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image: Charles Birnbaum; Barrett Doherty; Mark Oviatt, Oviatt Media
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
image: Landscape Architecture Frontiers (LA FRONTIERS)
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
image: Landscape Urbanism
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 ArchitectureAt 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.