Bringing Systematic Thinking of Landscape Justice Into Global Design Practice

Abstract

Design increasingly plays a pivotal role in achieving justice for all. However, there are often gaps between visions and implementation due to the variety of factors and stakeholders involved in design practice. Through literature review and a keyword co-occurrence analysis, this paper investigates current landscape justice research and identifies the distinguishing concerns in design, and highlights the importance of systematic thinking in achieving landscape justice. By examining the practices of the British company Building Design Partnership (BDP), a multinational design company, this paper identifies BDP’s three key design principles as experiences can be followed for landscape justice: design for inclusion, design for resilience, and design for future ecosystems. The paper also addresses potential challenges and conflicts in implementing landscape justice across different contexts and highlights multinational design companies’ efforts to mediate between various stakeholders. Finally, this paper demonstrates that design companies can contribute to 1) bridging social and environmental justice through landscape design, 2) achieving the visions promoted by scholars, 3) identifying and deploying diverse approaches to achieving landscape justice with their sensitivity to practical problems, and 4) fostering integrated feedback loops via both top-down and bottom-up approaches to ensure effective implementation of landscape justice.

● Investigates current landscape justice research and identifies the gap between theories and design practice through a keyword co-occurrence analysis

● Identifies BDP’s essential design principles for achieving landscape justice as experiences can be followed

● Highlights the pivotal role of multinational design companies in effectively communicating with stakeholders and integrating justice in design across diverse contexts

Graphical abstract

Keywords

Landscape Justice / Systematic Thinking / Justice-oriented Design Principles / Inclusion / Resilient Landscapes / Ecosystems

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