Landscape and Urban Planning

Landscape and Urban Planning
Title	Landscape and Urban Planning
Discipline	Urban planning; Landscape architecture; Environmental planning
Established	1974
Publisher	Elsevier
Country	Netherlands

Landscape and Urban Planning is a peer-reviewed scientific journal and interdisciplinary field concerned with the design, management, and policy of built and natural environments. It interfaces with United Nations Environment Programme, World Bank, European Commission, United States Environmental Protection Agency, and World Health Organization initiatives and informs practice across institutions such as UN-Habitat, International Federation of Landscape Architects, Royal Institute of British Architects, American Society of Landscape Architects, and Congress for the New Urbanism. The field draws on research connected to projects like High Line (New York City), Cheonggyecheon restoration, Thames Barrier, Hammarby Sjöstad, and Zaha Hadid–designed urban transformations.

Overview

Landscape and Urban Planning synthesizes scholarship from scholars affiliated with Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Delft University of Technology, University of California, Berkeley, Oxford University, Harvard University Graduate School of Design, University of California, Los Angeles, ETH Zurich, University of Toronto, Tsinghua University, and Peking University. Contributors examine interactions among built forms such as Garden City movement, Broadacre City, Radiant City (Le Corbusier), Barcelona Pavilion, and infrastructures like Channel Tunnel, Panama Canal, and Interstate Highway System. Research topics overlap with projects and figures including Jan Gehl, Ian McHarg, Patrick Geddes, Jane Jacobs, Lewis Mumford, and institutions like Smithsonian Institution and World Resources Institute.

History and Development

The field emerged through cross-fertilization among thinkers connected to Royal Horticultural Society, United States National Park Service, Garden City movement, and academic programs at Harvard University, University College London, and Edinburgh College of Art. Influential events that shaped development include the Industrial Revolution, Great Depression, New Deal (United States), Green Belt (United Kingdom), and postwar reconstruction projects such as Reconstruction of Europe and Brasília planning. Pivotal publications and paradigms stem from works associated with Patrick Geddes, Ian McHarg's ecological planning, Jane Jacobs's urban activism, and policy frameworks like the Habitat II Conference and Brundtland Report.

Key Concepts and Theories

Core theories are informed by paradigms linked to Landscape Ecology, Urban Morphology, Socio-ecological Systems, Resilience (ecology), and Ecosystem Services (Millennium Ecosystem Assessment). Concepts draw on historical figures and models such as Le Corbusier, Camillo Sitte, Daniel Burnham, Ebenezer Howard, Kevin Lynch's imageability, and Christopher Alexander's pattern language. Theoretical frameworks intersect with legal and institutional references like National Environmental Policy Act, European Green Deal, Clean Water Act, and Convention on Biological Diversity.

Methods and Practices

Methodologies are practiced by design and planning teams at Arup Group, AECOM, Foster + Partners, Sasaki Associates, and Ramboll. Techniques include spatial analysis using tools derived from Geographic Information Systems (Esri), Remote sensing (Landsat), LiDAR, Social Network Analysis, and modeling approaches developed by IPCC authors and Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change scenarios. Participatory methods connect with initiatives like Participatory Budgeting (Porto Alegre), community engagement models used in Amsterdam and Copenhagen, and implementation through programs run by United Nations Development Programme.

Environmental and Social Impacts

Research evaluates outcomes for biodiversity in sites comparable to Central Park, Kew Gardens, and Everglades National Park, and assesses public health impacts referenced by World Health Organization studies, Lancet Commission on Health and Climate Change, and urban heat island analyses linked to Urban Heat Island effect mitigation in Singapore. Social equity debates reference cases such as Gentrification in Brooklyn, Los Angeles River revitalization, and displacement patterns observed after events like Olympic Games hosting in Athens, Beijing, and Rio de Janeiro.

Policy, Planning Instruments, and Governance

Policy instruments include zoning regimes like those in New York City, Tokyo, and Paris, fiscal tools exemplified by Tax Increment Financing and Congestion pricing (London), and planning processes stemming from charters such as the Athens Charter and Charter of the New Urbanism. Governance arrangements incorporate multi-level coordination seen in European Union directives, metropolitan authorities such as Transport for London, and collaborative frameworks exemplified by C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group and ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability.

Case Studies and Applications

Representative case studies include redevelopment of Docklands (London), HafenCity (Hamburg), Seoul Cheonggyecheon, High Line, Rotterdam Maasvlakte 2, and Songdo International Business District. Applications extend to restoration of Yellowstone National Park corridors, resilience planning after Hurricane Katrina, adaptive management in Venice, and landscape-driven climate adaptation projects funded by Global Environment Facility and piloted by Asian Development Bank.

Category:Urban planning