Author(s): Qinyi Zhang; Nathan Fredrick

Linked Author(s):

Keywords: Climate change; Technonature; Interdisciplinarity; Integrated water system; Hybridity

Abstract: In the era of climate change and escalating ecological crises, the theme of techno-natural hybridity has become increasingly central to urban and landscape design across all scales. As scientific and technological fields— including ecohydraulics—advance to maintain, repair, and generate ecosystems, the very meanings of nature and ecology and their relation with technology continue to evolve and expand. Among others, Escobar's concept of technonature captures this shift: organic nature is increasingly monitored, intervened in, and even produced through technological systems, rendering the biological a matter of design (Escobar 1999:12). Working within technonature opens new possibilities for designers—not only in terms of applying science and technology, but also in shaping new everyday experiences and creating hybrid typologies that respond to ecological, social, and political challenges. Such an approach reconfigures how the relationship between humans and their environment can be conceptualized and practiced. This paper explores these new possibilities through the case of the Ringparks projects in Antwerp—a future large-scale green and public-space system built atop the capped highway ring. Here, an integrated and hybrid water system that combines natural and artificial water sources, with varying rhythms, quantities, and qualities, serves as a framework for designing diverse ecologies and rich public-space experiences within the dense urban fabric of Antwerp.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.64697/iahr.proc.ise2026.abs.286

Year: 2026