In February 2025, over 40 practitioners, researchers, and educators came together at ETH Zürich for this colloquium, to discuss the evolving relationship between the design and maintenance of living systems. In response to accelerating climate uncertainty, shrinking municipal budgets, and precarious labour conditions, the colloquium posed a simple but urgent question: how might we maintain landscapes otherwise? Videos of the keynote lectures and the book of abstracts are now available here.
Hosted across ETH Zürich’s Hönggerberg and Zentrum campuses over three days, Beyond Maintenance brought together perspectives from landscape architecture, ecology, and the environmental humanities. Contributions ranged from iterative design strategies and long-term stewardship models to speculative practices of commoning and care. Despite the wide range of disciplines represented, many shared concerns emerged, particularly around questions of land tenure, equitable project structures and how to respond creatively to unexpected ecological dynamics.
Across keynotes, panels, and roundtable discussions, the event challenged the disciplinary divide between design and maintenance, foregrounding the creative, political, and ecological potential of ongoing landscape care. Together, the colloquium called for a shift in both language and practice toward approaches that recognise maintenance as an active, situated form of design.
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