I have been doing a kind of plant-focused landscape criticism for a number of years now. Plants are essential to human…
On leaving Scotland
Life in Quebec is easier than life in Scotland, and therefore happier; it feels like home. I am not sorry we…
Reading urban plants for soil conditions
I have been helping out with a public arts initiative during Glasgow International (festival of visual arts). Soil City is…
Glasgow City Council’s planning committee visits the North Kelvin Meadow
For eight years, a property developer called New City Vision (NCV) has been trying to gain permission to build condos…
On living the urban good life, elsewhere. Or, what bikes and plants can do.
We moved to Glasgow from Los Angeles, which many people imagine must have been a difficult move. We did (and…
Writing about trees
A new planning application has been submitted by New City Vision, who want to build 100 “owner-occupied units” on what…
collective gardening in an age of social media
The snowdrops and crocuses are up here in Glasgow which means that true spring is somewhere not too far around the…
Valuing neglected and unregulated landscapes part 4
This post has been a long time coming, and some things have happened in the meantime that have caused me…
Valuing neglected and unregulated landscapes part 3
The value I want to describe in this post (in a very preliminary fashion), is that associated with the quality or effect of…
A footnote on landscape ‘values’
As I work through this train of thought (see previous posts on “valuing neglected and unregulated landscapes”), I realize some…