Research in the Landscape: Methods and Practices

3 units

This course is intended to cultivate the research methods essential to practice and study in the landscape today. As the culmination of the landscape history/theory sequence, we will build on prior curricular study and experience in research to create coherent frameworks for the theory and practice of research. In such a way, we will form an overview of the varied ways by which useful information can be derived from existing sources in order to advance the design and study of landscapes. Students will engage and practice a variety of research activities including archival research, textual and visual interpretation, on-site environmental analysis, and social survey. Working with a high degree of independence and initiative, students will engage scholarly works both as objects of critical reflection and as potential models for their own explorations. Though open to all design students, this course will optimize prior experience with ecology, GIS, and the discipline of landscape architecture.