Poor design and wasted funding characterize today's American playgrounds. A range of factors--including a litigious culture, overzealous safety guidelines, and an ethos of risk aversion--have created uniform and unimaginative playgrounds. These spaces fail to nurture the development of children or promote playgrounds as an active component in enlivening community space.
Solomon's book demonstrates how to alter the status quo by allying data with design. Recent information from the behavioral sciences indicates that kids need to take risks; experience failure but also have a chance to succeed and master difficult tasks; learn to plan and solve problems; exercise self-control; and develop friendships. Solomon illustrates how architects and landscape architects (most of whom work in Europe and Japan) have already addressed these needs with strong, successful playground designs. These innovative spaces, many of which are more multifunctional and cost effective than traditional playgrounds, are both sustainable and welcoming. Having become vibrant hubs within their neighborhoods, these play sites are models for anyone designing or commissioning an urban area for children and their families.
The Science of Play, a clarion call to use playground design to deepen the American commitment to public space, will interest architects, landscape architects, urban policy makers, city managers, local politicians, and parents.

Garden design began in West Asia and spread through Europe. This book tells how, in the British Isles, it flourished to an extraordinary degree. Following the historical method in Tom Turner's books on Asian gardens (2010) and European gardens (2011), it uses almost 1000 colour photographs, plans and style diagrams to provide a word and image history of garden design. Individual chapters cover the Celtic, Roman, Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque, Neoclassical, Romantic, Arts and Crafts, Modern and Postmodern periods. Additional information about the gardens in the book is available on the Gardenvisit.com website, which the author edits http://www.gardenvisit.com/history_theory/british_gardens_companion

The unique convergence of architecture and landscape found on the Bernina Pass inspired Swiss photographer Guido Baselgia to create a visual epic. The result is a one-of-a-kind presentation of the new road maintenance base near Bernina Pass, designed by renowned Swiss firm Bearth & Deplazes Architekten, in a seemingly arctic winter landscape. Baselgia explored the territory along the road and railway line with his analogue camera. His images also draw a connection between the existing infrastructures for traffic and energy production - built over the course of the landscape's industrialisation and continued development since the late 19th century - to the architecture of the new maintenance base. A concavely curved shield wall topped by a round tower is all that is visible of this vast, purely functional, and largely underground space. The shield wall cuts a segment from the existing topography and thereby encloses a courtyard along with an area of the surrounding landscape. The tower refuses direct encoding - until entering the camera obscura at its very top, which connects photography, architecture, and landscape to reveal that this place is about insights and not outlooks. The book features a selection of Guido Baselgia's striking photographs and reproductions of camera obscura images from the tower in outstanding duotone reproduction and documents Bearth & Deplazes' architecture through concise texts, images, and selected plans. Text in English, German and Italian.

Garden design and usage has been a feature of human civilisation as far back as Neolithic times, when the first gardens began to be used for residential, horticultural and sacred tasks. Tom Turner follows the entire history of the European garden from its prehistoric roots right up to the present day in this beautifully illustrated book.

European Gardens is divided into ten periods of history and garden development, detailing the advancement of land usage for over 10,000 years. Some of the topics covered in this comprehensive book include the Egyptian gardens of the Pharaohs, the castle gardens of medieval times, eclectic gardens of the nineteenth century and abstract gardens of the last 100 years. The geographical scope of this book covers the whole of the European continent, and touches the garden designs of North Africa and the Middle East.

Tom Turner is a skilled landscape architect and garden historian, who supports his engaging writing with his own detailed plans and diagrams. European Gardens also features almost 1,000 colour photographs from across the continent allowing the reader to see for themselves how the design and structure of gardens has developed over time.

A companion to the Asian Gardens book, published by Routledge in 2010, European Gardens is a development of the original Garden History book from 2004.

Wer entscheidet uber Allokation, Art und Mass von Buroimmobilienentwicklungen, und wie konnen Stadte, private Quartiers- und Flachenentwickler die Standortentscheidungen der Projektentwickler und Investoren beeinflussen? Aus der Perspektive der Neuen Institutionenokonomik untersucht Christoph Meyer zum Alten Borgloh die Transaktionen von Buroprojektentwicklungen auf ihre Kosten, Risiken und Rahmenbedingungen sowie deren Einfluss auf die Investitionsentscheidungen. Darauf aufbauend analysiert der Autor, wie mithilfe des Institutional Design die Transaktionskosten gesenkt und Investitionsanreize generiert werden konnen. Aus den Ergebnissen konnen Quartiersentwickler und Kommunen Ansatze ableiten, wie Entwicklungsareale fur Investoren und Projektentwickler attraktiver gestaltet und stadtebauliche Instrumente effizienter genutzt werden konnen. Projektentwicklern und Investoren wird aufgezeigt, bei welchen Aktivitaten die umfangreichen Transaktionskosten entstehen und wie diese reduziert werden konnen."

