Replacing abstract form-making training with the perception of landscape site has been an important trend in the basic course of landscape architecture. Based on theoretical research and the authors’ teaching practice, this article aims to explore the significance, objects, and methods of site perception training. The authors argue that because landscape design is stemmed from the perception and interpretation of site characteristics, experiencing landscape sites must precede form-making training to become the foundation of design learning. Human-scale spaces that concern elements, structure, processes, and feelings for perception, representation, and design would be a suitable object of focus and the starting point for site perception training in basic courses. Five methods for landscape site perception and representation are introduced then, including sketch of space, sequential sections, notation, sketch model, and spatial structure mapping. These methods provide a visualized and operable pathway for site perception, which also involve preliminary design training, offering a reference for the teaching of site perception in basic courses of landscape architecture.

The Mekong Delta (across Cambodia and Vietnam) and the Sài Gòn-Đồng Nai Delta (where Ho Chi Minh City is embedded), like most deltas, are typically considered a vast, relatively flat water-dominated and dynamic territory characterized by always evolving variations of wetness, multiplying by that multitudes of biotopes. Ancient and modern engineering developed with this overly simplified preconception and subsequently radically transformed the entire ecotones into sharp and categorical distinctions of wet and dry, primarily to create productive and protective landscapes for humankind within abstractly ordered and static landscape structures. Fluid gradients in elevation and humidity were systematically replaced by fixed elevations. Extractive monocultures on massive scales resulted simultaneously in gigantic harvests but also the loss of ecology and biodiversity that is largely irrecoverable. The paper critically unravels the historical development of the deltas in relation to their homeopathic topography: how its manipulation framed development agendas—of productive landscapes, of settlement, and of infrastructure—and was linked to both cosmological worldviews and territorial geo-politics. The micro-topographies of the deltas were significantly altered by the mighty Khmer Empire and Nguyễn Dynasty and since the 19th century by French and American occupiers and subsequently by Cambodians and Vietnamese projects. The paper utilizes several case studies to reveal that IKSP (indigenous knowledge systems and practices) have harnessed topographical manipulation for context-specific socio-cultural reproduction. A host of local practices, often in peripheral geographies, has either escaped the relentless “modernization” process or locally adapted to and/or intelligently subverted the imposed supra-order. There is a strong resistance and resilience (subversive by humans and geological by the forces of nature including sea level rise and subsidence) to imposed topographical manipulation. The cases, arranged from the least to the most intrusive and controlling land management practices, underscore that the deltas remain a territory that is culturally, religiously, and productively nuanced by topographical transformation. At the same time, there is clearly an innate, ever-changing nature of deltaic physiography and topography, which is simultaneously an asset and a vulnerability.

Today, for the first time in human history, more than half of the world’s population lives in cities. Coincidentally, within the field of cultural heritage conservation, increasing international interest and attention over the past two decades has been focused on urban areas. This is timely because the pressure for economic development and for the prioritizing of engagement with the global economy have accompanied rapid urbanization. In many societies, economic development has privileged modernization efforts leading to the loss of traditional communities. Accompanying this has been a concentration in the field of urban conservation on famous buildings and monuments rather than seeing cities as communities of people with values and belief systems that are reflected in a city’s overall setting: its cultural landscape. The Historic Urban Landscape approach is intended to address this distinction by critically discussing city communities, and how they are reservoirs of human memory and identity. This raises the question of the role of nostalgia in the field of urban conservation studies: is nostalgia an important phenomenon in understanding how the past is both brought to bear on the present and on the development of social and political agendas for the future? This article explores alternative ways of seeing cities particularly through the Historic Urban Landscape paradigm.

