Landscape Architecture Project Research Articles

Landscape architecture as democratic practice: learning from participatory methods and motivations in community-engaged design

To guide and advance participatory and democratic landscape architecture practice, this study investigates the participatory methods and motivations of community-engaged design (CED) practice aligned with the principles of democratic professionalism (DP). A content analysis of semi-structured interviews with 17 experienced scholar-professionals in landscape architecture and related professions whose praxis is rooted in participatory principles (1) identified a toolbox of essential task-sharing methods and strategies based on typical landscape architecture project stages (site analysis/data collection, planning and design, and implementation and post-implementation), and two key themes—relationship-building and communication, and (2) found the principal motivations driving democratic design practices to be empowerment and advocacy, community engagement ethics, and democratising professional paradigm. Task-sharing approaches identified in landscape architecture practice exemplify how DP values can be embedded in all phases of a CED project. This study also affirms the position that landscape architecture as a profession has the potential to advance DP.

Digital Transformation: Elevating Landscape Architecture through Building Information Modeling (BIM)

Building Information Modelling (BIM) is widely used in architecture and construction, particularly in building andstructure design. However, BIM is imposed in landscape architecture design, which is still not much applied inlandscape architecture, academically and practically. Therefore, this paper explores the benefits of BIM application inlandscape architecture design. A methodology involves a systematic literature review (SLR) on BIM landscapearchitecture to explore the purposes and benefits of BIM's landscape architecture. The study found that the BIMapplication has contributed valuable benefits to the landscape architecture design process and the digital modeling oflandscapes. Moreover, the study provides a solution software application and tool to generate a sustainable landscapedesign from the pre-design stage of landscape architecture projects . In short, successfully utilizing BIM depends on anoperator's human skills to use the application in landscape architecture projects and enhance the multiple aspects oflandscape visualization.

Carbon Sink Trading Platform Mechanism of PPP Mode of Landscape Architecture Project Based on Carbon Neutralization Concept

In the context of globalization and environmental changes caused by climate change, countries have been actively investing in promoting carbon reduction systems. Currently, under the dual carbon policy, achieving carbon neutrality and carbon compliance require different strategies. Among them, for the carbon neutrality goal, the carbon sink function of landscape architecture plays a very important role in the carbon trading platform with the introduction of the PPP model. In this study, the relationship between carbon sink and enterprise carbon trading of PPP mode landscape architecture project. It is found that the carbon trading platform plays a key role in the landscape architecture carbon sink project, reduces greenhouse gas emissions through market-based means, achieves the transaction of carbon emission rights and enterprise investment, and at the same time, for landscape architects, helping achieve carbon neutrality is a very important and urgent responsibility and mission.

Are Designers Diluting Culture? Connecting Theory to Practice

The cohabitation between Indigenous and non- Indigenous peoples in this post-colonial society is a hefty but necessary topic that must be discussed. This is particularly important for landscape architects, as we are responsible for designing our urban public spaces and cities. Māori, the Indigenous people of Aotearoa, have struggled with land theft, and the erasure of their history and identity since the first European settlers arrived. Aotearoa has come a long way regarding cultural acceptance, acknowledgment and collaboration when it comes to design. This is evident, as engaging with mana whenua is considered of national importance in the Resource Management Act; however, the effects of colonisation still impact Māori today. As designers responsible for our public realm, we can aim to address these issues and create a co-habitable society that embraces and empowers all. Although this is the intent of many landscape architecture groups, is it appropriate to label recent projects as transformative and progressive if the design process follows colonial thinking, lacks authenticity and spirituality, and is essentially “a copy of something that never existed”?1 Spirituality is imbued in Māori culture, evident in Te Aranga Principles such as Mana and Ahi Kā2 that Māori have gifted us. The absence of authenticity and spirituality in our designs, due to existing constraints and fixed ways of thinking, dilutes Māori culture to trivial symbols; therefore, the goal of a co-habitable society can never truly be achieved. This will be discussed by analysing the article “Whakarewarewa Thermal Reserve: The Landscape of Simulation” by Rod Barnett (Ngāti Raukawa), an internationally acclaimed professor and academic author currently a Professor of Landscape Architecture and Head of the School of Architecture at Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington. The article discusses simulation, which embodies the greater issue of exploitation of Māori culture for tokenism and commodity. Similarly, the second chapter in the book Imagining Decolonisation, “What is Decolonisation?” by Ocean Ripeka Mercier (Ngāti Porou), an academic and professor who specialises in physics and Māori science at Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington, will be examined. Mercier’s chapter highlights the ideas and processes of decolonising our minds and spaces to truly achieve cohabitation. Lastly, the theories of Barnett and Mercier will be challenged by analysing two landscape architecture projects in Tāmaki Makaurau. By doing so, this paper emphasises the gravity of the issues within our design practices that claim to be authentic and inclusive, yet, at their core, precisely lack those attributes.

