ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book summarizes a path of life and design which follows the goal of fostering ‘living life’, using capacities to develop and be curious, expressive and creative, living a life that makes no distinction between humans and nature. It demonstrates how for some challenging contemporary issues such as the Anthropocene and transformative science, the projective quality of research through design offers unique potential for exploring new ideas and solutions. The book explores how tools such as design mapping serve to position oneself within a landscape’s complex, relational and dynamic spatial nexus or ‘meshwork’ and find an approach that is exploratory, adaptive and responsive. It describes how three walking modes — the ‘discovery mode’, the ‘flow mode’ and the ‘reflective mode’ — can encourage intuitive ways of thinking and an implicit understanding of a landscape.
