The Landscape Architecture Foundation (LAF) and The Learning Network of the Nature and Health Alliance have partnered to bring LAF-sponsored research on health and quality of life benefits to new audiences.
In 2019, a scientist in search of pollinators completed an audit of an ecologically unproductive, 1,000-acre site in Broomfield, Colorado. As an employee of Butterfly Pavilion, she and the team were disappointed to review the bee and butterfly observations on her clipboard: a single (quasi-invasive) cabbage white butterfly (Pieris rapae). Amy Yarger was partnered with McWhinney, the company planning to build the mixed-use development on the site.
The widespread popularization of nature-based solutions (NbS) is a testament to the body of knowledge built over decades to make the case for the effectiveness of built and natural landscapes – before the term “nature-based solutions” was even coined.
The November 2024 issue of the open-access Oceania-based journal Landscape Review is devoted to the topic of landscape performance, with a special focus on the connection between academia and practice.
LAF is pleased to share two new resources – developed and released for COP29 by friends and partners – that use examples and data from our collection of 200+ Landscape Performance Series case studies.
The Landscape Architecture Foundation’s Case Study Investigation (CSI) program is a unique research collaboration and training program. LAF-funded faculty-student research teams work with design firms to assess and document the environmental, social, and economic benefits of exemplary high-performing landscape projects.
The Landscape Performance Series offers resources for faculty to give landscape architecture students the awareness and skills they need to design for, evaluate, and communicate the impact of their work. When students have these skills, they are better equipped to design high-performance landscapes and to advocate for the value of landscape solutions upon entering the workforce.
A landscape performance approach focuses on quantifying the benefits of landscape, but how can something as multifaceted and relatively subjective as exposure to nature be quantified? NatureScore™ and NatureDose™ represent a new, technology-based approach to evaluating nature exposure for human health and well-being.
How does design influence the use of playgrounds and the benefits they offer children, adults, and communities? The National Study of Playgrounds is the first observational study to examine the influence of design on use and physical activity in 60 playgrounds in the United States. The study was conducted over the summer of 2021 by Meghan Talarowski and her team at Studio Ludo, Dr. Deborah Cohen of Kaiser Permanente, Dr. Thomas McKenzie, and other partners.
The Landscape Architecture Foundation’s Case Study Investigation (CSI) program is a unique research collaboration and training program. LAF-funded faculty-student research teams work with design firms to assess and document the environmental, social, and economic benefits of exemplary high-performing landscape projects.
