• History and Ideas
  • Prehistory to Middle Ages
  • Renaissance, Baroque, Enlightenment
  • 19th Century
  • 20th Century
  • From Millennium to Olympics
• The Genius of Place
  • Design and Vision
  • Planning the Landscape
  • Management and Conservation
  • Historic Conservation
  • The Science of Landscape
  • Cities and Towns
  • Gardens and Parks
• The Power to Change
  • Climate Change
  • Sustainable Communities
  • Environment
  • Housing
  • Hunger
  • Transportation

Design and Vision

One of the most important tasks for landscape architects is to provide a design vision for a project.  This is an exciting process that begins with researching and understanding the site and then developing an appropriate proposal for its improvement.  All the elements of design: colour, form, texture, shape are considered.  Concepts and strategies are brought into balance with the requirements for beauty, pleasure, function, character and amenity. 

The landscape architect’s vision is then presented to the client and, in many cases, the public – the community of people who will be using, walking through, or perhaps spending their leisure time in the space being developed.  This demands  all the landscape architect's skills in drawing, graphics and communication, and often involves computer visualisation using Computer Aided Design (CAD) programmes such as AutoCAD and Photoshop.  Drawings, animation, video, and 3D visualisation are also regularly used to communicate a design.  A good imagination, though, is by far the most important tool.

The Leeds-Liverpool Canal link which is changing the face of the riverside  in Liverpool, Sheffield’s Sheaf Square which has revolutionised the walk from the railway station in Sheffield or Martha Schwartz's eye-catching Grand Canal Square in Dublin offer some inspiring designs.