Living in a world beset by rising sea level, floods in urban and suburban areas, air pollution, and food security risks, it is urgent to mitigate threats by adapting to climate change. In September 2019, the UN Climate Action Summit declared Natural-Based Solutions (NBS) as one of the major action domains, paralleled with Climate Finance and Carbon Pricing, Energy Transition, Industry Transition, Infrastructure, City and Local Action, Resilience and Adaptation, etc. This important approach to fulfilling the Paris Agreement globally could crucially help reduce climate risks and build climate-resilient cities in an economic, efficient, and sustainable way.

Two Journeys is the firsat comprehensive monograph on the work of Michael Webb, an artist who is also a trained architect and who operates at the intersection of the two disciplines. He is widely known for creatively exploring the boundaries of drawing techniques, specifically perspectival projection. Webb's aspirations for and re-conceptions of both built and natural environments are revealed between a twenty-year study on perspective projection that utilizes as its subjects the Regatta Course at Henley-on-Thames in England, and early work, some of which was done in conjunction with Archigram, an avant-garde group concerned with theorizing and critiquing architecture which formed during the 1960s at the Architectural Association in London. The publication connects nearly sixty years of the artist's work into a continuously evolving narrative about the relationship between architecture, the automobile, and landscape. Webb's work investigates these relationships using notions of time, space, and speed, and analogue drawing tools such as pencil and collage, which are often rendered later in oil paint. The book features over 150 drawings: artistic works rooted in analytical thinking and structured around architectural elements and notational systems.

Using a rich assortment of illustrations and biographical sketches, Peter Martin relates the experiences of colonial gardeners who shaped the natural beauty of Virginia's wilderness into varied displays of elegance. He shows that ornamental gardening was a scientific, aesthetic, and cultural enterprise that thoroughly engaged some of the leading figures of the period, including the British governors at Williamsburg and the great plantation owners George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, William Byrd, and John Custis. In presenting accounts of their gardening efforts, Martin reveals the intricacies of colonial garden design, plant searches, experimentation, and the problems in adapting European landscaping ideas to local climate. These writings also bring to life the social and commercial interaction between Williamsburg and the plantations, together with early American ideas about cultured living. While placing Virginia's gardening in the larger context of the colonial South, Martin tells a very human story of how this art both influenced and reflected the quality of colonial life. As Virginia grew economically and culturally, the garden became a projection of the gardener's personal identity, as exemplified by the endeavors of Washington and Jefferson at Mount Vernon and Monticello. In order to recapture the gardens as they existed in colonial times, Martin brings together paintings, drawings, and the findings of modern archaeological excavations. Originally published in 1991. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Natural stone is the new garden “fashion statement.” Stone paths, walls, steps, dry streams (and more) are low maintenance and enhance a homeowner’s property like no other landscape feature. The element of stone in a garden has two important qualities: function and beauty. It also conveys a sense of permanence and place. Since ancient times, stone has been revered for bringing a special “feel” to a garden. In The Spirit of Stone, award-winning designer Jan Johnsen presents a richly photographed, authoritative guide to creative and practical uses for stone in the landscape: steps, paths, garden walls, dry streams, benches, rock gardens, driveways and more. Stone’s practicality is especially appreciated by homeowners concerned with low maintenance, sustainability and water conservation – with the side benefit of enhancing property value. The Spirit of Stone is an essential idea book and how-to for designers, stonemasons, builders, homeowners and DIYers.

Jens Jensen was one of America's greatest landscape designers and conservationists. Using native plants and "fitting" designs, he advocated that our gardens, parks, roads, playgrounds, and cities should be harmonious with nature and its ecological processes--a belief that was to become a major theme of modern American landscape design. In "Jens Jensen: Maker of Natural Parks and Gardens," Robert E. Grese draws on Jensen's writings and plans, interviews with people who knew him, and analyses of his projects to present a clear picture of Jensen's efforts to enhance and preserve "native" landscapes.

From Idea to Site explores how to improve the working practices of landscape architects and therefore the quality of the design and management of our external environment. Based around the life of a project, this book puts innovation and technology at the forefront: looking at how they are changing the profession, and how these innovations might be used in the professional arena. The book also shows how landscape architecture can add to the quality and sustainability of varying construction projects, and how to make the best use of a landscape architect's skills. Including in-depth illustrated case studies from UK and international landscape schemes, the book looks at the often challenging process of getting projects to completion - 'from idea to site'.

The Shape of the Land: Topography & Landscape Architecture - the first book to centre on this subject - presents the contributions of 13 well-known practitioners and academics who discuss the forms and ramifications of reconfiguring terrain. The essays range in content from pre-industrial precedents in the work of Humphry Repton to new digital topographic modelling systems without the use of contour lines, the treatment of waste products to the land art of the American Southwest. Practicing landscape architects focusing on the modelling of topography in the works considering both utility and aesthetics. In all, the book reviews the history, reasons, and results of at least three centuries of topographic interventions, while suggesting pathways into the future - as new technology and new necessities increase the functional demands placed upon landscape architects, while at the same time potentially offering new forms of artistic expression.

