This course investigates speculative design through a topic of special interest that is not usually addressed in the curriculum: horticulture, that is, around (living) plant material and vegetation as elementary unit of both “natural” and “human-made” ecosystems The self-guided walk of the main loop trail will be led by Prof. emeritus Pao Chao, who has organized many field trips to the coastal reserve as when he was instructor of ENVR 30. The field trip will cover sustainability of a natural landscape and its maintenance, using the coastal sage scrub as an example, which may serve as a model for xerophytic landscaping. Selected native plants around the knoll will be used to explain plant adaptations and ethnobotanical uses, and the challenges of habitat restoration with the long history of human impact at the knoll. The group will only walk around the main loop and will stay on the trail.

Approved