What practices and strategies can be employed to prototype territories that enhance human-planetary relations within the framework of Hortopia?

Emphasizing our broader relationship with the planet, Hortopia defines strategies of placemaking and prototyping territories to improve human-planetary relationships. Hortopia, is based on French landscape architect Gilles Clément's concept of the Planetary Garden. Going beyond the traditional garden at the service of people, both Hortopia and the Planetary Garden place the planet as the focal point of human attention.

Through a series of case studies, interviews and perspectives, author Jan Eckert provides a historical and theoretical framework for understanding within the concept of Hortopia. The text delves into the overarching theme of our human-planetary relationship, which, beyond design, connects to many subjects in the humanities, environmental studies, architecture and the like.

Dr Jan Eckert is an urbanist, author, and researcher exploring eco-social transformation through phenomenological methodology and photographic inquiry. Based in Switzerland, he serves as a researcher at Lugano Living Lab and visiting professor at Lucerne University of Applied Sciences. His two decades of leadership in higher education and applied research inform his integration of critical systems thinking, place-making and inner development.