expanses of territory. Waldheim points out that landscape has become “the most relevant disciplinary site for debates historically housed in architecture, urban design, or planning,” in part due to the inability of the latter to “offer coherent, competent, and convincing explanations of contemporary urban conditions” (Waldheim 2006, p. 1). In the traditional view of infrastructure, landscape was often limited to a secondary role, considered a “scenic backdrop” for environments whose design and operation fell to other spe- cialties, a criticism also made by James Corner (Corner, 1999). However, landscape urbanism, as described by Waldheim, proposes a radical change: “contemporary practices of landscape urbanism recommend the use of in- frastructural systems and the public landscapes they engender as the very mechanisms of urban field management” (Waldheim 2006, p. 2). Thus, the Kimal-Lo Aguirre route, its easements, and its associated stations could be conceived not as scars to be hidden, but as opportunities to articulate new public spaces, restore fragmented ecosystems, or create multifunctional ecological corridors along its 1,500 kilometers. This vision recognizes the unique ability of landscape to manage temporal dynamics, transformation, adaptation, and succession, which are essential aspects of durable infrastructure. It asserts that landscape is the essential medium for ecological interactions and, therefore, the infrastructure of the future. This implies that the planning of the Kimal-Lo Aguirre line should consider its easement as an active “ecological infrastructure.” The “con- fluence, integration, and fluid exchange between environmental (natural) and infrastructural (designed) systems” (Waldheim 2006, p. 5) is one of the implicit advantages of landscape urbanism. Therefore, the discipline of landscape architecture should not only identify impacts but also actively design the linear corridor to revitalize the space and achieve urban or terri- torial effects without the need to employ the cumbersome mechanisms of classical spatial creation. Likewise, urban design and architecture play a crucial role from the macro to the micro scale. Although the line is predominantly rural, its starting and ending points, as well as intersections with human settlements and other infrastructure, require an approach from these disciplines. Electrical sub- stations, for example, are large industrial facilities that require architectural design that considers their integration into the environment and safety. In addition, the proximity of the towers to communities requires urban design that considers distances, accessibility for maintenance, and residents' per- ception of safety and quality of life. The architecture of the towers themselves, although standardized, could be explored to reduce their visual impact or even give them aesthetic value in certain sections, moving away from sim- ple technological optimization to seek, as Kenneth Frampton (1983) would say in his call for “critical regionalism,” a form adapted to the infrastructure. Finally, the inherent complexity of Kimal - Lo Aguirre highlights the need for integrated planning geared towards the project´s genuine territorial governance, going beyond a purely engineering or sectoral approach. Inte- grated territorial planning, bringing together the aforementioned disciplines alongside engineers, ecologists, sociologists, and, fundamentally, local communities, is essential. The territorial and systemic perspective inherent in the discipline of landscape architecture allows us to gauge the scale, im- pact, and influence that a megaproject such as this has on the landscape, on the geographical and social space, and the territory. Waldheim (2006, p. 5) points out how landscape urbanism has become relevant for reordering post-industrial sites and addressing “easements of various infrastructure systems such as electrical ones,” filling a gap left by traditional planning, which has partly abdicated its role of “proposing physical designs.” Urban design can facilitate these processes through visualization and participation tools.. Towards a new infrastructure ecology The success of a project such as Kimal - Lo Aguirre will not be measured solely in megawatts transported, but in its ability to integrate respectfully and proactively into the territories it inhabits. Disciplines that delve into understanding the environment from a spatial perspective, and with the ability to model space and plan the territory, such as architecture, urban design, planning, and landscape, play a fundamental role. As Waldheim (2006, p. 3) points out, landscape has emerged as “the most relevant me- dium through which to construct a meaningful and viable public sphere” in contemporary cities. Architecture, urban design, land-use planning, and, crucially, landscape architecture should not be specialists who are called upon at a late stage to remedy impacts, but rather central actors from the conception to the materialization and management of these new energy geographies. Their early and meaningful involvement is a necessary condition for the energy transition to also be a transition towards more equitable, resilient, and aes- thetically conscious territorial development, where infrastructure becomes an organizer of the territorial field. Only then can projects of the magnitude of Kimal - Lo Aguirre transcend their status as mere infrastructure to become true catalysts for a sustainable and integrated future for Chile. !
