Viewpoint: Why does research matter?

Through my experience in private practice over many years, as a national director of AILA and as a PhD candidate, I have gained insight into the organizational, practice-related and academic value of two things: lifelong learning and evidence-based research.

Evidence-based research tests the efficacy of design – and its processes and outcomes. This knowledge greatly assists in evaluating and understanding project barriers and opportunities and enables the development of evidence-based solutions for superior outcomes. Research raises the standing of the profession, and the profile of landscape architecture in the community, among professionals and in academia. Clients and cost planners demand evidence to support the investment in a proposed design outcome before the green tick is given to proceed.

All research contributes to knowledge, which is composed not only of argument and logic, but also of skill and practice. Practising landscape architects have a great capacity to contribute to evidence-based knowledge through their experience. We can raise the bar by encouraging practitioners to take up the challenge of higher-degree research through a master or PhD program.

The Australian Institute of Landscape Architects (AILA), the peak body for landscape architects in Australia, promotes lifelong learning through a targeted professional development program and emphasizes the importance of education and knowledge in the complex, interdisci-plinary and context-dependent field of landscape architecture.

AILA is determined to serve its members and to do for them what they can’t easily do for themselves. A consolidated professional development framework is currently is being finalized, taking into account member needs across the board – from information on culturally appropriate design, to technical skills, to leadership training. The benefits of professional development and lifelong learning will increase the value proposition for AILA members.

AILA is excited to partner with the newly formed Landscape Foundation of Australia (LFA), a not-for-profit organization established to support the protection, restoration and sustainable management of landscapes and natural environments in Australian cities and towns. Among other things, the LFA will provide research funding that disseminates knowledge to inform sound decision-making and offer student scholarships to focus on Australian urban landscapes and natural environments. The founding directors of the foundation are prominent landscape architects Catherin Bull, Linda Corkery and Noel Corkery. While the LFA and AILA are separate entities with different goals and functions, they share a commitment to collaborate closely for mutual benefit.

Recent years have seen a blossoming of scientific interest in the benefits of nature contact for human health and wellbeing, with seven domains of research identified that, together, frame an agenda for needed research.¹ It is critical that landscape architects contribute to this research agenda.

This call to action is for all landscape architects to evaluate their capacity to contribute to higher-degree research in the human–nature context through a master or PhD university program. I can attest that it is fun and personally rewarding to put professional experience to the test under the scrutiny of academic research, to collaborate with academic experts, to direct research design to achieve useful outcomes for practical application, and to explore how knowledge can be successfully integrated in government and organizational policy to maximize impact and societal outcomes.