Christianna Bennett

Assistant Professor and Director, Geofutures

I teach at the university level in the Bachelors of Architecture and Masters of Architecture programs at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York. My specializations include interdisciplinary coursework (bridging Landscape Architecture, Architecture, and Urbanism), and the History, Theory, and Criticism of Design. I also teach architecture students in Core Design Studios, years 1 - 4, and advise on terminal projects and Theses.

My research interests include ecology, environmental ethics, and human geography; the use of biomaterials in landscapes, experimental horticulture,  the history and philosophy of science, technology, and design; the futures of landscapes and botany, the invention of botanical-cyborg hybrids, and speculation on landscape-machines -- landscapes that generate architecture, and architecture that creates and shapes landscapes.

Ongoing research examines the implications of merging biological and artificial systems -- questioning the physical, material, and spatial properties of mixed systems, as well as the socio-cultural implications for the stewardship and care of 'artificial' x living matter. 

I am also interested in the contemporary landscapes of medicinal plants and substances. This includes the cultivation practices of medicinal plants, cultural relationships formed around these plants, and the material lifecycles of useful substances and waste material from the processing of vegetation for medicine. I am currently working on a publication that examines the environmental, ecological, and cultural legacies of medicinal plants, as they exist within, are extracted from, and shape landscapes, ecologies, and cultures. 

In my scholarship, I pursue questions about the emotional power of images and the compelling force of environmental aesthetics to provoke hope and imagination about the future of landscapes and ecologies. My research aims to deepen our imagination about the possible futures of horticulture and socio-technical and hydrosocial systems.

My work is inspired and motivated by the work of a number of individuals, friends and colleagues, including Lorraine Daston, Mae-ling Lokko, Elaine Stokes, Andreea Vasile Hoxha, Rawan Al Saffar, Weaam Al Abdullah, Jeremy Kamal Hartley, Hannah Gaengler, William Virgil, Samantha Solano, Alberto deSalvatierra, Ed Eigen, Chris Perry and Cathryn Dwyer, Max Liboiron, Ursula le Guin, Eva Franch, Diane Scherer, the Bio Babes — and more.