THESIS
Kimal - Lo Aguirre The imperative of landscape in the face of mega infrastructure
Text based on the visual research project “Kimal - Lo Aguirre Power Transmission Mega-line” carried out by Archipiélago in 2024.
The Kimal - Lo Aguirre electricity transmission project, essential for Chile's energy transition, represents a major territorial challenge. This article, framed within contemporary and established theories of landscape archi- tecture and urban planning, argues that the magnitude, landscape impact, and socio-spatial implications of this mega-line require the active and early participation of disciplines such as architecture, urban design, territorial planning, and, fundamentally, landscape architecture. Their integration into a process dominated by engineering is essential to mitigate adverse effects, enhance benefits, and ensure the harmonious and functional insertion of the infrastructure into the various contexts it traverses. Chile is looking to move toward a cleaner energy matrix, with the Kimal-Lo Aguirre direct current transmission line project, currently undergoing envi- ronmental assessment by SEA (Conexión Kimal Lo Aguirre S.A. 2023), serving as a cornerstone. With a length of approximately 1,500 kilometers and using the renewable potential of the Atacama Desert to supply the central region of the country, this initiative not only represents a technical feat, but also a large-scale territorial intervention, whose impacts—on sensitive ecosystems and local communities—still pose significant challenges in terms of social and environmental integration. A closer look at this mega-line highlights the need for a detailed and multidisciplinary analysis, inviting all experts in these areas to get involved in analyzing and disseminating the different aspects and impacts of this colossal project. It underscores the urgent need for the disciplines of design and territorial planning—architecture, urban design, territorial planning, and, with special emphasis, landscape—to take on a leading role from the initial phases of projects of this nature and scale. The territorial challenge and relevance of design disciplines The scale of the Kimal-Lo Aguirre line, with its thousands of towers up to 78 meters high, transcends mere energy functionality to become a structur- ing—and potentially disruptive—element of the territory. In this context, the intervention on the landscape and territory takes on a strategic dimension that goes beyond simple mitigation. The line crosses landscapes of high natural and cultural value, and in the area affected by the landscape, an area of more than 10,000 km2 (more than 1,000,000 hectares) is established, which the project defines “according to the maximum visual space that a common observer can access from and to the Project area (SGA Gestión Ambiental 2023b).” This vast area underscores the magnitude of the visual and ecological impact. The territorial scope of the Kimal-Lo Aguirre project, with its approximately 1,500 km length, is comparable in linear magnitude to Route 5 Panamer- icana, Chile's main highway that crosses the country from north to south. Just as Route 5 has had transformative and permanent impacts on land use planning, connectivity, economic development, and the landscapes of the areas it crosses, it is anticipated that an energy infrastructure on the scale of Kimal-Lo Aguirre will create equally profound and long-term effects, recon- figuring the spatial and socioeconomic dynamics of the territories involved and posing significant challenges for integrated planning and governance. Faced with this scale of intervention, the discipline of landscape archi- tecture, informed by legacies such as that of Ian McHarg and contemporary theories such as landscape urbanism, offers a robust framework. McHarg (1969), with his seminal work Design with Nature, laid the foundations for ecological planning that internalizes the dynamics of natural systems into the design process. For a linear project such as Kimal - Lo Aguirre, this would involve detailed mapping of the territory's ecological aptitudes, identifying areas of fragility, biological corridors, and intrinsic landscape values to inform and shape an intervention of this nature. Charles Waldheim (2006, p. 1) argues that landscape has emerged as a model for contemporary urbanism, “uniquely capable of describing the conditions for radically decentralized urbanization, especially in the context of complex natural environments.” In this sense, the mega-line is not only an energy vector but a form of linear “urbanization” that reconfigures vast
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