by David N. Myers, Ph.D., PLA, ASLA
Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture (CELA) Call for Abstracts
Deadline: September 12, 2022
The theme of the CELA 2023 Conference directly involves landscape architecture professionals. Align | Realign: Dialogues between Academic Pursuits and Professional Demand investigates the overlaps and misalignments between what is both taught and researched in academia compared to what the professional market demands.
As you all know, landscape architecture has long been broadly defined as the integration of art and science. Both the profession of landscape architecture and the education of the discipline have historically been dependent upon a constant dialogue between the arts and the sciences.
Recently, the growing role of research within the profession of landscape architecture has created a shift in more scientific thinking to help reinforce evidence-based design decision making. The degree to which scientific research is given emphasis in a design inevitably varies. This variance is generally dependent upon the values and findings within the given research and the specific goals and needs of a given design project. Educators and professionals can also fluctuate in their locations along the art/science continuum, sometimes creating misalignments within what the landscape architecture profession demands and what is being researched or taught in landscape architecture education.