Boundary thinking in landscape architecture and boundary-spanning roles of landscape architects

Landscape architects play important roles in addressing societal challenges. To successfully address these challenges, this essay argues that they need to expand their understanding of boundaries and engage in boundary thinking. Distinguishing between physical, mental and socially constructed boundaries, we characterise boundary thinking as a creative process and productive motive in designing landscapes. Subsequently, we present four types of boundary-spanning roles for landscape architects to perform—the subject-based designer, the visionary narrator, the process-based designer, and the design-led entrepreneur—and point to the cognitive and social capacities needed to play any of these roles. We propose for landscape architecture to consider boundary thinking in agenda setting discourses and to include boundary spanning into practice. We suggest three avenues to pursue in realising professional opportunities: exploring the roles landscape architects play, understanding the environment that enables boundary-spanning work, and developing boundary theory in landscape architectural research

De energietransitie: een nieuwe dimensie in ons landschap

De transitie naar een duurzame energievoorziening heeft op veel terreinen ingrijpende gevolgen voor onze samenleving. Het gaat onder meer om een verandering van leefomgeving en landschap. Voor een succesvolle energietransitie is het nodig om nu al rekening te houden met de ruimtelijke vormgeving van nieuwe energielandschappen en de manier waarop die tot stand komen. Dit betekent dat alle betrokkenen samen energielandschappen ontwerpen waarin mens en technologie elkaar op een nieuwe manier ontmoeten. Een andere manier van denken: niet het ruimtelijk inpassen, maar het creëren van landschappen die door mensen worden gewaardeerd en economisch haalbaar zijn. Landschappen die zorgen dat de overgang naar een duurzame, koolstofarme toekomst breed gedragen wordt en snel kan plaatsvinden. ECN en WUR hebben hun kennis over energietechnologie en landschapsarchitectuur gebundeld in dit paper. Zo willen ze een bijdrage leveren aan de discussie over wat wenselijk en noodzakelijk is om de energietransitie ruimtelijk in goede banen te leiden

Research in landscape architecture : methods and methodology

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Boundary thinking in landscape architecture and boundary-spanning roles of landscape architects

Landscape architects play important roles in addressing societal challenges. To successfully address these challenges, this essay argues that they need to expand their understanding of boundaries and engage in boundary thinking. Distinguishing between physical, mental and socially constructed boundaries, we characterise boundary thinking as a creative process and productive motive in designing landscapes. Subsequently, we present four types of boundary-spanning roles for landscape architects to perform—the subject-based designer, the visionary narrator, the process-based designer, and the design-led entrepreneur—and point to the cognitive and social capacities needed to play any of these roles. We propose for landscape architecture to consider boundary thinking in agenda setting discourses and to include boundary spanning into practice. We suggest three avenues to pursue in realising professional opportunities: exploring the roles landscape architects play, understanding the environment that enables boundary-spanning work, and developing boundary theory in landscape architectural research

Boundary thinking in landscape architecture and boundary-spanning roles of landscape architects

Landscape architects play important roles in addressing societal challenges. To successfully address these challenges, this essay argues that they need to expand their understanding of boundaries and engage in boundary thinking. Distinguishing between physical, mental and socially constructed boundaries, we characterise boundary thinking as a creative process and productive motive in designing landscapes. Subsequently, we present four types of boundary-spanning roles for landscape architects to perform—the subject-based designer, the visionary narrator, the process-based designer, and the design-led entrepreneur—and point to the cognitive and social capacities needed to play any of these roles. We propose for landscape architecture to consider boundary thinking in agenda setting discourses and to include boundary spanning into practice. We suggest three avenues to pursue in realising professional opportunities: exploring the roles landscape architects play, understanding the environment that enables boundary-spanning work, and developing boundary theory in landscape architectural research

Flood risk management in Dutch local spatial planning practices

Spatial planning is increasingly regarded as an important instrument to reduce flood consequences. Nevertheless, there are very few studies that show why local planning authorities do or do not systematically use spatial planning in advance to mitigate flood risks. This paper explores flood reduction strategies in local planning practices in the Netherlands. It also explores why spatial planning was or was not used to reduce flood consequences. The arguments for the use or non-use of planning mainly referred to requirements from other governmental bodies and the perceived role and the related responsibility of local planning authorities, previous disaster experience, and previous experience with spatial planning for flood risk management.spatial planning, flood management, mitigation, local planning practices, Netherlands,

Regional designing : A strategic design approach in landscape architecture

Regional designing is a strategic design approach in landscape architecture that envisions desirable future situations for regions in which the spatial situation is under pressure. This paper studies the principles that regional designers use to structure and organize their design process. The regional design principles highlight the extremely ill-defined, unstructured and volatile design situations that regional designing engages with. Moreover, the study reveals that the design process is an inextricable part of the broader process of change it aims to contribute to. This draws attention to a dynamic perspective in designing, to the interaction with stakeholders, to the position of the designer in the design process, and it calls for a (re)new(ed) culture in design

Developing green infrastructure design guidelines for urban climate adaptation

In the context of global warming and increasing urban climate problems, urban green spaces and elements have been recognized as a strategy for urban climate adaptation. Yet, despite increasing scientific evidence of the positive impacts that urban green infrastructure (UGI) is having on the urban microclimate, this evidence is not being incorporated into urban design practice. This explorative study was executed to create design guidelines for climate-responsive UGI that stem from scientific knowledge and are useful to design practice. A participatory ‘Research through Design’ (RTD) approach was applied in two design studios to have landscape architects test evidence-based preliminary guidelines. The researchers made observations, plan analyses, and executed questionnaires in the studios to assess the usefulness of the preliminary guidelines and, subsequently, to refine them. This paper presents the revised guidelines for the city, park, and street scale levels and elaborates the knowledge on the microclimate and operational principles needed for implementation. This paper argues that a participatory RTD approach helps to link knowledge from research to practice