INVESTIGATING FACTOR TO PROJECT OBJECTIVES UNDERACHIEVEMENT IN MALAYSIAN LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE PROJECT

Malaysia landscape architecture projects frequently face several difficulties that expose their projects to a high degree of challenges. These challenges will become project issues that eventually affect the achievement of the project objectives. Understanding the factors of project objective underachievement is essential for project practitioners to manage and control their projects in the future. Thus, this study aims to investigate factors to project objectives underachievement in the Malaysian landscape architecture project. Data were gathered through semi-structured interviews with twenty-four landscape architect practitioners from Klang Valley. The interview information was analysed using the content and thematic analysis method. The snowball effect from project challenges to project issues and stakeholders’ factors causes underachievement of the landscape architecture project objective. Managing the project affects the organisation’s operational and cultural objectives directly, whereas the project outcome issues indirectly jeopardise the achievement of the project’s business objectives. The finding will be a lesson learnt for project practitioners to evaluate their current project management practice and recommend issue and stakeholder management applications, enabling the achievement of project objectives.

Analysis of nonlinear landscape structure components accurate construction information delivery based on Rhino+Grasshopper parametric modeling

The development of digital construction technology has made the practical construction of nonlinear forms possible. In landscape architecture projects, Nonlinear Landscape Structures (NLS) have become the mainstream in design and aesthetics. However, the complex forms of NLS components make it challenging to deliver accurate construction information using traditional design methods. The application of Rhino+Grasshopper Parametric Modeling (RGPM) technology allows the construction of nonlinear geometric forms based on mathematical logic, facilitating precise engineering construction information delivery for NLS components. Nevertheless, there are existing gaps in current research on accurate construction information delivery for NLS components based on RGPM. Firstly, current research primarily focuses on large public buildings, lacking attention to the spatial scale of landscape structures. Secondly, there is a lack of systematic integration based on technical research contents. Thirdly, there is a lack of specific technical application analysis combining actual design, leading to weaker practical guidance for industry practitioners. Therefore, this study selects the precise engineering construction information delivery of perforated panel walls in the space under the Sanya Bridge and the landscape platform of the Beijing Jinding Mountain as research cases. Through the analysis of construction information delivery content and technical challenges in these cases, the necessity of RGPM application is clarified. By analyzing the application of RGPM technology and its outcomes in these cases, concrete examples are provided for the precise construction information delivery of NLS components to fill the research gaps and provide theoretical foundations and application examples for future research.

Analysis of nonlinear landscape structure components accurate construction information delivery based on Rhino+Grasshopper parametric modeling

The development of digital construction technology has made the practical construction of nonlinear forms possible. In landscape architecture projects, Nonlinear Landscape Structures (NLS) have become the mainstream in design and aesthetics. However, the complex forms of NLS components make it challenging to deliver accurate construction information using traditional design methods. The application of Rhino+Grasshopper Parametric Modeling (RGPM) technology allows the construction of nonlinear geometric forms based on mathematical logic, facilitating precise engineering construction information delivery for NLS components. Nevertheless, there are existing gaps in current research on accurate construction information delivery for NLS components based on RGPM. Firstly, current research primarily focuses on large public buildings, lacking attention to the spatial scale of landscape structures. Secondly, there is a lack of systematic integration based on technical research contents. Thirdly, there is a lack of specific technical application analysis combining actual design, leading to weaker practical guidance for industry practitioners. Therefore, this study selects the precise engineering construction information delivery of perforated panel walls in the space under the Sanya Bridge and the landscape platform of the Beijing Jinding Mountain as research cases. Through the analysis of construction information delivery content and technical challenges in these cases, the necessity of RGPM application is clarified. By analyzing the application of RGPM technology and its outcomes in these cases, concrete examples are provided for the precise construction information delivery of NLS components to fill the research gaps and provide theoretical foundations and application examples for future research.

