Description
Book SynopsisAcross the world, the risks of wildfires are increasing and expanding. Due to past and current human actions, we dwell in the age of fire the Pyrocene and the many challenges and climate adaptation questions it provokes. Exploring our past and current relationships with fire, this book speculates on the pyro futures yet to be designed and cared for.
Drawing upon fieldwork, mapping, drone imagery, and interviews, this publication curates 27 global design case studies within the vulnerable and dynamic wildland-urban interface and its adjacent wildlands. The book catalogs these examples into three approaches: those that resist the creative and transformative power of fire and forces of landscape change, those that embrace and utilize those forces, and those that intentionally try to retreat and minimize human intervention in fire-prone landscapes. Rather than serving as a book of neatly packaged solutions, it is a book of techniques to be considered, tested, and evaluated in a
Trade Review
"It’s no longer enough to live with fire. We have to live with a fire age. That requires new thinking, novel classifications, fresh metaphors and models, a vision of what can happen where fire, town, and country converge, so it’s great to see what landscape architects have to say. Design by Fire is a welcome contribution to an urgent problem." Stephen Pyne, ASU, author of The Pyrocene
"Design by Fire is the essential guidebook and atlas for the pyro-future that is already here. Whether homeowner, concerned citizen, designer, or policymaker, you will find in these extraordinarily researched and illustrated pages a foundation for understanding – and living in – the world to come." Alexander Robinson, USC School of Architecture, author of The Spoils of Dust: Reinventing the Lake that Made Los Angeles
"Design by Fire is a necessary book for all landscape architects and planners. The insightful interviews, succinct strategies, and emphasis on co-creative approaches structure the book, while the authors challenge us to grapple with current practices. They help us imagine a future in which reparations can bring traditional ecological knowledge to the forefront and imbue us with a culture of stewardship." Miho Mazereeuw, MIT, Director of the Urban Risk Lab
Table of ContentsIntroduction 1. Stewarding Change 2. Landscapes of Fire 3. Pyric Lexicon Approaches to Designing with Fire 4. Resistance 5. Co-Creation 6. Retreat Epilogue 7. Pyro Futures
