A landscape includes the physical elements of
geophysically defined landforms such as mountains, hills, water bodies such as rivers, lakes, ponds and the sea, living elements of land cover including indigenous vegetation, human elements including different forms
of land use, buildings and structures, and transitory elements such as lighting and weather conditions.
Combining both their physical origins and
the cultural overlay of human presence, often
created over millennia, landscapes reflect a living synthesis of people and
place that is vital to local and national identity. The character of a landscape helps define
the self-image of the people who inhabit it and a sense of place that
differentiates one region from other regions. It is the dynamic backdrop to
people’s lives. Landscape can be as varied as farmland, a landscape park, or wilderness.
While the
classic conception of landscape presumes that nature is stable, permanent and
harmonious, and the romantic vision distinguishes nature as a chaotic force; in
contrast, current artistic practices seem to explore the reciprocal effects
generated by the dynamic interaction between humans and matter. This issue
revisits the notion of landscape as an artistic genre in the contemporary
artistic context.
Landscape and Urban Planning is an international journal aimed at
advancing conceptual, scientific, and applied understandings of landscape in order to
promote sustainable solutions
for landscape change.
Landscapes are visible and integrative social-ecological systems with
variable spatial and temporal dimensions. They have expressive aesthetic,
natural, and cultural qualities that are perceived and valued by people in
multiple ways and invite actions resulting in landscape change.
Landscapes are increasingly urban
in nature and ecologically and culturally sensitive to changes at local through
global scales. Multiple disciplines and perspectives are required to understand
landscapes and align social and ecological values to ensure the sustainability
of landscapes.
The journal is based on the premise that landscape science linked
to planningand design can provide mutually
supportive outcomes for people and nature.
Landscape science brings landscape
ecology and urban
ecology together with other disciplines and cross-disciplinary
fields to identify patterns and understand social-ecological processes
influencing landscape change. Landscape planning brings
landscape architecture, urban and regional planning, landscape and ecological
engineering, and other practice-oriented fields to bear in processes for
identifying problems and analyzing, synthesizing, and evaluating desirable
alternatives for landscape change. Landscape design brings plans,
designs, management prescriptions, policies and other activities and
form-giving products to bear in effecting landscape change. The implementation
of landscape planning and design also generates new patterns of evidence and
hypotheses for further research, providing an integral link with landscape
science and encouraging transdisciplinary collaborations to build robust
knowledge and problem solving capacity.
Landscape examples:
1- Courtyard of Silence
2- Yokohama International Passenger Terminal
3- Millenium Park
4- BIG U (New York City)
5- West Louisville Food Port
