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Public Practice Design
Drive design vision, advocate for landscape architecture components, create design standards, direct design processes
Public practice landscape design strategy combines all aspects of design excellence with fiscal value, legal compliance, and socio-economic factors. The primary goal is to ensure the health, safety and welfare of the general public is fully incorporated in the plans. Principles of public practice design processes include:
- Directing the design vision for multifunctional spaces, site elements, and activities that encourage social interaction and promote safety and well-being
- Adhering to design policies and guidelines
- Designing to the level of maintenance capabilities
- Assuring the quality of material selections
- Preserving and repairing existing assets
- Ensuring physical accessibility
- Promoting the efficient use of tax dollars.
The public practice landscape architect role in design is unique and consists of the following components that influence the practice:
- Participation in the site and scope selection processes
- Application of historical knowledge of the infrastructure, maintenance, and uses and needs of the site.
- Incorporation of former preliminary studies and master plans for informed design
- Achievement of design continuity between projects that are within the same program or of similar typology
- Utilization of themes, materials and concepts from adjacent public projects
- Duality of roles as both the client and the designer or design manager
- As the client, the public practice landscape architect represents multiple entities such as taxpayers and stakeholder groups, and ensures public policy initiatives are incorporated in designs.
- As the design manager, the public practice landscape architect selects and directs the landscape architect consultant firms and reviews and approves all design submittals.
- Advocates for landscape architectural design components on interdisciplinary design projects.
- Produces seasonal displays in public spaces
- Creates standards and details to aid the construction management and maintenance teams, which may be adopted into codes and regulations.
Keep Exploring Public Practice Landscape Architecture
Guide to Public Practice Landscape Architecture
What is public practice landscape architecture? The not-for-profit enterprise whose mission is to design, implement, and manage functional, liveable, safe, and attractive places for the public, often developed with a larger social objective in mind—community gathering, preservation/acknowledgement of history/place, environmental resilience, and economic vitality.
Public Communications
Initiatives, Presentations, Media Relations, Progress Reporting, Public Education
Contract Administration
Procurement Proposals, Bid Documents, Advertising, Negotiations, Grants/Funding, Scope-of-work Refinement, Budgets, Billing
Data Collection & Analysis
GIS - Mapping, Surveys, Record Reviews, Site Condition Assessment (Grading and Drainage, Erosion, Circulation, Climatic Conditions)
Engagement
Political Bodies, Stakeholders, Owners, Community Interest Groups, Programming, Inter-Organizational Relations
Project Management
Synthesize project components, Resolve project-wide issues, Quality Assurance, Construction document review, Budget and project expenditure monitoring, Process and permit administration
Public Asset Management
Inspections, Maintenance, Stewardship, Health & Safety, Inventories, Acquisitions & Agreements
Regulation & Compliance
Public Policy Development, Ordinances, Development Standards & Guidelines, Zoning Review, Permitting, Specifications
Representation
Coordination, Collaboration, Team Leadership, Subject Matter Expertise, Agency Liaison, Task Force Member, Public Guardian
Research & Documentation
Precedent/Benchmark/Case Studies, Historical Record Review, Preservation Studies, Informational Resources