Natureza

Abstract

Through a pure aesthetical perception, Nature becomes CULTURAL LANDSCAPE, since its specific "natural" characteristics might constitute a specific framework of interpretive and transformative possibilities that either can occur in the natural environment or in an urban background. The landscape is a spatial entity and the architect is an agent that transforms the landscape in space. In some sense, we can say that contemporary architecture pursues the idea of a space that is LANDSCAPE-a cultural and aesthetic landscape. And also POETIC because it holds meaning. Which is equivalent to think that contemporary architecture can develop a new cultural and aesthetic ( not to mention programmatic and functional) framework, which integrates the idea of Nature or natural World, composing at the same time, a new and revolutionary theoretical agenda. Incidentally, the present situation regarding contemporary architecture, is in itself, paradoxically inspiring. On one side, there is a suggestion to align a new link between architecture and the natural environment - a new attitude that is openly ecological and environmental protective. On the other hand, there is a critical skepticism that doubts of the effectiveness and applicability of this new connection, and that, in the end, takes refuge in the reinterpretation of the aesthetic legacy of Modernism. However, what may be relevant is that the themes connected to the environment, will surely be references capable of causing new bounds in the future of architecture. Nature has a key role in this process and in the structuring of the urban fabric, and can be a central element in the definition of urban design. The environmental components such as water, fauna and fiora, are important in the structuring of city's sustainability, through the maintenance and qualification of existing areas, as well as in the regeneration of areas that were once transformed by the process of urbanization. ( ... ) The integration of nature in the instruments of territorial development and planning, as a vector and strategic key for the development of community and territory, is a fundamental step to the sustainability of urban systems and to the restoration of ecosystem, in both local and global scales. Thus, it will be a major contribution to achieve a levell of city's sustainability and a carrying capacity of ecosystems to be restored and find balance.