A Third Intelligence

Abstract

The fundamental challenge in the application of Artificial Intelligence to the discipline of Landscape Architecture is that current definitions of Artificial Intelligence do not fit within systemic landscape frameworks. Rather than focusing on complex ecological relationships, general definitions of Artificial Intelligence tend to emphasize the intelligence of individual entities and overlook the emergent intelligence of assemblages of human and nonhuman agents. We argue that it is important to develop a working definition of “intelligence” specific to Landscape Architecture before seriously considering the fruitful use of Artificial Intelligence in the production of environments. We adopt the agent-environment framework for defining intelligence in the context of landscape and assert that the definition has to be specific and situated: when discussing intelligence, it is necessary to clarify the agents, the environments, and the overarching goals. Taking intelligence as a lens, designers choreograph the intelligence distributed among human and non-human agents in the environment to produce landscapes. Introducing Artificial Intelligence to Landscape Architecture proposes a “third intelligence,” co-evolving with human and non-human actors. For Landscape Architecture, opportunity lies in the interactions and dialogues between these forms of intelligence.