Open Space: Urban Public Landscape Design

Landscape architects are entering a new era, one where the term sustainability has broadened in scope to refer to social and cultural as well as environmental concerns. This livability factor is now core among the challenges facing today's architects and planners, especially as some countries undergo rapid urbanization. Balancing aesthetic and sustainable considerations with the need to integrate their designs within a local context, effective designers utilize natural and artificial landscape elements to create outdoor spaces that respond to a population's physiological as well as psychological requirements. Open Space presents some of the most innovate urban landscape design of recent years with accompanying texts, photos and plans. Includes such stand-out projects as the incredible rooftop garden of the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco, California, the River Manzanares Lineal Park in Madrid, Spain and the Young Circle Arts Park in Hollywood, Florida.