Aquaculture Landscapes: Fish Farms and the Public Realm

"Aquaculture Landscapes is a breath-taking book—full of historical drawings, ingenious diagrams, and superb photography—that demonstrates how we can revolutionize our relationships with aquatic life. Grounded in multispecies urban theory and dreams of coexistence instead of exploitation, Ezban offers both concrete examples and speculative designs from around the world that will transform landscape architecture practice. His book is the first to not only argue for a post-human urbanism, but to demonstrate how landscape architects can go about creating a zoopolitan urbanism for the future. Aquaculture Landscapes is a must-read for all landscape architecture students, faculty, and professionals." —Jennifer Wolch, Dean, College of Environmental Design, UC Berkeley, USA "Michael Ezban presents an original and informative book on an extremely intriguing subject: aquaculture landscapes—fish farms as seen through the lens of contemporary landscape architecture. His work opens and invites us all into vast and exciting new territory for landscape architecture practice. Through examination of public landscapes where nutrient cycling, biological conservation, remediation, and vernacular farming practices combine to inspire a sense of wonder and pleasure, Aquaculture Landscapes illustrates both the art of survival and the art beyond survival." —Kongjian Yu, Dean and Professor, Graduate School of Landscape Architecture, Peking University & China President, Turenscape "We are all born of water, and our primordial relationship with aquatic ecologies endures. In this lush volume, Michael Ezban both plumbs the depths and surfaces common currents to reveal an aqueous terrain worthy of navigation for the Anthropocene. Through rigorous historical research and insightful contemporary precedents from aquaculture to angling, Aquaculture Landscapes offers fresh thinking and timely designs for a richer, more biodiverse world. Ezban’s design research intelligently articulates how we might materially and metaphorically cohabit with our oldest of relatives—the fish—and other species beyond the human."—Nina-Marie E. Lister, Graduate Program Director, School of Urban + Regional Planning, Ryerson University, Canada "Aquaculture Landscapes is a thoughtful, articulate, forward-thinking contribution to a deeply problematic yet still growing sector of food production. Combining intelligent prose with illuminating illustrations, Michael Ezban presents an alluring vision for how new, ecologically and ethically sensitive systems can—indeed, must—be designed for a liveable future. With what I’ve seen of the state of contemporary industrial aquaculture, this is a much-needed blueprint." —Jonathan Balcombe, author of What a Fish Knows "We are all born of water, and our primordial relationship with aquatic ecologies endures. In this lush volume, Michael Ezban both plumbs the depths and surfaces common currents to reveal an aqueous terrain worthy of navigation for the Anthropocene. Through rigorous historical research and insightful contemporary precedents from aquaculture to angling, Aquaculture Landscapes offers fresh thinking and timely designs for a richer, more biodiverse world. Ezban’s design research intelligently articulates how we might materially and metaphorically cohabit with our oldest of relatives—the fish—and other species beyond the human." —Nina-Marie E. Lister, Graduate Program Director, School of Urban & Regional Planning, Ryerson University, Canada "Aquaculture Landscapes is an incredible achievement! Michael Ezban’s beautiful maps, diagrams, and renderings unpack the diverse and integrated worlds that humans and fish inhabit. This book is a celebration of our ingenious and resourceful history as humans guiding and cultivating the aquatic landscape." —James Prosek, author of Eels "We are ecological beings. We interact with our fellow humans as well as with other species and our environments. But our interactions with other species tend to be one-sided: we take much more than we give. In Aquaculture Landscapes, Michael Ezban takes compelling deep dives into cohabited landscapes from around the world, and he offers a hopeful vision for how we might rebalance and reconfigure our relationships with fish and other aquatic life through design." —Frederick Steiner, Dean, Stuart Weitzman School of Design, University of Pennsylvania, USA "The work is a visual feast with something to lure every reader: landscape historian, urban ecology, entrepreneurial fish farmer, or landscape architect...Ezban's descriptions of contemporary projects provide a conceptual spine for 15 beautifully illustrated case studies - the tour de force of the book." —Nathan Heavers, Landscape Architecture Magazine, November 2019 "The work is a visual feast with something to lure every reader: landscape historian, urban ecology, entrepreneurial fish farmer, or landscape architect...Ezban's descriptions of contemporary projects provide a conceptual spine for 15 beautifully illustrated case studies - the tour de force of the book." —Nathan Heavers, Landscape Architecture Magazine, November 2019 "Aquaculture Landscapes is a breath-taking book—full of historical drawings, ingenious diagrams, and superb photography—that demonstrates how we can revolutionize our relationships with aquatic life. Grounded in multispecies urban theory and dreams of coexistence instead of exploitation, Ezban offers both concrete examples and speculative designs from around the world that will transform landscape architecture practice. His book is the first to not only argue for a post-human urbanism, but to demonstrate how landscape architects can go about creating a zoöpolitan urbanism for the future. Aquaculture Landscapes is a must-read for all landscape architecture students, faculty, and professionals."—Jennifer Wolch, Dean, College of Environmental Design, UC Berkeley, USA "Michael Ezban presents an original and informative book on an extremely intriguing subject: aquaculture landscapes—fish farms as seen through the lens of contemporary landscape architecture. His work opens and invites us all into vast and exciting new territory for landscape architecture practice. Through examination of public landscapes where nutrient cycling, biological conservation, remediation, and vernacular farming practices combine to inspire a sense of wonder and pleasure, Aquaculture Landscapes illustrates both the art of survival and the art beyond survival."—Kongjian Yu, Dean and Professor, Graduate School of Landscape Architecture, Peking University, China, President, Turenscape "Aquaculture Landscapes is a thoughtful, articulate, forward-thinking contribution to a deeply problematic yet still growing sector of food production. Combining intelligent prose with illuminating illustrations, Michael Ezban presents an alluring vision for how new, ecologically and ethically sensitive systems can—indeed, must—be designed for a liveable future. With what I’ve seen of the state of contemporary industrial aquaculture, this is a much-needed blueprint."—Jonathan Balcombe, author of What a Fish Knows "We are all born of water, and our primordial relationship with aquatic ecologies endures. In this lush volume, Michael Ezban both plumbs the depths and surfaces common currents to reveal an aqueous terrain worthy of navigation for the Anthropocene. Through rigorous historical research and insightful contemporary precedents from aquaculture to angling, Aquaculture Landscapes offers fresh thinking and timely designs for a richer, more biodiverse world. Ezban’s design research intelligently articulates how we might materially and metaphorically cohabit with our oldest of relatives—the fish—and other species beyond the human."—Nina-Marie E. Lister, Graduate Program Director, School of Urban & Regional Planning, Ryerson University, Canada "Aquaculture Landscapes is an incredible achievement! Michael Ezban’s beautiful maps, diagrams, and renderings unpack the diverse and integrated worlds that humans and fish inhabit. This book is a celebration of our ingenious and resourceful history as humans guiding and cultivating the aquatic landscape."—James Prosek, author of Eels "We are ecological beings. We interact with our fellow humans as well as with other species and our environments. But our interactions with other species tend to be one-sided: we take much more than we give. In Aquaculture Landscapes, Michael Ezban takes compelling deep dives into cohabited landscapes from around the world, and he offers a hopeful vision for how we might rebalance and reconfigure our relationships with fish and other aquatic life through design."—Frederick Steiner, Dean, Stuart Weitzman School of Design, University of Pennsylvania, USA