“From nature to nature” is the major goal of landscape design. The former is the idea of nature, i.e., landscape architects regard nature as the archetype of design; the latter is the experience of nature, i.e., landscape architects hope people can perceive the natural atmosphere through designed landscape. In this sense, the transformation from idea to experience of nature refers to the process of landscape design, which materializes landscape. According to this, this article focuses on the following topics: 1) what role does nature play as the origin of the landscape design theory; 2) how does nature as an idea promote form-giving in landscape design; and 3) what aesthetic experience does designed landscape create. This article draws on two influential landscape architects, Xiaoxiang Sun and Lawrence Halprin, and analyzes their theories and works from the perspective of comparative culture, including the idea of nature and its representation, the inherent mechanism of form-giving in landscape design, and the experience created by designed landscape. It aims to explore the intellectual potentials for contemporary landscape architecture theory through comparing the discrepancies and similarities of the two masters’ paths of landscape design.

Perceiving and understanding topography is not only fundamental for landscape architects, but also a core issue in landscape construction practice. In this interview, two prominent scholars, Karen M’Closkey and Keith VanDerSys, offer their insights about the theoretical and historical foundations of topography in landscape architecture, the influence of mapping on landscape architects’ site observations and design actions, the role of new navigation and sensing technologies in understanding and designing landscapes, and the enriched visualization methods for landscape design by advanced digital media. Finally, they also share their teaching experience in training students about site surveying and its translation into design responses.

As a method of the systematic conservation of historical, cultural, and natural landscape resources, heritage corridor integrates contexts of humanism and nature and provides the public with continuous linear spaces for recreation, leisure, and fitness activities. Most traditional studies on heritage corridor route planning focus on the analysis of physical spatial conditions, while ignoring public perception and public participation mechanisms. Based on the concept of Historic Urban Landscape, this research excavates modern landscape resources that are closely connected with traditional heritages and analyzes users’ digital footprints to incorporate public preferences of recreational behaviors into the process of heritage corridor route planning, realizing the combination of physical and social semantic data analyses. Basically, this study consists of three parts: 1) through analysis of digital footprints, select urban traditional heritage sites and landscape resource spots into the process of heritage corridor route planning, and fit the preliminary routes of urban heritage corridors with minimum cumulative resistance model; 2) construct a co-word matrix consisting of users’ movement flows and online textual data in the digital footprints, to complete the route planning upon social semantic data analysis; and 3) superimpose the results of heritage corridor route planning generated by the above two steps, and optimize according to the reality of urban environment. The study realizes an effective integration of urban landscape resources with public recreational behaviors and spatial perception in the process of heritage corridor route planning, offering reference to the overall protection of urban heritages and the systematic improvement of public space.

As a modern concept of cultural practice, “heritage” reflects the ways through which different nation-states understand and construct their own values. Accompanied with the emergency and development of “cultural landscape” concept, the relevance between heritage and landscape has greatly changed how people recognize heritage values, and cultural landscape becomes a specific type of heritage in related research and practice. From the holism perspective of Historic Urban Landscape, practices attempt to interpret the values of heritage by regarding landscape as medium, which helps integrate heritage resources into the overall planning of urban development. From the diversity perspective, the emphasis of the relevance between heritage and landscape promotes the academic system construction on landscape-based heritage research and practice. Heritage landscape research in digital era sees promising potential, meanwhile needs more efforts to address basic technique problems.

Contemporary Landscape Architecture has not become an applied discipline with mature market and well-defined social responsibility since its establishment in China. To address the issues that have long hindered the development, education, and public perception of Landscape Architecture, this article points out the required professional core means of landscape architects, and proposes five suggestions for their professional qualifications, including having knowledge about relevant laws, being familiar with relevant standards and norms, having empathy for users and professional common sense, having professional competency, and complying with professional ethics and accepting industry self-regulation. For the future of this profession, the promulgation of The Barrier-Free Environment Creation Law of the People’s Republic of China offers an opportunity for landscape architects to establish their irreplaceable role for the society.

