LANDSCAPE AND URBAN PLANNING ELSEVIER Landscape and Urban Planning 39 (1997) 99- 107 Growing community: A case for hybrid landscapes Moura Quayle *, Tilo C. Driessen van der Lieck ’ Landscape Architecture Program, UtGersity of British Columbia, 248-2357 Main Mall, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, V6T 124 Abstract Hybrid landscapes are community landscapes. They are generated by combining two place-making processes: the ways that traditional public parks and streets are designed and maintained, and the acts of small-scale appropriation and embellishment that lead to the diversity and richness of front and backyards in residential neighbourhoods. Hybrid landscapes facilitate environmental communication between the community and individuals, and strengthen community sentiment by serving as mechanisms for the propagation of valued neighbourhood qualities that are threatened by redevelopment. In that context, the paper discusses neighbourhoods as familiar, restorative, memorable and beautiful environments. A community greenway, a model hybrid landscape, is described as an example, and rules for making such landscapes are explained. 0 1997 Elsevier Science B.V. Keywords: Urban landscape; Greenway; Community landscape 1. Introduction The root of the word community is the Latin word communis which means common in the sense of sharing equally or together with others. A more recent notion is common in the sense of ordinary, widespread or not special. This way, togetherness is widespread, community is common. The word communication has the same origin, it means to make common and thus known. Who communicates with whom, how, when, where, and in what context and situation is an important way in which communication and the built environ- ment are related. Environments both reflect commu- * Corresponding author. Tel.: + l-604-822-2.536; fax: + 1-604- 822-6394; e-mail: mquayle@unixg.ubc.ca ’ Tel.: + l-604-257-8404; fax: + l-604-257-8427. nication and modulate it, channel it, control it, facili- tate it, inhibit it (p. 181 of Rapoport, 1982). The same is true for the urban landscape. Streets, lanes, front and backyards participate in this commu- nication. Two messages are most important to com- municate. The first one tells that indeed there is community, a measure of sharing or togetherness between the residents of a neighbourhood. The sec- ond one is more personal, stating that within the community there are distinct individuals. Both mes- sages, affirmations of belonging to a group and being recognizable within the group, are increasingly diffi- cult to communicate in the urban landscape. The urban landscape is becoming more anonymous and less livable in the process. A strong dialectical relationship exists between the urban landscape and a sense of community. The urban landscape can function as a growing medium for the community; it can be a culture for commu- 0169-2046/97/$17.00 0 1997 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. PII SO169-2046(97)00048-O