An Intrinsic Relation — Another Nature Idea
The vision of a “blue-green weave” reimagines our relationship with nature, where human and ecological systems are interwoven into one dynamic interconnected whole.
A hand cradles a starfish, its arms wrapping around the curves and edges of the palm, gently encircling the fingers. An organism, finally free to realize its true potential, embraced by the human hand that, for far too long, had forgotten how to hold it. Together, they form a new whole—bound by mutual dependency, where neither can thrive nor exist without the other. A unity that transcends binaries, embodying the embedded connection between body and atmosphere1 As a conscious species, we have acknowledged the collapse of our human-centered approach to nature—a collapse brought about by the planetary polycrisis this very mindset has created.2 Now, we seek posthuman methodologies that can establish ecocentric balances between how we, as humans, inhabit and utilize our landscapes and the revitalization of natural values. Within this context, a new conception of nature emerges, manifested in the recent competition proposal for The Finger Plan 2.0:” There Is No End to Copenhagen – The Blue Metropolis.”
TOWARDS A NEW WHOLE
The project envisions a bioregional and nature-integrated approach to reimagining the area around the Øresund. It aims not only to dissolve boundaries between nation-states but also between natural environments, creating a shared framework where land and sea are intertwined. The project seeks to redefine hierarchies and narratives by merging ecological systems across species and terrains, forming a resilient strategy that unites rather than divides. Natural values are interwoven through the cultural landscape, establishing a blue-green weave that defines the backbone of this vision. By embracing natural dynamics such as the movement of water, ecological corridors, topographical formations, and soil properties, diverse logics of the landscape are interconnected. Logic (hydro, bio, etc.) can be observed and analyzed independently, allowing for a clear understanding of its distinct principles. Yet its eidos—its form and phenomenological presence—cannot be separated from the others. Here deep geological traces have shaped the formations and features of the Sound’s territory, providing the foundation for anthropogenic landscape “making.”3 The rolling hills and valleys, the gentle meandering of waterways, and the porous texture of the soils are all inseparably linked, forming a cohesive whole.
Human presence, habitation, and interaction with the landscape— this process of “making”—was once an organic negotiation with this whole. Over time, however, this relationship has eroded, distancing human existence from the natural systems that originally sustained it. Today, the fragmented cultural landscape, divided by abstract administrative boundaries that cut across the terrain, calls for reimagination. It must be reconsidered within an organic weave of ecological systems, where the relationships between these systems are not only conceptual but spatial—and therefore tangible.
THE BLUE-GREEN WEAVE
Where the weave interacts with the terrain in its gradients, an awareness of natural revitalization and priorities emerges. Here lie the lowlands, the pathways of water, and the soils less suited for intensive agricultural use. As a result, production landscapes are de-emphasized, making space for biodiversity, wetlands, and broader ecological value to flourish. These areas also hold the greatest recreational potential, where terrain, habitat, and scenic qualities converge. Here, excessive asphalted surfaces are removed, allowing wildlife to move freely once again, reconnecting across previously fragmented infrastructures. Reforestation with a focus on biodiversity can take root, while water is given the freedom to flow according to its natural course. This is where we give back—where we step aside and let the elements take the lead.
The blue-green weave influences the entire landscape. In the proposal, smaller micro societal islands emerge from the gaps of the weave. These climate islands take shape, offering an opportunity to optimize the production landscape. It makes sense to reorganize these areas, restructuring agricultural plots so that each field relates to its respective climate island. In general, reforming the production landscape necessitates a transition toward predominantly plant-based agriculture. On the morainew plains, energy and food production can coexist, while ensuring that nature’s overall well-being remains a priority within the climate islands—an essential prerequisite for all future planning.
The paradigms of contemporary planning have changed. We now investigate methods that nurture balance between complexities instead of segregating them. Segregation is over. Specialization is now present in cross-disciplinary fields, confronting the prevalent silo methodology giving data driven quality to the practice of aesthetic creation. Co-thinking ecological systems with biophysical features give a framework that draws its own geometry and contains its own logic, defining rational potentials for development, or non-development. Water flows, because soil lets it. Trees grow because light filters through them.
FORM FOLLOWS FLOWS
The vision of a blue-green weave—an ecotonic fabric, where ecosystems interact and shape one another—is not the first attempt to explore the interrelations of nature. The term ecotone refers to a transitional zone between distinct ecological systems, where different habitats merge—where a forest gives way to a grassland, or a wetland meets a river. This ecotonic network, the blue-green weave, as described in Hydrofeminism4, braces spaces where transformation unfolds through the interplay of diverse natural systems, forming zones of extraordinary biodiversity potential and shaping conduits of ecological connection. Strengthening such interconnected systems is essential—not only for cultivating resilient ecosystems but for reaffirming humanity’s entanglement with other life forms and material processes.
Neimanis speaks of a relational ontology, in which human existence is inseparable from natural dynamics. She calls for a shift in perspective—urging us to think in terms of relationships rather than boundaries. Today, we reconsider the role of the border, the line, and the division as fundamental tools in landscape planning and design. We now recognize that separation fosters ignorance, and instead, we turn toward approaches that embrace nuance, complexity, and ethics in the search for solutions. Ethics, in turn, reshapes aesthetics—it disrupts the conventional norms of beauty, provoking new ways of seeing. The form will not become secondary but will instead be redefined. What is considered beautiful will no longer stem from iconography, standardization, or streamlining, but from resilience, coexistence, and dynamism.
At the core of this method lies the act of revealing phenomena, elements, and beings that already exist—rather than drawing something new. What we design is not about invention but about prioritization, hierarchy, and narrative. The blue-green weave emerges because of intertwining natural conditions, forming a new whole. Yet this whole is not something new—it is shaped by what already exists, using the present to create what is yet to come.
REDEFINING OUR PLACE
The weave materializes what James Lovelock described as Gaia—a single, self-regulating ecological organism resilient to external influences. He argued that the biosphere, atmosphere, oceans, and soil form a complex, interdependent system that actively regulates itself, much like a living being.5 These systems are not isolated; they are consequences of countless layers of information and ecological interrelations. They are shaped by themselves—becoming what can be defined as earthly.6 Relations that give us a new set of tools to renavigate our way of being in the world. This new In-der-Welt-Sein is a Zusammen-Sein—a being-with. We need to squeeze in. We must recognize our role as a new ecological class7—one that seeks to reconnect society as a political force with the natural, forging a renewed understanding of our place in the world.
The starfish, resting gently in the hand, cradled with care, illustrates a new understanding of nature—and of ourselves as an intrinsic part of it. This idea challenges the dualism of human versus nature, ultimately rejecting separation and instead connecting ecological systems into a material whole. It’s not about turning things upside down or positioning nature as something that now “stands above” the human, but about dismantling the binary relationship altogether. The aim is to integrate nuances and complexities so that everything can exist together—as one whole. This is an intrinsic relation creating a solid foundation for coexistence and flourishing—for all, including starfish.
1: Coccia, E. The Life of Plants - A Metaphysics of Mixture. (2018)
2: Latour, B. Down to Earth. (2018)
3: Mortensen, M.F. De første mennesker i Danmark. (2008)
4: Neimanis, A. Hydrofeminism or Becoming Bodies of Water. (2012)
5: Lovelock, J. Gaia. (1979)
6: Nielsen, T. Earthly Cities. (2024)
7: Latour, B. & Shulx, N. On the Emergence of an Ecological Class: A Memo. (2022)