An Exploration of the Extent of Monitoring and Evaluation of Sustainable Construction in Kenya: A Landscape Architecture Perspective

The practice of landscape architecture in Kenya is growing alongside the country’s construction industry, which is currently experiencing exponential growth in tandem with construction trends globally. With the growth in the industry, there has been significant growth in the economy, high consumption of natural resources, a 50% increased contribution to the world’s landfill waste, and pollution of the adjacent environment. These have given rise to high pressure to adopt environmentally sensitive approaches in the construction industry to achieve competitive advantage. It is therefore crucial to address the need for sustainability measures for landscape architecture projects to increase knowledge and awareness, create incentives geared toward supporting sustainable practices, and leverage legal instruments and policies. The aim of this study was to identify the barriers to the adoption of and improvement in the monitoring and evaluation of sustainable practices in landscape architecture in Kenya that prevent the industry from achieving sustainability. The objective of this research was to critically analyze the many challenges and barriers to the achievement of sustainability in the Kenyan construction industry with a focus on landscape architecture practices. It also examined the overall extent of the adoption, monitoring, and evaluation of sustainability, and possible solutions were proposed for the management of and reduction in said barriers. The study was carried out through extensive research of secondary data sources on the average level of knowledge and technical know-how of sustainable construction, the level of perception of compliance, the average cost of construction vis à vis sustainable construction, and the level of sustainability in the construction sector in Kenya. The collected data were analyzed empirically and, through the use of descriptive statistics and findings, the data were discussed. The preliminary findings from this study indicate that there is an overall poor attitude toward M&E of sustainability in Kenya, indicating the need to further improve processes.

Expressions of National Identity in the Landscape Architecture Projects in Kazakhstan

One of the important parameters of the quality of the urban environment is its identity. The concept of identity has a broad context. Identity has mainly been studied in the humanities such as psychology, philology, philosophy, sociology and anthropology. The process of globalization, leading to a blurring of the borders between cultures, is bringing to the fore the problem of national and regional identities in the architecture and landscape of the urban environment. This article examines the actualization of the concept of identity in architecture, urban development and landscape architecture. It focuses on sustainability of national and regional identity manifested through place identity. The main positions of research from other countries with the basis of identity have been analyzed according to the landscape philosophies of the XXI century. Through the analysis of scientific research in the field of cultural science, regional roots, signs and symbols have been identified as a basis for landscape practices in the urban environment of Kazakhstan. The study used complex methods of historical, ethnographic, cultural and architectural landscape studies examining the manifestations of identity in the traditional culture of Kazakhs. It produces a comparative analysis of ideas about identity in Kazakh traditional music, decorative and applied art. It also carries out structural and morphological analysis of project materials on landscape architecture of Kazakhstan. Moreover, a comparative analysis of individual objects of landscape architecture of XX and XXI centuries has been conducted. The paper produces new perspectives on nation-building efforts of Kazakhstan through designed landscapes since independence, elucidating the symbolic language of national identity manifested across major public parks and plazas.

Multicriteria assessment of landscape architecture projects: the sustainability perspective

Cities are implementing numerous projects for improving their urban landscapes. The quality of planned landscape interventions is critical for the users and that depends on proper assessment of the projects. After theoretical and empirical research, the paper proposes the framework for quality assessment of landscape architecture projects in relation to sustainability principles. By using the set of pre-determined criteria and relevant indicators the paper offers triple-level multicriteria decision-making tool for assessing the projects aiming at refurbishing, regenerating or conserving the existing parks and gardens, urban open spaces, cultural landscapes and urban infrastructure landscapes by the professional experts. The results of assessing the urban open space refurbishment projects have demonstrated that the proposed solution is fit for setting the participatory quality assessment platform with involvement of stakeholders for comparing the proposals, identifying theiradvances and shortages, also figuring out the dominating design trends. The results suggest that each phase of project development has a significant impact on the quality of the process and the overall assessment result.Authors and clients should pay special attention to landscape perception values.

