Abstract
The discussion regarding the relation of design and research in landscape architecture started somewhat later than in other design disciplines. But the past decade has shown a sharp rise of publications on ‘research through/by design(ing)’ (RTD). The literature has now reached a level of richness that enables a review of the State of the Art and a differentiation of types of contributions to the discourse. We reviewed more than 200 publications (scientific journal papers, conference papers, PhD theses, MSc theses and others) on RTD in relation to landscape architecture and closely related disciplines. The review shows that a rather small portion of the publications deals with RTD a scholarly sense. The remaining portion of scholarly publications offered a useful base for further scrutiny. We categorised the relevant literature according to types of publications and the epistemological stances taken. Based on this categorisation we identified areas that need further research and thus sketched an agenda for further research on RTD in landscape architecture.
Keywords
landscape architecture; research through design; research by design; review
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2018.293
Citation
Lenzholzer, S., NIJHUIS, S., and Cortesão, J. (2018) RTD in Landscape Architecture: a first State of the Art, in Storni, C., Leahy, K., McMahon, M., Lloyd, P. and Bohemia, E. (eds.), Design as a catalyst for change - DRS International Conference 2018, 25-28 June, Limerick, Ireland. https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2018.293
Creative Commons License
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RTD in Landscape Architecture: a first State of the Art
The discussion regarding the relation of design and research in landscape architecture started somewhat later than in other design disciplines. But the past decade has shown a sharp rise of publications on ‘research through/by design(ing)’ (RTD). The literature has now reached a level of richness that enables a review of the State of the Art and a differentiation of types of contributions to the discourse. We reviewed more than 200 publications (scientific journal papers, conference papers, PhD theses, MSc theses and others) on RTD in relation to landscape architecture and closely related disciplines. The review shows that a rather small portion of the publications deals with RTD a scholarly sense. The remaining portion of scholarly publications offered a useful base for further scrutiny. We categorised the relevant literature according to types of publications and the epistemological stances taken. Based on this categorisation we identified areas that need further research and thus sketched an agenda for further research on RTD in landscape architecture.