by Lucila Silva-Santisteban, ASLA
In the fabric of our language, words have different shades of meaning. Each word carries a special sense, reflecting its depth and complexity. However, one word, ‘environment,’ has kind of lost its original meaning, especially when we talk about landscape architecture. People often use it carelessly, and this has watered down its real significance, overshadowing the nuanced understanding that landscape architects want to convey.
At its core, ‘environment’ is not just the background or a general term for our surroundings. It’s a concept that includes the complex relationship between living things and the world around them, stressing how nature and human intervention work together. However, in today’s talk, ‘environment’ has become a catch-all word, casually used to describe anything from city spaces to natural places, often missing the subtleties of landscape architecture.
On the flip side, the word ‘landscape’ carries the idea of intentional design and human involvement. Landscape architecture goes beyond just the basic idea of ‘environment’ and gets into the detailed planning of spaces that make us feel things, promote sustainability, and blend with the natural world. But the way we use ‘environment’ and ‘landscape’ interchangeably blurs the lines between just being surrounded by things and purposeful design.
