This project uses a unique educational landscape to warn and educate people that nature always has the upper hand. Rather than reflecting and regretting after disasters, more attention should be paid to environmental conservation. A sequence of symbolic landscapes highlights the horrifying effects of human environmental devastation, inspiring people to engage with the design to experience a possible future, and then think backwards to consider current behaviours.
According to the most comprehensive environmental study ever conducted by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), human-induced degradation of the world’s natural resources is rapidly outstripping the planet’s ability to absorb damage. That means the rate of degradation on a global scale is accelerating (UNEP, 2021). In recent years a series of catastrophic events have shaken the world’s environmental conscience. For instance, the desert locusts in Africa; Okjokull glacier melted in Iceland; one of the most intense bushfire seasons ever recorded in Australia; and a previously unknown coronavirus has triggered a pandemic worldwide. These events seem to be just some natural behaviours, but they are indeed a disaster for human beings. Some people might say that this could have happened without humans, but humans have acted as a catalyst in these global changes. However, people rarely stop to think after a disaster.
On April 13, 2021, news from Japan caught the attention of the world, and the Japanese government held a cabinet meeting (Pingfan, 2021). It officially announced that the Fukushima nuclear waste would be discharged into the sea. This is related to the protection problem of the marine ecological environment and is even relevant to the sustainable future development of human society. However, indifference may represent the attitude of many people around the world about the discharge of nuclear wastewater into the ocean, and some people might not even know about this news. Because the consequences of nuclear wastewater discharge are unknown, and people can’t see the harm and impact at the moment, so many people are indifferent like dealing with other global issues.
SITe locus
Design concept
The concept of REVELATOR is based on the symbolic interaction theory and Affordance theory to explore the future typology of the post-disaster landscape through the integration of dystopian and surrealist concepts with elements of the Fukushima post-disaster landscape, creating a series of particular landscape nodes. By routing these landscape nodes to make an experiential journey. Each experience in the journey will bring visitors an impact of visual and psychological, to make them reflect on the environmental issues that people used to ignore. That will also highlight the educational significance of the project.
fukushima journey plan
TOWN
Shimonogami town is the start point of the journey. This landscape integrates the symbolic interaction theory and surrealism concept to create a streetscape of an imagining future post-disaster town. In the past, humans were the masters of the town, occupying a dominant position, and nature was only used as a landscape decoration and embellishment in the city. But after the nuclear accident, with the evacuation of the local population, humans gradually disappeared from the area, and nature retook the town as the new dominant player. The streets that used to be bustling are now filled with plants and water puddles, and the cars that used to be driven are now scrapped metal. This landscape scene shows the visitor the power of nature and serves as a warning to all.
FOREST
The second station of the journey is YAMADA HILL that located in an elevated position. This landscape node will highlight a post-disaster landscape in a natural environment. The forest is the opposite of the town. Vegetations are the main part, and nature is dominant with diverse ecological communities and a closely connected ecosystem. A tremendous tree combines the site’s symbol elements to create an observation tower and allow the visitors to see the post-disaster landscape from different levels.
FIELD
This landscape node is the CHOJAHARA OTTOZAWA field which has a vast and flat terrain. The design takes the land art and surrealism as inspiration use the existing contaminated soil mound and other landscape elements to create a large-scale post-disaster landscape. When nuclear waste is dumped into the ocean, most people focus only on the damage to the marine system, ignoring the fact that the contamination is all-encompassing, not only to the sea but also to the land and air, to nature and people. This landscape serves as a reminder of the effects of nuclear contamination on all aspects and damage.
INDUSTRY
This station is Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. As the core area of the disaster, there are many significant landscape elements on the site. This landscape node is based on symbolic interaction theory and surrealist concepts to create a symbolic memorial by reforming the wastewater tanks and components of the abandoned nuclear power plant. In this memorial landscape, visitors will see the indelible scars that humans have left on earth and nature in the past. It’s a warning and makes people rethink their relationship with nature.
SEA
The end of the journey is to the seaside. This landscape node provides a platform and an underwater tunnel to visit the ocean scene after pollution. The form of the structure is inspired by wastewater texture and land art. Visitors will gradually explore the ocean and discover more profound levels of corruption under the surface.
Yongjie Jiang is a fourth-year Landscape Architecture student with a minor in Architecture design. He believes landscape architecture can create a harmonious space between humankind and nature. He is passionate about taking global issues into account and combining urbanisation and human comfort at the spatial scale to create a comfortable and aesthetically pleasing human living environment, reflecting the global issues through the landscape.
