Public Practice Research & Documentation

Precedent/Benchmark/Case Studies, Historical Record Review, Preservation Studies, Informational Resources

Academic researchers meet with a firm liaison to discuss a research project

ASLA 2015 Professional Research Honor Award. Case Study Investigation (CSI): Measuring the Environmental, Social, and Economic Impacts of Exemplary Landscapes. Landscape Architecture Foundation.

Landscape Architecture Foundation

Public practice landscape architects are obligated to ensure improvement project locations have been evaluated for historical, socio-cultural, and environmental significance. Research is performed by accessing informational sources including government archives for previous proposals, plans, contracts, case studies, community survey results and environmental reports. Research and project documentation created by public practice landscape architects is important for the following reasons:

  • Data collected from research documents impacts decisions regarding site selection, project scoping and design development.
  • Data can be used to defend or otherwise affect the project outcome.
  • New project documentation provides an on-going historical context that assists practitioners, managers, and the public to understand prior decision-making and future expectations.
Historical landscape analysis and preservation infographic

ASLA 2018 Professional Analysis and Planning Honor Award. Extending Our History, Embracing Our Future. Madison, WI. SmithGroup (Team Lead) + Hoerr Schaudt. Client: University of Wisconsin - Madison.

Hoerr Schaudt

The public practice landscape architect may use research to help determine the contributing factors to the value of a site including:

  • (Re-) Establishing historical significance
  • The appropriate level of historical designation is considered as an objective.
  • Ensuring upgraded designs do not erase the historical context or vernacular contributions of the original or subsequent projects.
  • Rehabilitation of a project site does not change the original design intent.
  • The design addresses previously noted environmental impacts.
  • Investigations into habitat, biodiversity and preservation are advocated.
  • Documentation that contributes to the justification for preservation costs and other appropriations.
  • The improvement project becomes part of the archive.
  • Documenting circumstances affecting project opportunities and constraints help address value to the public.

See the Engagement and Data Collection & Analysis categories.

ASLA 2018 Student Research Award of Excellence. Restoring Diversity: Factors Influencing Revegetation Efforts in the Mojave Desert. Joshua Tree National Park and Mojave Desert Land Trust. Marinna Wagner, Student ASLA. Faculty Advisors: Susan J. Mulley, ASLA.

All photographs, tables, charts, diagrams, and images created by Marinna Wagner, Student ASLA, 2017-2018. Meta-Analysis diagram adapted from Koricheva, Gurevitch, & Mengerson 2013, p. 49.

The public landscape architect is tied to the project long after the ribbon is cut by the politicians. This relationship with the site enables the public practice landscape architect to observe how the public space is functioning and to monitor that the infrastructure is of sound build. Noted successes and failures allow the public sector landscape architect to develop extensive expertise which will, in turn, influence the design of future public projects.

Kris Sorich, ASLA Senior Landscape Architect, Chicago Department of Transportation

Keep Exploring Public Practice Landscape Architecture

Aerial drawing of the reimagined brownfield site known as the Lafitte Greenway

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.

Engagement facilitated conversation among residents and community members through sketching

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)

Design

Drive design vision, advocate for landscape architecture components, create design standards, direct design processes

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

Aerial View of the Eastern End of Orange Mall

Public Asset Management

Inspections, Maintenance, Stewardship, Health & Safety, Inventories, Acquisitions & Agreements

Enhanced pathways traverse the Penn and Fountain Landfills, which rise 130 feet above Jamaica Bay.

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