Short communicationLandscape planning: its contributions to the evolution of the profession of landscape architecture☆
Section snippets
Preamble
The inaugural Fábos Landscape Planning and Greenway Symposium was held on April 17, 2004 in Amherst, Massachusetts on the University of Massachusetts campus. The symposium brought together experts who have influenced landscape planning, policy making and planning theory from the local to the international level. Panelists discussed innovative greenway planning techniques, partnership, development, advances in landscape planning research, and greenway implementation strategies.
The Fábos fund
Defining the field
If any profession is to have success it must have an identity. In 1981 Lane Marshall former ASLA President and fellow redefined the profession as follows (Marshall, 1981).
The art of design, planning and management of natural and man-made elements there on through application of cultural and scientific knowledge, with concerns for resource conservation and stewardship to the end that the resultant environment serves useful and enjoyable purpose.
In so doing a declaration of a new order was
Changing landscapes
This definition was noted by many professionals in our larger circle of associates as I was soon to find out. In 1987 the Renewable Natural Resources Foundation (RNRF) located in Bethesda, Maryland expanded its ranks by one with the addition of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA). The members of this group represented some of the most respected professional societies in North America.
Included among them were
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The Coastal Society;
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The American Water Resources Association;
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Resources
Aesthetic form-ecological concern
Recently, some critics have focused their attention on the ecological soundness of ASLA design award winners noting their eye catching qualities for aesthetic form but lack of value for ecological concerns in their designs. Equally disturbing, the critic remarks, are the many ecological designs that can send viewers fleeing to the nearest Italian gardens.
I suspect most if not all the projects referred to were conceived to be the product of either good aesthetic design thinking or good
Summary
Landscape and greenway planning will continue to lead landscape architects into new areas of design expression. From Frederick Law Olmsted's work on “Greensward” (Central Park, NY) in 1858 to Burton McKaye's Appalachian Trail Plan in 1921 to the 2003 ASLA Design Award Winners, Menomonee River Valley, WI. by Wenk and Associates (Denver) and HNTB (Milwaukee) and Buffalo Bayou Houston, Texas by Thompson Design Group, all of these works demonstrate what has been and what will be in terms of future
Conclusion
The Fábos Landscape and Greenway Symposium has addressed issues at the regional, state, national and international scale. We have explored innovations in research, theory and practice. We have discovered what many of us have suspected. The contributions that have been made are profound, profound to our society and profound to our supporting environment.
Biologists tell us the consequences of our resource depletion, expanding population and environmental pollution now have measurable effects on
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2016, Landscape and Urban PlanningCitation Excerpt :As a profession, it developed a common approach to solving [design] problems (which has evolved over time but remains largely intact) (Milburn & Brown, 2003a,b), a required skill set, and a set of values, which are characteristics that unite the members of a professional group (Freidson, 1994). By 1981 the profession was defined by the ASLA as … “The art of design, planning and management of natural and man-made elements thereon through application of cultural and scientific knowledge” (Marshall, 1981), inextricably linking design and scientific knowledge (Rodiek, 2006). While this definition clearly demands relevant research for use in problem solving and design, landscape architects continue to struggle to distinguish a distinct body of knowledge that effectively informs practice in the profession (Fein, 1972; Miller, 1997; Milburn, Brown, & Paine, 2001), though the Landscape Architecture Body of Knowledge (LABOK) study, developed by six of the profession's organizations, attempts to do so for the purposes of licensure.
Opportunities for design approaches in landscape planning
2014, Landscape and Urban PlanningCitation Excerpt :Such decisions often carry considerable consequences for citizens or other government sectors (Zoppi & Lai, 2013) and may severely affect property rights. Therefore, the information in the landscape plan must be correct and the proposals must adhere to existing laws (Rodiek, 2006). Fundamental values as well as concrete targets and standards for assessment and participation opportunities are largely defined in the law of the EU member states.
A revised aims and scope for landscape and urban planning: An international journal of landscape science, planning and design
2012, Landscape and Urban PlanningA review of the concept 'management' in relation to urban landscapes and green spaces: Toward a holistic understanding
2012, Urban Forestry and Urban GreeningCitation Excerpt :One central issue is what the term management refers to in relation to urban landscapes. Within the professional discipline of landscape architecture, management is commonly distinguished from planning and design (Marshall, 1981; Rodiek, 2006; ECLAS, 2008). One way of describing the difference is to regard planning and design as being about defining new structures in the landscape, but on different scales, while management mainly deals with existing landscape structures.
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Keynote Address from the Inaugural Fábos Landscape Planning and Greenway Symposium.