Research Areas

Urban ecological landscape design and management

This group is concerned with the application of ecological theory to landscape practice to improve sustainability whilst meeting human aesthetic and functional needs. Aspects include: the role and nature of sustainable planting design in urban environments; green roof ecology and technology, especially the integration of aesthetic and cultural needs with the ecological function of green roofs at a variety of scales; landscapes of mortality, especially natural burial and grave re-use; the application of sustainability to urban design.

(Core group members: Andy Clayden,Nigel Dunnett, James Hitchmough)

Planning and management of rural and peri-urban landscapes

The use of advanced virtual landscape visualizations and modelling to explore human reaction to ways in which landscape and environmental planning can influence and direct anthropogenic landscape change; environmental impact assessments (landscape and visual impacts); participatory methods and planning and design communication; rural cultural landscapes and landscape regeneration; landscape character assessment; sustainable landscape planning and management; drivers of future landscape change; role of urban green infrastructure in urban regeneration.

(Core group members: Eckart Lange, Paul Selman, Carys Swanwick)

Human interaction with landscapes

Landscape perspectives and experience in relation to cultural background and personal circumstance; holistic and environmentally friendly approaches to planning and designing urban space green structure; urban `wildscapes´ and their acceptability; landscape expectations and experiences of migrants in multicultural urban communities; designing urban landscapes to meet the needs of young people; social factors in strategic approaches to the design and management of open spaces.
(Core group members: Anna Jorgensen, Clare Rishbeth, and Helen Woolley)

Landscape Architecture design theory

Interface between fine art and visual practice; philosophy, culture and pedagogy of environmentally oriented landscape architecture; application of contemporary design theory to designed landscapes from the Medieval to the present; restoration of historic landscapes; experiential landscape analysis and design; philosophical and theoretical context of people-place-space relations.
(Core group members: Catherine Dee, Kevin Thwaites, Jan Woudstra)