A shifting role for the landscape practitioner: bridging the divide between ecology, horticulture and landscape architecture

Abstract

This article looks at the ecological turn in the landscape professions and argues that such a shift requires a new conception of the role of the landscape practitioner: Drawing on ecology and phenomenology, I am proposing that landscape practitioners adopt the posture of participants within dynamic, evolving milieus. To this end, I offer two examples: Egbert Bodmann, from the landscape park Duisburg-Nord, and Cassian Schmidt, head of the garden Hermannshof. I argue that the way of seeing and working they embody requires capacities that are currently dispersed across different disciplines and roles within the professional field, such as ecology, horticulture, and landscape architecture. Drawing on practice-led research, I specify my proposal using detailed scenes that flesh out an approach that not only bridges, but mingles these disciplines, and is thus receptive to the dynamic development of ecologies.