CHAPTER : INTRODUCTION

WHAT IS LANDSCAPE?

Landscape comprises the visible features of an area of land, including the physical
elements of landforms such as (ice-capped) mountains, hills, water bodies such
as rivers,lakes, ponds and the sea, living elements of land cover including
indigenous vegetation, human elements including different forms of land use,
buildings and structures, and transitory elements such
as lighting and weather conditions.
Combining both their physical origins and the cultural overlay of human presence,
often created over millennia, landscapes reflect the living synthesis of people and place
vital to local and national identity. Landscapes, their character and quality, help
define the self-image of a region, its sense of place that differentiates it from other
regions. It is the dynamic backdrop to people’s lives.
The Earth has a vast range of landscapes including the icy landscapes of polar
regions, mountainous landscapes, vast
arid desert landscapes, islands and coastallandscapes,
densely forested or wooded landscapes including past boreal forests and tropical
rainforests, and agricultural landscapes of temperate and tropical regions.

WHAT IS LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE ?

Landscape architecture is a multi-disciplinary field, incorporating aspects of:

Architecture, Environmental sciences and Ecology, fine arts, botany, horticulture, The
activities of a landscape architect can range from the creation of public parks and
parkways to site planning for campuses and corporate office parks, from the design of
residential estates to the design of civil infrastructure and the management of
large wilderness areas or reclamation of degraded landscapes such as mines
or landfills. Landscape architects work on all types of structures and external spaces -
large or small, urban, suburban and rural, and with "hard" (built) and "soft" (planted)
materials, while integrating ecological sustainability.

WHAT IS LANDSCAPE DESIGN ?

Landscape designs focuses on both the integrated master landscape planning of a

property and the specific garden design of landscape elements and plants within it.
The practical, aesthetic, horticultural, and environmental sustainability components
merit Landscape design inclusion. It is often divided into hardscape design and
softscape design. Landscape designers often collaborate with related disciplines such
as architecture and geography, soils and civil engineering, surveying, landscape
,botany, and artisan specialties. Design project focus can tend towards: in landscape
design - artistic composition and artisanship, horticultural finesse and expertise, and
a detailed site involvement emphasis from concepts through construction; whereas
in landscape architecture - focus of urban planning, city and regional parks, civic and
corporate landscapes, large scale interdisciplinary projects, and delegation to
contractors after completing designs. There can be significant overlap of talents and
skills, depending on the education, licensing, and experience of the professional. Both
landscape designers and landscape architects practice landscape design.

SIGNIFICANCE OF LANDSCAPE DESIGN/LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE:

As technology has advanced so has our ability to which we can change the face of the
earth and the speed with which change can be accomplished.

Landscape Architecture is primarily a fine art whose most important function is to

create and preserve beauty in the surroundings of human habitations and in the
broader natural scenery of the country; but it is also concerned with promoting
comfort, convenience and health of urban populations which are devoid of access to
rural scenery.

Landscape architecture covers that portion of the landscape which is developed or

shaped by man , beyond buildings, roads, or utilities and up to wild nature, designed
primarily as space for human living. It is the establishment of relations between
buildings, surfacing and other outdoor construction, earth, rock forms, bodies of
water, plants and open space and the general form and character of the landscape but
with primary emphasis on the human content, the relationship between people and
landscape, between human beings and three-dimensional outdoor space qualitatively
and quantitatively.

Neglecting the architectures of the world's fast-changing landscapes will result in

endless highways lined with endless blocks of endless tedium - dreary expanses of
housing, industry, forestry and agriculture - our natural landscapes buried under
repetitive building and planting. Instead, we should design the architecture of 'new
landscapes for our new lives' (Fairbrother, N. 1970). The engineering of anti-
landscapes should make way for an enlightened landscape architecture.