Landscape Architecture

Edwin Heathcote looks at "fumbling attempts at creating new forms of urbanity" and "new ideals of beauty" in cities like Milton Keynes, Rotterdam, and Dubai, and asks if we can still create urban beauty, or if it's even desirable in the first place.

January 14, 2013 - The Financial Times

In Chicago, like in many cities, local food production comes in many forms, from small backyard crops to community gardens. Researchers are now using Google Earth to paint a more accurate picture of food production at different scales.

January 13, 2013 - NPR

Broadening our definition of parks to recognize their role in preventative health care and promotion will only expand our awareness on how important they are to good neighbourhood design.

January 11, 2013 - Steven Snell

After 5 decades of abandonment, and recent inspiration from the much-lauded High Line, a rusty railway stretching three-and-a-half miles through central Queens may become NYC’s next elevated greenway.

January 10, 2013 - New York Times

Alan G. Brake looks at the ambitions of Dallas's newly opened Klyde Warren Park. Built atop a trenched highway, the park "attempts to merge sophisticated contemporary design with walkable urbanism" while uniting two downtown neighborhoods.

January 8, 2013 - The Architect's Newspaper

Angel Jennings reports on the opening of renovated Del Aire Park in unincorporated Los Angeles County, home to the state's first public orchard.

January 7, 2013 - Los Angeles Times

In the Bronx, three acres of newly planted wetlands were destroyed by Hurricane Sandy. As New York seeks to fortify its coast, should it rebuild this 'Paradise in the Bronx'?

January 7, 2013 - The New York Times

As this video from The Perennial Plate, a web series about sustainable food, demonstrates, rooftop gardening is becoming a global phenomenon.

January 6, 2013 - The Atlantic

The Dirt reports on the 2013 landscape architecture graduate and undergraduate program rankings published recently by DesignIntelligence.

January 4, 2013 - ASLA The Dirt

We've known for decades the better ways to do things, for greater urban health, sustainability, resiliency, vibrancy and economic success. So this year, let's resolve to have the will and skill to get past the short-term politics, the rhetoric, the market momentum, and the financial self-interest that has kept our better solutions from being realized.

December 31, 2012 - Brent Toderian

The opening of a half-mile trail along the Los Angeles River, after a decade of funding and construction snags, marks the latest step in the city's effort to reclaim its forsaken river as a public resource.

December 30, 2012 - Los Angeles Times

San Francisco's 1985 downtown plan required large new office and hotel developments to incorporate public spaces, but the city is only now updating the requirements and reinforcing the initial goal of opening up privately owned public spaces (POPOS).

December 20, 2012 - The Atlantic Cities

Charles A. Birnbaum marks the milestones that have contributed to landscape architecture's growing stature over the past year.

December 19, 2012 - Huffington Post

Michael Kimmelman tours Fresh Kills landfill, once the world's largest garbage dump, and now a model for landfill reclamation and, unexpectedly, climate change mitigation.

December 18, 2012 - The New York Times

Nicole Anderson discusses plans to create a "funderpass" to "ameliorate the awkward neighborhood divisions caused by the BQE." Are a catchy name and new amenities enough to mend the tear in the city fabric caused by the elevated expressway?

December 16, 2012 - The Architect's Newspaper

Haya El Nasser reports on the latest trend in park design: free public 'fitness parks' that feature exercise equipment "built to withstand the rigor of weather vandalism."

December 11, 2012 - USA Today

Planetizen is pleased to release its eleventh annual list of the ten best books in urban planning, design and development published in 2012.

December 10, 2012 - Abhijeet Chavan

Surfers, local businesses and residents alike rallied against kicking in $7 million for an Army Corps of Engineers plan to elevate beaches and erect sand dunes in Long Beach, NY six years ago. Post-Hurricane Sandy, most regret this choice.

December 6, 2012 - The New York Times

Landscape Architecture is a field in the ascendency, writes Alan G. Brake. Its rise can be traced to the inability of Architects and Planners to engage with some of the most important challenges of our time.

December 5, 2012 - The Architect's Newspaper

Could the nascent plan for Gateway Park satiate Minneapolitans suffering from downtown park envy?

December 2, 2012 - MinnPost