Landscape and Sustainability

This unique book is about landscape, sustainability and the practices of the professions which plan, design and manage landscapes at many scales and in many locations; urban, suburban and rural. Despite the ubiquity of 'sustainability' as a concept, this is the first book to address the relationship between landscape architecture and sustainability in a comprehensive way. Much in the book is underpinned by landscape ecology, in contrast to the idea of landscape as only appealing to the eye or aspiring cerebrally to be fine art. As this book argues, landscape is and must be much more than this; landscape architecture is about making places which are biologically wholesome, socially just and spiritually rewarding. The book argues that the sustainability agenda needs a new mindset among professionals. They need to stop - or postpone - asking first, Is it affordable? Is it beautiful? Is it what the client wants? Is it art? Will my colleagues approve? And instead start asking, first and foremost, Is it sustainable? Or at least, Is it less unsustainable? The chapters of the book move progressively from theory to practice, from the global to the local scale, and from issues of policy and planning through to detailed design and implementation and on to long-term maintenance and management. The contributors raise a complex array of research, policy and professional issues and agendas to contribute to the necessary ongoing debate about the future of both landscape and sustainability.