BAD ART and how to avoid it
Good landscape architectural art is rare. Why?
I’ve thought a lot about this question as it’s critical in my work as artist and landscape architect.
Greening the Grey – Vegetating front gardens for improved well-being
Today, one in three front gardens in the UK have no plants growing in them. This is three times less than 10 years ago. “So what?” you may think. Read more…
Designing for Diversity
From Brick Lane to Liverpool, we know that urban places have been shaped by migration for many decades. But with the EU membership referendum and increased resettlement of refugees across Europe, it seems timely to examine what this means for professional remits within the built environment. Read more…
Documenting the Landscape of Natural Burial through Time
“Without these regular visits and my familiarity with this landscape I might not have noticed the grave which each year, on the date of birth and death, is clothed in a carpet of rose petals”
Why Planting Plans Don’t Always Work
Much debate around sustainable planting focuses, across the world, on the issue of the native v the exotic, but in actual fact this is often a red herring. Far more fundamental is the question of ‘how do we design for the change that must occur in all planting?’
Change in vegetation is driven by two factors. Read more…
Why UK Playgrounds Don’t Provide Enough Play Opportunities
Play provides many opportunities for children. It can contribute to the development of gross and fine motor skills, give opportunities for psychical activity contributing to a healthy life style and support the development Read more…
Why we need to change our perceptions of wildness
I believe that, at some level, we all need wildness. Of course the nature of this need varies according to who we are. Thrill seekers will want to abseil off cliffs deep in the mountains, the more contemplative Read more…
Landscapes in Transition
“The world is ‘changed’. I feel it in the water. I feel it in the earth. I smell it in the air. Much that once was, is lost; for none now live who remember it.”
These are the words of the Galadriel, the Elvish Queen in JRR Tolkien’s ‘Lord of the Rings’. She is describing the transitions in Middle Earth Read more…
Place, equity and inclusion along an Indian urban river…? ***
I have recently been doing some research in India with colleague Emily Redmond (link). While our research originally focused on green and open spaces in the city, we were drawn to the river and its place in urban India. Read more…
Planting Design as an Art Form
Some time ago, I developed two statements that capture my philosophy, and which are the basis and the driving force for my work. I call them my ‘slogans’ or ‘catchphrases, and they bring together a very wide range of research, design, teaching, and practice activity. They are: Read more…
