Pomona Island: A Landscape of Becoming
As a landscape designer and horticulturalist with over sixteen years of specialist experience, my practice is driven by the creative alchemy of the design process and a deep commitment to urban ecology. Having spent over 20 years in Manchester, my work is rooted in a desire to deliver a lasting, positive impact on the city’s climate resilience while reconnecting urban communities with the profound benefits of the natural world.
My expertise lies at the intersection of spatial design and long-term strategic planting planning. Backed by significant professional horticultural qualifications, I view planting not merely as a static aesthetic element, but as a dynamic, living system that requires careful, forward-facing care and maintenance to thrive within challenging urban environments.
This philosophy is central to my exhibition project, Pomona Island: A Landscape of Becoming. Rooted in a post-humanist framework, the design reimagines a Pomona and the canalised section of the River Irwell as an Evolving Museum of Self-Generating Landscapes. Rather than treating the site as a rigid collection, the project explores autopoiesis; allowing the landscape to self-organise and adapt over time. By applying an explicit ethics of care to the site’s ecology, the scheme proposes to restore a vital ecological ecotone, protecting in-situ habitats while weaving together the polyphonic voices of the biological, the atmospheric, and the human.
Ultimately, my work aims to challenge traditional, human-centric design paradigms. By focusing on more-than-human agency and robust planting strategies, I seek to envision urban spaces that act as functional, evolving habitats. It is an approach that treats landscape design as an ongoing relationship of care; one capable of mitigating the climate crisis while bringing the people of Manchester into closer, more meaningful contact with nature.