Laurie Olin shares his insights into seemingly ordinary elements of these places, and how they intersect with our individual lives and experiences. An expert treatise on a niche topic, Olin's analysis of the importance of public seating goes beyond their aesthetic or comfort value. He explores how public seating influences our social conduct, our role as citizens, and our establishment of place and community.

The latest edition of the University of Virginia School of Architecture's design journal, LUNCH 15 turns to the concept of Thickness and considers what possibilities lie in poche, thick description, thin assemblies, and in the many layers of the built environment. The issue considers Thickness in four sections: "Places" navigates the ways we understand the spaces in which we live and work. "Materials" delaminates the building blocks of our world and how we know them. "Representation" traces the many forms and layers of communication through which we see or that might obscure our vision. Finally, "Relations" follows threads that bind. In a world operating between the thick and thin of it, how will your lines be drawn?

Landscape architects, design professionals and contractors alike require a good working knowledge of how to achieve plant establishment under a variety of conditions and situations. Overlooking the physiological needs of plants can lead to potential problems that can have negative financial and design impacts. Plants and Planting on Landscape Sites is a practical book giving practitioners in landscape design the essential horticultural knowledge and concepts needed to understand the limits of the material they are working with and make informed decisions. From specification to supervision, this book provides concrete advice along with practical examples for each stage of a typical project. It contains sections on: the landscape site; selecting, assessing and purchasing plants; understanding nursery practice; forms and types of transplant traded; seeds and direct seeding; pre-planting site work; transplanting; and care in the establishment phase. Specially commissioned high quality line diagrams and full colour photographs are used throughout to demonstrate meaning and give examples. Peter Thoday is an experienced consultant, international lecturer in landscape management, and past president of The Institute of Horticulture, who has had numerous roles in high-profile projects, such as Horticultural Director of the Eden Project. Written by an expert, this book is as an essential tool for landscape architects, project managers, contractors and nursery managers.

For over 50 years between the 1760s and the early 19th century, the pioneers who sailed from Europe to explore the Pacific brought back glimpses of this new world in the form of oil paintings, watercolours and drawings - a sensational view of a part of the world few would ever see. Today these works represent a fascinating and inspiring perspective from the frontier of discovery. It was Sir Joseph Banks, President of the Royal Society, who popularised the placement of professional artists on British ships of exploration. They captured striking and memorable images of everything they encountered: exotic landscapes, beautiful flora and fauna, as well as remarkable portraits of indigenous peoples. These earliest views of the Pacific, particularly Australia, were designed to promote the new world as enticing, to make it seem familiar, to encourage further exploration and, ultimately, British settlement. Drawing on both private and public collections from around the world, this lavish book collects together oil paintings, watercolours, drawings, prints and other documents from those voyages, and presents a unique glimpse into an age where science and art became irrevocably entwined.

Winner of the Australian Institute of Landscape Architects (AILA) National Excellence Award (Research and Communication) 2017 Winner of the AILA VIC Excellence Award (Research and Communication) 2017 Highly Commended (Communication and Presentation) Landscape Institute Awards 2018 Landscape architecture has a pivotal role in ensuring environmental sustainability through design interventions. This book takes a broad look at strategies and completed projects to provide the reader with a strong understanding of the sustainability challenges being faced by designers today, and potential routes to addressing them. The book covers essential concepts of landscape architecture and environmental sustainability, including: - Ecology, multifunctional landscapes and sensitive intervention - Remediation, cleansing and environmental infrastructure - Social sustainability, design activism and healthy landscapes - Food systems, productive landscapes and transportation - Performance ratings, materials and life cycles Through case studies from around the world and interviews with leading landscape architects and practitioners, this book invites discussion about possible future scenarios, relevant theories and project responses in landscape environmental design. With hundreds of color images throughout the book, and additional study material in the companion website, Joshua Zeunert provides an overview of the multidimensional qualities of landscape sustainability.

Landscaping is a critical element in improving both the function and appearance of rainwater recycling and stormwater management practices. Designing landscaped areas to soak up rainfall runoff from building and paved areas helps protect water quality in local creeks and waterways. These landscape designs reduce polluted runoff and help prevent creek erosion. As the runoff flows over vegetation and soil in the landscaped area, the water percolates into the ground and pollutants are filtered out or broken down by the soil and plants. As Mike Breedlove, landscape architect and head of Breedlove Land Planning in Conyers, GA, likes to say, "The role of the landscape architect is to successfully marry mankind to nature." His statement is even more succinct than the description used by the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA), which highlights how landscape architects use a comprehensive working knowledge of architecture, civil engineering, and urban planning to "design aesthetic and practical relationships with the land." This integrative function of landscape architecture makes the profession seem a natural spawning ground for the innovation needed to successfully meet the considerable challenges posed by stormwater-related pollution and erosion. Fencing or hiding stormwater facilities out of view not only loses the opportunity to create an aesthetically pleasing site design, but also sends the message that stormwater is an attractive nuisance. Furthermore, constructing rain parks is becoming an essential part for urban landscape planning.