Projecting the Deep Ground

Abstract

This article reflects on surface-based urban strategies and explores the idea of deep ground. It aims to reveal the ground’s unacquainted thickness in order to discover the stratified context informed by local knowledge—historical, ecological, geological and hydrological. To clarify the argument, the article dwells on design projects conducted in our research-based design studio. Focusing on Bodrum, a Turkish coastal town challenged by rampant tourism, the studio developed analyses and design proposals for activating the town’s deep ground. Based on the studio projects, the research seeks out various ways of projecting the ground and frames three design acts that propose creative future urban strategies and scenarios: expanding the guidelines, thickening the ground and populating the liminal zones. © 2023 European Council of Landscape Architecture Schools (ECLAS).