The Field

At the start of 2013, a questionnaire was sent out to all members of ASLA’s Professional Practice Networks (PPNs). The theme: favorite spaces. As you can imagine, responses were varied, and included many insightful comments and suggestions. Synopses of the survey results were originally shared in LAND over the course of 2013, and we are now re-posting this information on The Field. For the latest updates on the results of the 2014 PPN Survey—focusing on members’ career paths in landscape architecture—see LAND‘s PPN News section.

Among the questions posed were:

What is your favorite iconic space?

Name a designed space everyone should see before they die.

Every child should experience which space?

What space are you most worried about losing?

What’s a great space to move through?

And where do you love to linger?

What city has a strong network of open spaces?

Name a space that is small, but mighty.

Name a project that you believe is technically innovative.

What project changed the profession?

To get us started, we’ll highlight some of the most-mentioned favorite spaces.

Of all the favorite iconic spaces selected by our members, these were mentioned most often:

• Central Park, New York City
• Grand Canyon National Park
• The National Mall, Washington, D.C.
• Paley Park, New York City
• The High Line, New York City
• Yosemite National Park.

When asked about designed spaces, these were mentioned most often:

• 9/11 Memorial, New York City
• Central Park, New York City
• Bryant Park, New York City
• Champs-Elysées, Paris
• Millennium Park, Chicago
• Fallingwater, Mill Run, Pennsylvania
• Golden Gate Park, San Francisco
• The High Line, New York City
• The National Mall, Washington, D.C.
• Versailles, France.

Though a lot of great cities were mentioned as having the best network of open spaces, in alphabetical order, these were the most popular picks:

• Boston
• Chicago
• Minneapolis
• New York City
• Philadelphia
• Portland, Oregon
• Savannah, Georgia
• Washington, D.C.

There is much more where this came from! We’ll discuss the reasons why and pick out unique responses in future features detailing the results of the 2013 PPN Survey, giving you the chance to learn more about our favorite spaces as well as find a few new favorites along the way.