The artificial mountain in traditional Chinese gardens as a kind of topographical landscape features has not been deeply and constructively studied in contemporary landscape theories. This paper analyzes the typical artificial mountain making in traditional Chinese gardens from the perspective of topography, and discusses about the landscaping concepts in three aspects—form, space, and time—according to the understanding of the characteristics of topography in architecture and landscape culture proposed by David Leatherbarrow. For the making of form, the dynamism of both mountain and water is the key consideration. For the spatial experience, it should focus on the arrangement of mountain “realm” in both stillness and motion states. Time management is also important, and both the scenery itself and the experience of visitors should pay attention to the vitality of the mountain and water over time. This paper will help us understand the topographical landscaping art of artificial mountain better, contributing to the theory and practice development of Landscape Architecture in contemporary China.

This research focuses on Shenzhen’s “urban waters,” particularly small-sized reservoirs that are undergoing rapid transformations due to the cross-municipality water supply centralization project launched in 2019, which includes the expansion of trans-basin water transfer capacity, the completion of Shenzhen’s first-ever two large-sized reservoirs, and the decommissioning of small-sized reservoirs. Applying an iterative design-research process, this project focuses on a chain of small reservoirs located along the northwestern foothills of Tanglang Mountain and uses the term “Hydrological Enclaves” to reveal the three interconnected realities of these soon-to-be decommissioned small-sized reservoirs in Shenzhen. First, it indicates their unique morphology of being surrounded by dense urban fabric; second, it refers to the fact that these small-sized reservoirs have long been “out of sight, out of mind” for that their existence is rarely known by the public; and third, it reveals the complex hydrosocial relationships between reservoirs and the larger landscape system of which they are part. This project aims to adapt these soon-to-be decommissioned small-sized reservoirs into decentralized off-grid water sources to increase local water resiliency. Simultaneously, the proposed water infrastructure also plays a much-needed educational role where visual and tactile experiences are curated to exhibit landscape performance and its critical connection with water security.

Aya Kubota stands out in studies of community development projects ranging from small historical towns to major metropolitan areas, covering topics on urban planning, townscape preservation, and environmental improvement and conservation, etc. In this interview, she shares thoughts on historical environment preservation and regeneration, taking her practices in Japan for example. From her point of view, local subjectivity is essential. The dynamism of localization supports the preservation and regeneration practices, presenting an alternative way of urbanization. There might be conflicts between the local and non-local subjects in such practices, but the conflicts are healthy. Regarding the preservation and utilization of the “Legacy of Catastrophe,” she holds that city planning taking historical environments into consideration is an important progress. It is vital to engage local residents in the planning process and weigh up what should be preserved, how should they be conveyed, and to whom. For the regeneration of urban historical resources, the most challenging aspect is the need to examine the current situations, where our lives and ways of life have been completely influenced by external forces, and reevaluate our values. Although there are always risks associated with professional involvement, it is necessary to take some measures to preserve or repair the historical environments, in which process the ability to think as own self as the local residents is an important ability.

This article first identifies the current definition of urban heritage that includes both “old” and “young” monuments. Their protection has also shifted from solely preserving “old” values into a more holistic process to retain “old” values and manage the change in their adaptive reuse to gain “new” values, towards a more people-centered and landscape-based approach. Furthermore, a concept of ecosystem for urban planning and development is introduced, involving both the worlds of people, flora and fauna, and the sphere of spatial biography as well as other (in)tangible contexts, aiming to develop sustainable human habitats. The management of the change in human habitats as an ecosystem is built on the protection of place identity, which is the manifestation of historic urban landscape’s tangible and intangible attributes. Public participation is also recognized to be an important tool. To implement such a landscape-based approach, experts need to play an active role in promoting wide public participation while digital technologies open new ways for outreach, co-creation, and citizen-led decision-making platforms such as social media, (gamified) apps, and digital urban commons. Through public participation, local spatial biography can also be better identified, which extends people’s footprints from the community to local individuals at micro-scaled features within urban tissues. Finally, this article proposes recommendations for landscape architects to share the responsibilities of urban planners and heritage professionals, integrating heritage management into long-term sustainable urban development.

