Natura, architettura e paesaggio nel Parco del Drago a Tenerife

Abstract

The oldest living specimen of Dracaena draco subsp. draco, an endemism of the Canary Island and Madera, whose health had been threatened by the urban development of the neighbouring town of Icod de los Vinos, in the north of Tenerife, at the end of the last century was at the centre of a choral process involving politicians, inhabitants and designers, aimed at restoring, through the design of a park in its surroundings, the thermophilic forest conditions of its original habitat. At a time when attention to environmental issues still constituted a niche research field, the park project aimed to re-establish, in a co-evolutive logic, not only the ecological relations of the tree with its environment, but also the network of myths and legends that link the long-lived Canary Island Dragon specimen to the local population. The study traces and illustrates the reasons of the project through an original photographic apparatus, enriched by drawings and considerations deriving from documentary research supplemented by conversations with the author of the work.