Practice

Sarah Hicks speaks with ecologist Damien Cook about his environmental restoration work and how we can improve biodiversity in our urban and regional areas.

Looming large over the city, Mount Wellington/kunanyi has long-occupied a central place in the landscape of Hobart and its unique sense of place.

Alice Lewis and Kyle Bush reflect on a recent round-table discussion that explored the role of the university and landscape architecture programs across Australia in shaping future generations of design practitioners.

Acknowledging, respecting and valuing Indigenous agency and knowledge of Country is an active part of decolonizing our approach to design, says Yuin Budawang woman, landscape architect and artist Kaylie Salvatori.

When documenting Indigenous projects, especially for media publication, it is vital that we articulate the processes, relationships and outcomes in a way that centralizes Indigenous voices.

Since the 1980s, the Recreation, Planning and Design Unit of the WA Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions has played a pivotal role in the conservation and management of the state’s breathtaking regional landscapes.

Developed in 2010, the Yawuru Cultural Management Plan aimed to guide the management of Yawuru land and waters in Western Australia’s Kimberley region as one interconnected cultural system.

A joint project by a team of marine scientists and an industrial designer is bringing biodiversity back to Sydney Harbour.

Universities are part of the movement towards Reconciliation, yet the work of recognizing and meaningfully representing Indigenous culture in the campus built environment requires far more attention.

A project in South San Francisco is inspiring communities to rethink their relationships with water and the role urban creeks might play in shaping more climate-adaptive futures for the Bay Area.

Planning for ‘slow cities’ where accessibility is prioritized over speed and mobility can lead to the evolution of healthier, safer and more child-friendly places.

Tyrrell Studio’s expanding folio of public realm projects reads as an “open-source code book,” with heavily researched projects that trade fanfare for broader change.

What principles might landscape architects embrace to reclaim agency when designing with plants? Alistair Kirkpatrick explores three possibilities: collaboration, advocacy and opportunity.

While green infrastructure projects have been gaining in popularity, a gap frequently exists between the planning of these frameworks and their implementation. How can we address this?

The peri-urban areas on our cities’ fringes are dynamic territories that host diverse functions. How can landscape architects intervene in these areas to enact a more sustainable future?

Emma Appleton discusses urban renewal projects, social housing and post-COVID recovery at City of Melbourne.

A masterplan by TCL with Troppo embraces and integrates the civic role of the site, opportunities for heat mitigation and First Nations culture.

We need to design our urban spaces around the idea that flooding is inevitable. That means not building on flood plains, and thinking creatively about what can be done to create urban “sinks” to hold water when floods strike.

Fiona Morrison speaks about the development of her career and the work of the NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment in the second article in our series examining how prominent landscape architects are choreographing our cities and regions.

Barcelona-based architect and urban designer Carmen Fiol-Costa, the first Droga Architect in Residence, looks back on her time in Australia.

If the Western Sydney Aerotropolis is to deliver on its economic promises, this major development must attract residents, workers and visitors – and a landscape-led approach has much to offer.

In the first in a series of interviews with landscape architects in major city-shaping positions, Malcolm Snow discusses the expanding role of landscape architects in the strategic government space and the opportunities for pursing a landscape agenda in the shaping of a future Canberra.

As temperatures in our cities rise, “pattern thinking” can help designers to foster more sustainable interactions between people and their surrounds.

In the final interview in our four-part series on residential landscape approaches, Mark Jacques of Openwork discusses “ambiguous territory” and shared ownership in the design of Nightingvale Village.

In the third in our interview series with Melbourne practitioners pursuing new approaches to residential landscape design, Alistair Kirkpatrick and Anthony Sharples of AKAS speak about the importance of planting design in a changing climate.

In the second of our interviews with Melbourne practitioners, Sophie Dyring of Schored Projects discusses the landscape of social housing.

Paradoxically, the COVID-19 pandemic could lead to healthier buildings and more active cities with long-term public health benefits, writes Anne-Marie Broudehoux.

In the first of a series of interviews with Melbourne practitioners engaging the complexities of a changing city through landscape design, Simone Bliss discusses her recent work on the Nightingale 2.0 development.

Design-led approaches to remediation projects that go beyond the “natural” can help restore the ecologies of post-extraction sites, while creating new relationships between visitors and the landscape.

By pushing the limits of a project’s scope, Melbourne-based practice Openwork is opening up new and unexpected possibilities.

With the embrace of digital technologies that facilitate remote working arrangements, regionalism may be the next phase of Australian urbanism.

Oral McGuire, community leader, cultural burning practitioner and traditional Ballardong Nyungar landholder, discusses the role of traditional land and fire management practices in regenerating Country.

The recent opening of Northcote Golf Course to the public offers valuable insight into understanding how Melbourne’s urban green spaces can contribute to the community, beyond conventional ideas of functionality and formal recreation.

The pandemic has presented challenges for Australian landscape architecture education, with its emphasis on “studio culture” and group work. What can we learn from recent online teaching experiences going forward?

As a result of COVID-19, discussions around the design of our cities have gained renewed momentum, fuelling a push for long-term design approaches that improve how we respond to future events. Here are some areas to explore.

Healthy soils are critical to plant growth, but modern building practices often destroy soil through compaction, contamination and destruction of fungal and microbial communities. What can landscape architects do about it?

With cities around the world rediscovering the value of walking and biking, having a well-connected street network can contribute to more resilient neighbourhoods in the long term.

The pioneers of landscape architecture, from the United States to Australia, saw what was needed in times of crisis, and had the vision and will to adapt. Now is another such moment. So, how should we, as a profession, respond?

To save the critically endangered ecosystem of Victoria’s Western Grassland Reserve, we must envision innovative funding and management models that embrace the reserve as a cultural landscape.

The directors of Office introduce the second volume in The Politics of Public Space series that explores how COVID-19 is altering how we occupy space.