EDGELANDS AND ARCHITECTURE.

EDGELANDS AND ARCHITECTURE. I have posted several times about finding beauty in the industrialized wastelands near our cities. Here is a post which points out that arsonists have been called “New York City’s incidental restorationists” and that “abandoned junk can be good for wildlife.” It turns out that in England the term “Edgelands” is used to describe the zone between urban and rural—“a mix of rubbish tips, superstores, office parks, rough-hewn farmland, gas towers, electricity pylons, wildlife and service stations.” The quotation is from this photo essay by Simon Sellars paying tribute to Marion Shoard, the environmentalist who coined the term “Edgelands.” Shoard says that the edgelands contain “the architecture of our own time in all its majesty. The electricity sub-stations and rubbish tips of the interface perhaps more accurately express the character of our time than Portcullis House or the new Scottish Parliament building.” Shoard proposes historical walking tours of the edgelands.