Abstract
Through a literature search, this paper critically assesses the field of landscape architecture by evaluating its societal value as demonstrated by the promotion of health, safety, and the general welfare. The resulting evidence suggests that the activities of landscape architects do indeed have a value to society. However, it is not evident that landscape architects are unique in their ability to carry out these activities. We posit a two-fold response: (1) adopt landscape aesthetics as a foundational bedrock to distinguish landscape architecture from allied disciplines; and (2) rigorously show the contribution of landscape architects to social value via post-occupancy evaluations.
The vast majority of the evidence uncovered was not created by landscape architects conducting original, empirical research. We conclude that scholarship in landscape architecture entails more than the traditional “research” recognized within the academy. Adopting Ernest Boyer's framework from Scholarship Reconsidered (1991) can help establish more useful criteria for evaluating work in the discipline and aid in organizing the literature.
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