"Blut und Boden": Naturalizing the Nation Landscape Design as an Identitarian Tool

This paper aims to explore the political potential inherent in landscape design, rejecting the notion of the discipline as merely an aesthetic practice immune to ideological distortions. To investigate this characteristic of landscape design, the text focuses on the identitarian significance that the discipline assumed in early 20th century Germany. This context was marked by the emergence of a design philosophy deeply compromised by a national-racial ideology: the landscape of “Blut und Boden” (Blood and Soil). By examining the cultural roots and the specific concept of nature—heavily influenced by radical Darwinism and the romantic notion of nationhood—the paper illustrates how landscape became a tool for asserting national-racial identity. Through an analysis of the experiences of landscape architects such as Willy Lange and Heinrich Wiepking-Jürgensmann, the theories and design models of “Blut und Boden” will be explored, emphasizing their shared tendency to conflate biology with national identity. The paper will then discuss how the operation of “nationalizing” nature, as embodied in “Blut und Boden,” remains an active force within contemporary landscape discourse, albeit with political aims and content seemingly irreconcilable with the National Socialist experience. Finally, a reflection on the risks associated with ideological distortions in landscape design will be provided, while also acknowledging the discipline’s significant political potential.