In the field of Landscape Architecture, Topography aims to study the complex and ongoing changing relationship between humans and the land through continuously updated and iterative tools and media. It maintains a balance between abstract concepts and concrete perceptions, which can both drive the development of science and technology in this field and hold on to openness to artistic expression. Thus, topographical design may be an effective way to help facilitate refining landscape design methods.

The intense changes in our modern society and the associated challenges are constantly increasing, not least due to the meta-crisis of climate change. Yet our approach to cultural heritage is still strongly influenced by the narrative of preservation. The article aims to find solutions within the interplay of preservation and change. Based on the psychological impact on society resulting from the current challenges, it is argued that cultural heritage experts need competencies in dealing with uncertainty and tolerance of ambiguity in order to provide security of action. The article applies insights from multiple disciplines to urban environment studies and advocates for a systemic understanding of cultural heritage as a prerequisite for sustainable and resilient adaptation to current challenges. It also contributes to a body of knowledge on what skills cultural heritage professionals need to be competent and confident in their daily work. The case study provides some valuable examples from Regensburg of Germany by taking an integrated and holistic approach that views the city as a multi-layered system in cultural heritage management.

In China, national parks represent the country’s most unique natural landscapes. Scientific evaluation of landscape resources is significant for preserving the authenticity and integrity of national parks. Taking Qianjiangyuan National Park System Pilot Zone as an example, this research investigated the willingness of internal group (residents and administrative staff) and external group (tourists) to pay for a hypothetical market project based on the pilot zone via Contingent Valuation Method to acquire the monetized value of landscape resources in the national park, and applied Logistic Regression to analyze the influencing factors. The results show that the payment rate of external group is higher than that of internal group, and people with different demographics have different payment rates. Both internal and external groups are willing to pay to improve ecological environment, but there are significant differences on reasons for refusal—having a low income is the main reason for the internal group, and the external respondents refuse mainly because of the belief that the payment is owed to government finance. The total monetized value of the research area is 135 million yuan, of which the external value is much higher than internal value. The attitude factors influence landscape resource value more significantly than demographic and environmental factors. The assessment of landscape resource value of national parks is affected by perceptions and demands of multiple interest groups. This research suggests accelerating the construction of a standardized assessment technical system to support the establishment of national park system in China.

In recent history, built environment practices have accepted a paradigm which underlines the land’s static quality, prioritizes immediate utility, and consequently adopts design processes that inevitably accelerate assimilation. With the capitalist propensity to obtain control and enhance efficiency, those processes nevertheless privilege certain cultures while rejecting other forms of knowledge or living specific to the land. The design discourse, confronted with the rising pressure of global climate challenges and environmental inequity, suggests a shift of design pattern from static to responsive as a means to an end that is part of nature’s transformation.

Located amid the semi-arid playa of Nevada in the USA, Fly Ranch sits on land remote yet crisscrossed by industrial activity, with extreme climatic conditions yet teeming with life and traditions. Working with these contradictions, “Lodgers,” the project to be constructed in Fly Ranch, is grounded in three key approaches to challenging contemporary architectural practice. Firstly, prioritize the well-being of all plants and animals species, including humans, by creating cohabitation spaces. Secondly, utilize local or nearby building resources to minimize waste, maintain ecological balance, and rebuild the material cycle. Finally, integrate Traditional Ecological Knowledge with modern building practices and employ low-tech construction techniques to encourage community participation. As a pilot project goes into construction, the authors offer critical reflection on contemporary architecture practice, the design process, and the meaning of “unbuilding” as a response to climate challenge.

“Children’s Book and Learning Games on Indiana Native Plants & Habitats,” a 2023 ASLA student project winner, is an effort by five landscape architecture students to convey to a young audience two important things we learn in college: native plants, and the right plant in the right place. By integrating this knowledge into children’s early education, dramatic changes can be catalyzed in local ecosystems and networks and promote healthier habitats. The well-designed book and thought-out games not only allow children to grow and engage with landscape design, but also simplify landscape planning and decision-making. The process and the final product are innovative applications of knowledge-based systems to spread awareness and educate young people.