Examining Comparative Treatment Action Between Predicted Project Issues and Forecasted Project Risk of Landscape Architecture Project

Extensive project issues continue to occur in Malaysian landscape architecture projects due to ineffective treatment action taken despite the ability to predict and treat the issues beforehand. This study examines comparative treatment action between predicted project issues and forecasted project risk in landscape architecture projects. The data collection was conducted through a semi-structured interview with twenty-four landscape architect professionals based in the Klang Valley region of Malaysia. Then the data were analysed using the content and thematic analysis method. The study found a contrasting treatment action between predicted project issues and forecasted project risk. The predicted project issues were treated passively, despite treating them with effective treatment strategies causing project issues bound to happen. This finding will be a lesson learnt for landscape architecture practitioners to evaluate current practice and find the best management system application to manage project issues effectively.

Reflections on the Main Points of Landscape Architecture Engineering Design and Construction Methods

There are many problems in the construction of landscape architecture projects, such as the destruction of soil components, the difficulty of construction, and the inadequate implementation of environmental protection. The design of landscape architecture should ensure its practicality, harmony and reliability, integration and connection. In order to improve the construction efficiency of the landscape architecture project, the construction personnel can grasp the key technologies from the aspects of construction drawing design, fixed-point setting out, vegetation protection, soil treatment, later maintenance and drainage, construction technology improvement and later management, so as to lay a foundation for improving the rationality of the design and construction of the landscape architecture project.

Sobre Padiglione Rosso de Alfredo Jaar

Neoliberal urbanism is a concept used to describe the progressive privatization of public space and the commodification of our cities. The CityLife project in the city of Milan is an example of this phenomenon. The article presents the work Pabellón Rojo by the artist Alfredo Jaar, recently inaugurated in the heart of CityLife, and analyzes its ability to operate as a landscape architecture project, framing the urban landscape and providing the observer with an aesthetic experience that allows reflect on the city we have created. Art, architecture and landscape come together in this work.

Applied Botany to Landscape Architecture as a discipline: an experience in the Architecture and Urbanism undergraduate course at Federal University of Pernambuco

Knowing and understanding plants are essential factors for a successful landscape architecture project. Great landscape architects from the 20th and 21st centuries - such as Burle Marx, Fernando Chacel, Rosa Kliass, Caldeira Cabral, and Piet Oudolf - perceive vegetation as a link between nature and the city, in which the valuation and the respect for the landscape are the central points. Unfortunately, little focus has been given to the appropriate employment of plants in landscape architecture projects at architecture and urbanism schools, resulting in generic planting schemes. Should these schemes be called landscape architecture projects? Oppositely, Applied Botany to Landscape Architecture has as one of its objectives providing knowledge for the conception of plant palettes, which should consider not only aesthetic criteria but also biological and environmental ones from each species to establish a harmonious relationship with the existing environment. Thus, this article intends to present the experience and the results achieved in the discipline AQ553 - Special Topics in Architecture, Urbanism and Landscape Architecture Theory III (Applied Botany to Landscape Architecture). For this discipline, it was adopted descriptive and bibliographical research as a methodology, which has made possible the understanding of aesthetical and environmental matters related to the plant element and how these attributes can be reflected in a landscape architecture project. By leading students to consider the architectural and biological aspects of the vegetation components in their proposals, the procedure adopted in this discipline had great outcomes; for instance, improvements in the areas of environmental perception, graphic representation and design of landscaping projects.Keywords: teaching, landscape, vegetation, project. Botânica aplicada ao paisagismo como disciplina: experiência no curso de arquitetura e urbanismo da Universidade Federal de Pernambuco R E S U M OO conhecimento e entendimento da vegetação é parte crucial de um projeto paisagístico. Grandes paisagistas do século XX e XXI, a exemplo de Burle Marx, Fernando Chacel, Rosa Kliass, Caldeira Cabral, Piet Oudolf, tratam esse elemento como o elo entre a Natureza e a cidade e, a valorização e o respeito à paisagem são o ponto focal. Infelizmente, nas escolas de arquitetura e urbanismo do Brasil, pouca é a carga horária destinada ao estudo do elemento vegetal no paisagismo, que por sua vez aparece nas representações projetuais apenas como planos de massa. Seria isto fazer projeto paisagístico? Diante disso, a botânica aplicada ao paisagismo tem como objetivo propiciar conhecimento para a criação de uma paleta vegetal que considere não só o critério plástico, mas também ambiental, conduzindo a um pensamento de cidade e sua relação direta com a Natureza. Desta forma, objetiva-se com este artigo apresentar a experiência da disciplina AQ553 - Tópicos Especiais em Teoria da Arquitetura, Urbanismo e Paisagismo III (Botânica Aplicada ao Paisagismo) do curso de Arquitetura e Urbanismo da Universidade Federal de Pernambuco. Para tanto, tomou-se como caminho metodológico a pesquisa descritiva e bibliográfica que possibilitou o entendimento das questões estéticas e ambientais atreladas ao elemento vegetal e como tais atributos rebatem no projeto paisagístico. Os procedimentos adotados na disciplina tiveram resultados positivos no que se refere à promoção de melhorias nas habilidades de percepção ambiental, de representação gráfica e de projeto paisagístico ao levar os alunos a considerar variáveis arquitetônicas e naturais/biológicas nas suas propostas.Palavras-chave: ensino, paisagem, vegetação, projeto.

