Participatory Design for Cultural Landscapes: The cambus of Democritus University, Greece

Abstract

Aim of this paper is the presentation of proposal on open space replanning of Democritus University, which is found outside the city of Komotini, in Greece, through the participative activation process of students of the Departments of Physical Education & Sports Science and Greek Literature (Democritus University) and the students of the Department of Landscape Architecture of Drama (TEI Kavala). Landscape students were asked to collaborate with stakeholders (students of Democritus University) and design a green campus for the cultural landscape of Komontini based on the needs and desires of the stakeholders and their landscape preferences for the site, their preferred natural elements and campus activities. So there was a participatory design process by students for students. 255 students answered the questionnaire and 24 students (6 groups) worked for the landscape plan. School of Landscape Architecture chose the project that creates a strong identity for the campus of the University and lies within the campus design criteria. The main idea of this selected project is the creation of thematic parks, such as the Democritus garden and the 5 continents. The concept is that sustainability will be an integral component of life in the campus, not only for students, but for the larger population of town and wider region of Komotini and the cultural identity will be an important aspect of campus master planning. The changes proposed for the campus upgrade were to correspond to the needs of the educational community in order to be adopted and viable.