Landscape Architecture

Compared to natural settings, busy urban environments can be detrimental to cognitive functioning and self-control. Well-designed, biodiverse parks are integral to counterbalancing the concrete jungle.

Controversy surrounds a $20 million redesign of New York City's Union Square Park.

Ecotopia is a '70s cult novel that imagines a future where the Pacific Northwest secedes from the U.S. to become an environmentally-conscious utopian state. The NY Times reflects on the influence of this under-recognized novel.

On the edge of Los Angeles' Skid Row, a gleaming white arts complex opens. A "stubborn declaration of hope," the center is intended to show architecture's power to create community.

Planner Andres Duany proposes a plan for Goodbee Square, near Covington, LA, that adds modern light-imprint urbanism to an old Jeffersonian idea.

Hudson Park and Boulevard is a new 4-acre system of parks being created in New York. Landscape architects Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates were selected to make their vision reality.

Bricks have been a building staple for a long time, but the sky's the limit for their aesthetic uses.

Austin officials are wrestling with how to confront coyotes encroaching on suburban and urban neighborhoods.

The people of Salt Lake City have gotten behind the switch to mixed-use, and developers have been clearing away old sprawl. But the flailing economy has put projects on hold, leaving the city with a landscape full of holes.

Turning a New York landfill into a park may just reorganize the way people think about public parks in America.

For years, citizens have been calling for a freeway cap and park in Hollywood. Now, a preliminary design has been released and advocates say work could begin as soon as 2012 -- if funding comes through.

Toronto has created new public space where there was none, building a curvy wooden plaza designer Adriaan Geuze calls a 'WaveDeck' directly over the water.

Plans to redesign New York City's Washington Square Park have been hotly protested by community members since their inception. The work is already underway, but the opposition sentiment remains.

The first 'firescape' garden is in Santa Barbara, CA, and stands as an educational tool for landscaping homes for fire protection.

St. Paul, Minnesota's artist-in-residence has instituted a program where poems are imprinted into sidewalks throughout the city.

Landscape architect James Corner pushes the envelope of the field to create innovative projects like The High Line Park in New York. 'There is a desperate need for a different kind of professional who isn’t so Balkan­ized.'