The Field

In response to the question What one characteristic or skill is most essential for success in landscape architecture? many of ASLA’s Professional Practice Network (PPN) members said that staying up to date, being a life-long learner, and keeping an open mind to new design ideas and technologies are critically important. So, how do our members keep up with current design trends and ideas?

When asked what websites, publications, and other sources were the most important, the top answer was Landscape Architecture Magazine, followed by the ASLA website and other ASLA resources, including The Dirt, LAND, and local ASLA chapters.

Other popular sources of information include travel and site visits—“I’m not so interested in current trends as I am in successful places”—attending conferences, and talking to other landscape architects. And, as one member put it, it is also important to take “time out of each day to walk outside and see what is going on and how people use environment around them.”

Listed below are a few other sources of design news that appeared among the responses.

Publications

Architectural Digest
Dwell
Land and Water Magazine
Landscape Journal
Metropolis
National Parks Magazine
Natural Areas Journal
Planning Magazine
Public Garden Magazine
Restoration Ecology Journal
Stormwater
Sunset
The Architect’s Newspaper
The Garden
Topos
Veranda

Allied Organizations

American Planning Association
Association of Professional Landscape Designers
International Society of Arboriculture
National Association of Landscape Professionals
National Recreation and Park Association
Society for Ecological Restoration
The Cultural Landscape Foundation
The Trust for Public Land
U.S. Green Building Council
Urban Land Institute

Websites and Blogs

ArchDaily
Archinect
Archiproducts
BLDGBLOG
Co.Design
Colossal
Core77
Curbed
Design Milk
Design Mind
Design Observer
Designboom
Dezeen
Fine Gardening
Houzz
Inhabitat
Jetson Green
Land8
Landezine
Landscape Architect and Specifier News
Landscape Architects Network
Life Edited
Planetizen
TreeHugger
Urukia
World Landscape Architecture

At the start of 2014, a questionnaire was sent out to members of ASLA’s Professional Practice Networks (PPNs). The theme: career paths in landscape architecture. 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 2014, and we are now re-posting this information here on The Field. For the latest updates on the results of the annual PPN Survey, see LAND’s PPN News section.