Terrain-Specific: Contemporary Landscape Architecture in Canada

The Canadian landscape has typically captured a global imaginary of a pristine wild, but how might its urban designed landscapes be distinctly understood? Foregrounded by the landscape transformations accelerated by climate change, the book <i>Innate Terrain: Canadian Landscape Architecture</i>, edited by Professor Alissa North from the University of Toronto, highlights landscape architecture projects situated on the unique Canadian terrain. Providing further provocation on Canadian landscape architecture, <i>Innate Terrain</i> seeks to fill the literary gap on contemporary landscape perspectives, distinguishing Canadian landscape architecture from global practice, and particularly, its well-documented American counterpart. Landscape architecture in the Canadian context has evolved and established its own distinct identity, one imbued with national and local sensitivities. Informed by diverse environmental and cultural contexts, Canadian-designed landscapes reflect and refer to the prevailing ecosystems of Canada’s innate terrain. Contrary to the preceding International Style, landscape architecture projects in Canada have adopted the ethos of Critical Regionalism in the second half of the 20th century. Contemporary Canadian practitioners are designing landscapes that are deeply informed by their surrounding geographical context while emphasizing cultural specificity. Central to this cultural specificity, addressed by a new generation of landscape architects, is the increasing recognition of Indigenous Traditional Knowledge within the discipline. Canadian landscape architects have collaborated with First Nations, Inuit, and Métis communities, including the keepers of this knowledge, to develop land management strategies and design landscape interventions.

Determining Controllability Level of Project Issues in Malaysian Landscape Architectural Projects

The study aims to examine current project issues and the level of controllability in Malaysian landscape architecture projects. The data collection fieldwork was conducted via a semi-structured interview with twenty-four landscape architect professionals in the Klang Valley region. Content and thematic analysis were used to analyse the collected data. Found that project issues are controllable if the project can anticipate and treat them in advance. Nonetheless, issues continue to occur due to insufficient action taken in response to predicted issues affecting project outcomes. The study recommends developing a process for systematically forecasting, evaluating, and treating future issues. Keywords: landscape architecture; project issues; controllability; Malaysia eISSN: 2398-4287© 2021. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA cE-Bs by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open access article under the CC BYNC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians/Africans/Arabians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning &amp; Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia. DOI: https://doi.org/10.21834/ebpj.v6i18.3053

Relation of the Green Structure and the Appropriation of Public Spaces in Large-Scale Residential Areas

