Infrastructure, ecology and art

In keeping with the ‘industrial ecology’ metaphor, roads and railways should be regarded as forming an ecosystem with their surroundings, just like industrial systems (factory premises, manufacturing industries) that have had to start functioning as ecosystems in which the flow of energy, water, raw materials and waste products has been made to recycle as far as possible. In this type of system approach, the flow of material, transport, emissions and energy and the habitats of plants and animals are geographically, systematically and functionally integrated, especially when they are based on a greater degree of interweaving between man and nature than is currently the case. In short, a new way of looking at the meaning of ecology in relation to the physical infrastructure. In the article, examples are given about the practical implication of linking ecological patterns and processes within the design process of civil engineering object, as well as the possible art’s contribution in forming infrastructural landscapes.