Emerging from the discourse of environmental humanities, plant humanities debuted at Dumbarton Oaks in 2018 as an interdisciplinary field. As living species, plants possess both biological and cultural attributes, holding unparalleled socio-cultural significance. This article recollects the author’s journey of encountering plant humanities in the 2020 Plant Humanities Summer Program, and co-initiating an action group in China, Plant South Salesroom, to promote the burgeoning plant-matters idea among wider audience. Plant South Salesroom raised the phrase “Zhiwu Shimin” (植物世民, Plant Inhabitant) to get rid of the ingrained plant blindness and open potential dialogues between scientific and humanities studies. It makes the modified research framework of plant humanities more accessible. Rooted in the plant humanities studies, Plant South Salesroom has conducted diverse public-engaged practices at local cultural space, combined with culture-oriented creation and spread. The activities of Plant Walk, Plant Life Interview, Local Plant Post, and Plant Tabloid facilitate the participants start to appreciate plants in the original form and be kin with them. Reciprocally, the feedback received during the practices and the insights captured under the perspective of plants also enriched the existing plant humanities studies.

Social impact assessment is a practical requirement for the construction of the national park system, but there is still a lack of comprehensive conceptual frameworks, theoretical explanations, and systematic evaluations. Considering the distinctive characteristics of China’s national park system construction, this study improves the existing framework and indicator system for social impact assessment. It conducts a comparative analysis of three typical communities—the inside community, gateway community, and fringe community—surrounding the Giant Panda National Park (Tangjiahe area). Through questionnaire surveys, semi-structured interviews, factor analysis, and One-way ANOVA analysis, we find that the comprehensive perception value of social impacts by the Giant Panda National Park was relatively negative. Respondents’ perception values ranked from high to low were social relations, local culture, equity and rights, economy and livelihoods, and knowledge and education. Moreover, except the dimension of economy and livelihoods, there were significant differences in the perception of impacts by the three types of communities. Specifically, the gateway community has the most positive perception of social relations, local culture, and equity and rights; the inside community has the most positive perception of knowledge and education; while the fringe community perceived the most negative impacts in all four dimensions. Furthermore, the primary causes of social impact perception are conservation policies, economic development, and location and transportation. This study suggests that non-economic social impacts should be given more attention, such as equity and rights, and knowledge and education. Also, to ensure that the fringe communities can benefit from the construction and development of national parks, more attention and support from the governments and management agencies are necessary. This study can provide theoretical insights and case-based evidence for the improvement of social impact discussions on protected areas.

This essay writes on a building project in the remote southwestern China that is built in uninhabited and is inspired and informed by its landscape context. The essay discusses how an extraordinary building project reacts to three different dimensions about landscape–architecture—a natural terrain being manipulated and recast. A small building needs to find its precise connecting point to a much larger historical and environmental context. A practical project needs to reach a balance between architectural pursuits and engineering concerns. Initially, artificial works might be isolated from and in conflict with the terrain, which requires architectural approaches to reconciling the demands at different scales and of functions. Finally, people who use the building will move forward to an effective and open dialogue between architecture and its landscape settings.

Is it possible to intellectually grasp the production of architecture in China over the past four decades? How should we make sense of such an unprecedented transformation of the built landscape in human history? Based on a three-year study by the editor H. Koon Wee, the book The Social Imperative: Architecture and the City in China presents a "sourcebook" that gathers multiple entanglements between architecture and society of China's economic reform era. This review attempts to provide an architectural-geographical perspective for readers to dive into this deep volume of collected essays: the socio-economic rapport between China's coastal regions and the hinterland. By situating architecture's "social imperatives" between geographies, this review presents a lateral reading across this multidisciplinary volume of work that would inform both practitioners and the broader audience on understanding the complex forces behind the process of architecture and the city, and contemplating the future role of the architect in, around, and beyond China.

● Reviews a book filled with first-hand stories and critical reflections about the social practices developed by architects and built environment shapers