More than a half of residents in some capital cities of the former Socialist block live in large-scale residential areas that had been built from the 1950s to the 1980s. The public space satisfaction in the areas is low, the residents rarely appropriate the yards and streets of the housing complexes. The aim of the paper is to provide a framework for the understanding of residents’ assessment of public space and its relation to the appropriation; the framework can be used for the development of building or landscape architecture projects focused at reconstruction of the public space. Public Space Quality Model is generated in the paper. The model includes three spatial categories that are defined by metrical values, configuration components and dominant spatial elements – elements that determine size, category, and the structure of a space. Using the observation method in the residential areas of the former East Berlin, the research concludes that the model demonstrates the highest precision of predictability of the appropriation intensity of the public space when the green structure is used as the dominant spatial element. A method accompanying the model is presented in the paper that permits to use specific types of trees or shrubs in particular distancing and concrete arrangements to create spaces of high, medium, or low appropriation level in large-scale residential areas.

Planning &amp; Controlling Tourism Landscape Design Project using Critical Chain Project Management (CCPM) Schedulling

Project Management must meet the performance criteria of timeliness and budget control agreed between the project owner, contractor and supervisor. However, the level of uncertainty in the project implementation process is very high and causes delays and over budgeting. The Village Nongkojajar is a Proposed Integrated Agropark Project as a result of the revitalization of the non-productive land of the Horticultural Seed Farm owned by the Government of East Java Province. The Landscape Architecture Project has a Creative Value Chain which is divided into Creation - Implementation - Management. Therefore scheduling and controlling the project becomes important in order to to estimate working time and the project remains in accordance with the predetermined project timeline and whenever corrective action is needed. The relevance of Project Management in this research is that with high project problems, require a good planning process. The Project can be completed quickly than the specified time and more cost effective. Critical Chain Project Management (CCPM) is one method for completing and preparing projects that focus on the resource requirements for implementing projects by adding project buffers, feeding buffers and resource buffers. By analyzing using CCPM, researchers can look for optimization and control in implementing project scheduling.

Landscape intervention in the Hospital for Covid-19 pandemic in Madrid

From Design with Nature of Ian L. McHarg to The Origin of Eukaryotic Cells of Lynn Margulis, the role of the microorganisms in the cycle of life, health, and disease, and in climate change constitutes the life support system of the biosphere. The micro-parklands of the Emergency Hospital in Madrid create a natural system of prefabricated elements following the aim of rapid implementation, isolation, and protection taking as reference the simple integrated system of living microorganisms. These micro-enclosures provide circular areas where patients, visitors, or healthcare professionals can meet in secret places surrounded by trees and shrubs or long green islands where they can walk around. The landscape architecture project has a surface of 7,434 sqm and occupies a plot of 69,791 sqm located in the Hortaleza district of Madrid. Belonging to the previous City of Justice project on the north side of the Institute of Legal Medicine, the plot, which is trapezoidal with a drop of 4,5 meters, is destined for a public hospital constructed in four months during the Covid-19 pandemic. Due to dry climatic conditions, adapted species with low water demand have been selected reducing the risk of allergies or respiratory problems. The topography has been modified to conserve rainwater and direct it to green areas that act as sponges that reduce runoff, store water, remove sediment and pollutants and release it into other ecosystems. There is no separation between soft scape (planting) and hard scape (soil) in the intervention, both are soft and porous and have macro and micro living beings. Following the references of these books, creativity and destruction as real phenomena both have attributes such as fitness and unfitness in the evolutionary way or health and disease. The vital system of living organisms (creativity) and viruses (destruction) has guided the design and distribution of these external areas that intend to prevent infections in the open air, as part of the mutation and adaptation process.

Evaluating Malaysian Landscape Architecture Project Issues Controllability Level

The study's purpose is to assess project issues' controllability and indicate the necessity for a management system in Malaysian landscape architecture projects. A semi-structured interview with twenty-four Klang Valley landscape architects was utilised to collect data. The acquired material was analysed using content and thematic analysis. The study discovered that project issues could be managed if anticipated and addressed in advance. Despite this, inaction on common issues continues to affect project outcomes negatively. The study recommends developing a procedure for forecasting, evaluating, and treating future concerns.