Thompson, I.H., 2000, Ecology, community and delight – a trivial approach to landscape education, in: ECLAS (Aničić, B.), ‘Landscape of the future: the future of landscape architecture education’, Department of Landscape Architecture, Zagreb
- Author : Thompson, I.H.
- Year : 2000
- Published in Book : Landscape of the future: the future of landscape architecture education
- Pages : 89-105
- Abstract in English : Landscape architecture should be a key profession for a world facing an uncertain environmental future, yet it seems to be hampered by a chronic identity crisis. Is it primarily concerned with making or protecting beautiful places, with solving social problems or with the prevention of ecological catastrophe? This paper considers the three principle value systems which influence landscape architectural practice – the aesthetic, the social and the environmental – and the relationship which may exist between them. While denying that any one value can be elevated above the others, it suggests that the richest design is produced when all three value fields are simultaneously addressed. This is ‘trivalent design’. The paper draws its evidence from an extensive review of the theoretical literature, combined with the results of in-depth interviews with 26 British practitioners. Transcripts of the interviews were analysed to reveal the ethical and aesthetic discourses which prevail in contemporary practice. The significance of theses discourses for both the development of practice and teaching has been considered.