u201cNon-Humans.\u201d This structure reflects her argument: ecological design is not a fixed discipline, but a recurring \u201ccycle\u201d of ideas<\/i>\u2014reappearing, mutating, and cross-pollinating across time and place. It challenges the notion that environmental design has a clear origin or a predictable trajectory.<\/span><\/p>\n

A major strength of the book is its refusal to romanticize the concept of \u201cecology.\u201d Kallipoliti shows how its history is intertwined with capitalism, colonialism, and human supremacy over nature. She warns against nostalgia for an idealized natural order\u2014revealing how such visions can distort ecological realities\u2014and critiques \u201cgreen\u201d building certifications that mask extractive systems under a veneer of sustainability. <\/span><\/p>\n

In the context of climate change, this feels urgent. Here, being ecological is not a label or checklist\u2014it is an ongoing negotiation between technological capacity, ecological humility, and justice.<\/span><\/p>\n

This project builds on her earlier work, The Architecture of Closed Worlds, Or, What Is the Power of Shit?<\/i><\/a>, which examined self-contained systems\u2014capsules, biodomes, eco-houses\u2014that attempted to replicate natural cycles within strict boundaries. That study revealed the tensions between technological control and the messy realities of ecology: even the most carefully engineered systems leak, fail, and adapt in unpredictable ways.<\/span><\/p>\n

Histories of Ecological Design<\/i> shifts from closed systems to open ecologies, exploring the broader networks of ideas, practices, and politics within which these systems operate. Together, the two books chart a shift from fantasies of autonomy toward engagement with complexity, permeability, and interdependence.<\/span><\/p>\n

Kallipoliti\u2019s work also connects deeply with broader theoretical traditions, including political ecology\u2019s critique of power over nature, posthumanism\u2019s decentering of the human, systems theory\u2019s focus on flows and interdependence, decolonial thought\u2019s challenge to Western environmental narratives, and feminist care ethics\u2019 emphasis on relational, embodied responsibility. <\/span><\/p>\n

These threads make the book a meeting point for architecture, environmental history, and critical theory.<\/span><\/p>\n

The book\u2019s reach stretches well beyond the academic, acting as a sharp and revealing mirror for examining and challenging the intentions and impacts of built projects. Many lauded \u201cecological\u201d achievements\u2014from the LEED-certified Vancouver Convention Centre to the high-density model of \u201cVancouverism\u201d\u2014are often framed as exemplary ecological design. In Kallipoliti\u2019s terms, these sit squarely in the \u201cResilients<\/em>\u201d category: ambitious, infrastructure-heavy interventions that showcase technical sophistication, yet risk perpetuating the very systems they seek to transform.<\/span><\/p>\n

In contrast, the evolution of elements like the city\u2019s greenway network aligns more closely with the \u201cSubnaturalist<\/em>\u201d ethos\u2014embracing complexity, subtle shifts, and integration with ecological processes rather than imposing top-down control.<\/span><\/p>\n

The lesson is clear: the true ecological project is not just to reduce impact but to become part of a place\u2019s living flows. For our contemporary cities, this means asking whether our interventions work with ecological dynamics or merely stage them as curated spectacles.<\/span><\/p>\n

The question the book leaves for the city is whether its ecological design identity will rest on the arrogance of mastery or the humility of coexistence. Kallipoliti\u2019s lens invites planners, designers, and citizens to consider: Which worlds are we making room for\u2014and which are we pushing aside?<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

This is no coffee-table celebration of sustainability. It is a provocation\u2014to see design not as a set of technical fixes, but as an evolving conversation about how we live, what we value, and who\u2014or what\u2014gets to be part of the story.<\/span><\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

For more information on the Actar <\/i>website<\/i><\/a>. An excellent article covering key aspects of the book can also be found in the <\/i>Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Environmental Science<\/i><\/a>.<\/i><\/p>\n

**<\/p>\n

Erick Villagomez<\/i><\/b> is the Editor-in-Chief at Spacing Vancouver and teaches at UBC\u2019s School of Community and Regional Planning. He is also the author of <\/i>The Laws of Settlements: 54 Laws Underlying Settlements Across Scale and Culture<\/a>. <\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Author: Lydia Kallipoliti (Actar, 2024) In an era when \u201cgreen\u201d is a brand and climate collapse is a backdrop, Lydia Kallipoliti\u2019s Histories of Ecological Design: An Unfinished Cyclopedia refuses to tell a comfortable story. True to its title, it is \u201cunfinished\u201d\u2014a sprawling, multi-entry exploration of overlapping and often contradictory histories of how humans have imagined, represented,Continue reading “Book Review – Histories of Ecological Design: An Unfinished Cyclopedia”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6004,"featured_media":38494,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10,11233,24,25,36,11235],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38489","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-architecture","category-history","category-housing","category-infrastructure","category-streetscape","category-urban-design"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nBook Review - Histories of Ecological Design: An Unfinished Cyclopedia - Spacing Vancouver<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2025\/09\/02\/book-review-histories-of-ecological-design-an-unfinished-cyclopedia\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Book Review - Histories of Ecological Design: An Unfinished Cyclopedia - Spacing Vancouver\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Author: Lydia Kallipoliti (Actar, 2024) In an era when \u201cgreen\u201d is a brand and climate collapse is a backdrop, Lydia Kallipoliti\u2019s Histories of Ecological Design: An Unfinished Cyclopedia refuses to tell a comfortable story. 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