Lake District 2.0: mutability and low-density landscapes in an accelerated culture

Design must challenge prevailing, traditional methods for engaging with place that is often static, linear and didactic. In this chapter, the use of latent and inherently mutable features of low-density landscapes will be endorsed to unlock regenerative futures through design. Elements in landscapes are continually susceptible to change – even the ones long perceived as inert – in large part because of our global, accelerated culture and the effects of human activity on climate. The rate of change is quickening and remoulding how we interact and use our cities, landscapes and resources. While design cannot stall or stop these dynamics, it can deflect them on a desirable trajectory that places climatic and ecological principles at its core. As such, design must view and engage with place through six propositional frameworks: (1) everything is now urban; (2) landscapes are all about processes, the answer is not an aesthetic one; (3) things go round in circles; (4) time is speeding up; (5) the rural condition is not natural; and, (6) the site must be seen as a body, or whole, rather than a collection of parts. Lake District 2.0 tests and visualises how these propositions can bring transformative change to the understanding of mobility, infrastructure, heritage, culture and economy. The approach is predicated on design viewing mutability as a driver for regenerating systems that are light-touch and resilient to the unforeseen factors that places must endure in years, decades and centuries to come.