Amanda Jones

Living on the Edge of Chaos

There is a concept in business called the edge of chaos. It is the fine line where structure and innovation overlap to produce growth and profit for a company. If there is only structure and no innovation, the business will become obsolete and fail; if there is only innovation, the people who work in the company (people are naturally resistant to change) will not be able or refuse to cope with the constant change, and then the business will also fail. In order to flourish in the market, a company needs to live constantly at the edge of chaos, keeping basic structure but also seeking innovations and growth. In a similar way, I think that landscape architecture strives to find the perfect balance between the perfect order that humans crave and the untamed wildness of pure nature.

Some people believe that pure nature is the only ‘true’ natural beauty, but I don’t think our “human instinct to try to create perceptual order” is unnatural at all (Klinkenborg 721). Nature created patterns long before we did. Even in spots untouched by human hands you find patterns everywhere. From a simple sunflower, or a nautilus shell, even out to galaxies in distant corners of the universe (a whirlpool galaxy and what has been termed the “eye of god” shown below) – order amid chaos is everywhere.

So by building patterns into nature through gardens and other landscaping, I think we are just trying to return to our “optimal environment” (Klinkenborg 722). I have always felt more at peace in the controlled chaos of a garden or sanctuary than in an untouched forest. And whenever I find myself in a completely natural place, I unconsciously look for and respond to patterns: a path through the trees, sunlight playing through branches, stepping stones over a creek, etc. The places where I find Nature making her own patterns put my mind at ease, and rejuvenate me. So when I find a garden that has the patterns altogether, my mind is completely washed over with this serene feeling.

Living at the edge of chaos is where humans long to be naturally: enough structure to feel somewhat secure, but also the chaos that comes with freedom and growth. Gardens, at least successful ones, exist in this edge of chaos, providing us with patterns and structure within the wild beauty of nature.