The U.S. military released a defoliant called Agent Orange over the South Vietnam countryside to weaponize the forest during the Vietnam War as part of the Operation Ranch Hand project.
(Shutterstock)
The coronavirus pandemic has highlighted the lack of green space available to those living in urban areas. Cities must be managed as ecosystems to make them more liveable and resilient.
Looking south from New York City’s Central Park.
Ajay Suresh/Wikipedia
Frederick Law Olmsted, the designer of many great North American city parks, understood that ready access to nature made cities healthier places to live.
Infrastructure as art: Jacob van Ruisdael, ‘Windmill at Wijk bij Duurstede,’ c. 1670.
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
About half of incarcerated women in the United States are mothers to children under age 18. Natural spaces within a prison can help maintain their mother-child bonds.
Sea Line Park, one of the shortlisted entries in the competition to design a new park for the Melbourne of 2050.
Future Park Design Ideas Competition
Some might scoff at the free-ranging ideas sparked by a competition to design future parks for Melbourne. But the legacy of a radical idea to green a CBD street in 1985 shows why we need such thinking.
In Big Bend National Park’s Santa Elena Canyon, the Rio Grande separates the United States (left) from Mexico (right).
Ken Lund
Instead of building a wall on the US-Mexico border, a landscape architect calls for restoring the Rio Grande and turning its course into an international park – an idea first proposed in the 1930s.
Swartberg House in the Karoo, designed by Jennifer Beningfield, Open Studio.
Richard Davies
The recent security lapses at the White House have brought to the forefront the 13-year-old question of how to effectively secure public spaces. As officials weigh increasing perimeter security and installing…
Landscape architects need to mediate between the soft and hard elements of the city.
Forecast, photo by John Gollings
I predict we’re going to hear a lot more from landscape architects in the coming years. There has long been a misunderstanding about what they actually do – “something about gardens” being a common response…
Future Hobart is an enticement to think laterally about pragmatic issues of city design.
Tone Edge
At Dark MOFO last week, the City of Hobart joined forces with the Museum of Old and New Art (MONA) to commission New York artist/ landscape architect Vito Acconci to create an architectural prototype for…