Landscape for Sale

EXPERT INSIGHT

Ever feel like design is suffocating us?

I am obsessed with creating spaces that matter and that will be cherished decades from now. Lately, I've been wrestling with a nagging question: In a world drowning in stuff, how do we create architectural legacies that truly endure?

Therefore, I started this contemplation micro-movement to uncover the soul of future heritage, fueled by design research and a healthy dose of critical heritage thinking.

We're bombarded daily with thousands of designs, each vying for our attention. This relentless overproduction numbs us, devaluing the very concept of design. Mass consumerism pushes us to consume more, faster, with little regard for long-term impact. This hyper-commercialized landscape erodes cultural identities and dilutes our connection to the natural and built environment.

We've forgotten that design should serve humanity, not the other way around.

The design has become ubiquitous and we are facing a paradox: the more we design, the less meaningful it becomes. Our environment is drowning in a sea of quick solutions and temporary fixes.

Quantity has overshadowed quality.

Think about the last time you walked through your city. How many thoughtfully designed spaces did you encounter? How many seemed to exist purely for consumption? The commodification of design has led to the fast-food architecture – quick, standardized, and ultimately unsatisfying.

RESEARCH SPOTLIGHT

Speaking of being overwhelmed, Umberto Eco, in his brilliant La Struttura Assente [The Absent Structure], laid bare how culture, information, and communication intertwine. He presented a fascinating framework for understanding how we communicate through architecture, reminding us that buildings and spaces aren't just physical structures – they're complex systems of signs that speak to both present and future generations.

Key insights:

• Architecture exists simultaneously as a functional object and a communication medium. 

• Meaning isn't inherent; it's constructed.

• Design is a powerful language, capable of shaping our perceptions.

So, who is dictating the language and crafting our narratives?

CASE STUDY ANALYSIS

Kotor's Heritage Landscape

I’ve made it my mission to unravel the complex narratives of heritage landscapes as dynamic spatio-temporal entities, where heritage isn’t just a backdrop but an active character in the story.

In this context, I have a problem with billboards.

In a scientific study recently published in the journal of the Institute of Architecture and Urban & Spatial Planning of Serbia, I examined how commercial pressures are reshaping one of Europe's most precious UNESCO World Heritage sites: Kotor, Montenegro. Through the lens of what I term billboardization, the research portrays a narrative of landscape transformation.

Imagine driving toward a medieval coastal town, expecting to see the stunning fjord-like bay and towering mountains that earned it UNESCO World Heritage status. On your way, you're greeted by a gauntlet of billboards, competing for attention and obscuring the very landscape that makes this place special.

This is the reality of Kotor's buffer zone - a heritage landscape turned into a billboard brothel.

My research documented how this protected landscape, encompassing 14,600 ha of cultural property and 36,491 ha of the buffer zone, experienced a dramatic shift from protected landscape to what Rem Koolhaas termed junkspace.

Key Research Findings:

• 239 billboards in only 5,5 km of Adriatic highway 

  
  

• Reframed cultural identity and disrupted perception of the heritage landscape

  
  

• Image of the city is the reputation of the city

The visual pollution directly conflicts with UNESCO's Historic Urban Landscape (HUL) approach to heritage management. Billboardized space along key viewpoints has fundamentally altered we experience the historic landscape. The landscape—once read as a coherent cultural text—became fragmented, overtaken by commercial storytelling.

Heritage in Limbo

Well, unexpectedly, recent construction works on the highway have temporarily cleared many billboards from the landscape. This created a liminal moment, a sort of threshold state where we can glimpse what the landscape could be. So, there’s hope.

The billboards have largely come down, and not by design, but by accident. Construction works on the highway threw the landscape into a liminal state, sort of a visual purgatory.

So, construction-induced hiatus offers a unique opportunity to reflect and re-evaluate the character of this space.

What’s at stake?

• The erosion of authenticity

• The loss of spatial identity

• The challenge of reclaiming meaning

What can we do?

• Heritage Impact Assessment (HIA)

• Visual Impact Assessment (VIA)

• Use these tools as ideology frameworks, not as bureaucratic checklists

This isn't just about aesthetics. It's about the narrative of a place, and what values we prioritize. Designing for the landscape isn’t about control—it’s about dialogue.

CURATOR’S PICK

The following countries have enacted billboard bans to protect the exquisite landscape values, and the following cities have reduced and removed outdoor advertising to preserve cultural heritage values.

🔹United States of America:

• Hawaii (1927)

• Alaska (1959)

• Vermont (1968)

• Maine (1977)

🔹Brazil: São Paulo (Lei Cidade Limpa [Clean City Law], 2007)

🔹France: Nantes, Grenoble, Marseilles, Paris (2023)

🔹Switzerland: Geneva (Geneve Zero Pub [Geneva Without Ads], 2023)

EVENTS & CALLS

Architectural & Urbanistic Design Competitions

📌 Local public interest facility – the market and necessary infrastructure
Tivat, Montenegro (deadline: March 31)

📌 House of the Future 2024/2025
Dubai, UAE (deadline: June 2)

📌 Laguna Vere
Tbilisi, Georgia (deadline: August 1)

Events in Design, Architecture, Heritage

📌 Salone del Mobile, Milan, Italy
Premium furniture and design fair (April 8–13)
Link: Salone

📌 19th Venice Architecture Biennale, Venice, Italy
Theme: Intelligens. Natural. Artificial. Collective. (May–November)

📌 Europa Nostra - European Heritage Hub Forum, Budva, Montenegro
EU Enlargement: Cultural Heritage as a Key Resource for Cities & Civil Society (April 3-4)

READING RECOMMENDATION

Eko, Umberto. 1973. Kultura, informacija, komunikacija. Beograd: Nolit.

Koolhaas, Rem. 2002. Junkspace. October, 100, 175–190.

Radović, David. 2023. Bilbordizacija ulazaka u grad: Predio i rekadrirani identitet. (eng. The Billboardization of the City Entrances: Landscape and Reframed Identity) Arhitektura i urbanizam, 57, 26-35. DOI: 10.5937/a-u0-44938.
Link: https://aseestant.ceon.rs/index.php/a-u/article/view/44938

RADICAL THOUGHT

What if commercial interests enhanced rather than detracted from cultural significance?