In a capitalist and consumer-driven economy, the landscape is waste just like almost anything else. Waste landscape will always be somewhere, changing locations as previous ones are reintegrated and new ones are created elsewhere.
The rapid post-war decline in Barrow’s industries (shipbuilding, iron ore and steel production) has littered the town with wastelands. Barrow’s over-utilised scenery contrasts starkly with the neighbouring countryside – whose beauty has been left fallow, attracting tourists and an associated economy. This proximity has positioned Barrow as a detour rather than a destination, making it difficult to value Barrow’s industrial landscapes and associated wastelands.
Landscape is a product of human intervention – shaped and re-shaped by its use and mis-use. Municipality seeks to manage nature – producing manicured parks, articulated woodlands and signposted seashore. Seemingly with no obvious purpose or design, wastelands can cause uncertainty and unease. Yet wastelands are a haven for nature, their unmanaged state allowing plants and animals to colonise at will. Wastelands act as a conduit through which nature can reclaim territory, providing a link between urban and rural. People also colonise wastelands, utilising vacant spaces for activities such as jogging, dog walking, bicycling, walking, fishing, playing and getting up to mischief – momentarily claiming the land as their own through their actions.
During 2008, I undertook a residency at Art Gene in Barrow-in-Furness, researching urban wastelands. Part of the research involved a series of ‘drifts’ across the town – sauntering with stories dictated by the landscape and how people interacted with their surroundings.
Click on the images below to read the stories and view the maps.
