Framework for Landscape Planning

[Framework Icon] Introduction to the Framework


Carl Steinitz's article "A Framework for Theory Applicable to the Education of Landscape Architects (and Other Environmental Design Professionals" published in Landscape Journal (October 1990) formualted a working shell for understanding and organizing the process of landscape design.


[Rep Diagram] [Representaion] Representation Models

How should the state of the landscape be described in terms of boundaries, space, and time? this level of inquiry leads to Representation Models.



[Process Diagram] [Process] Process Models

How does the landscape work? What aer the functional and structural relationships among its elements? This level of inquiry leads to Process Models.



[Eval Diagram] [Evaluation] Evaluation Models

How does one judge whether the current state of the landsape is working well? The metrics of judgement --whether beauty, habitat diversity, cost, nutrient flow, public health, user satisfaction-- lead to Evaluation Models.



[Change Diagram] [Change] Change Models

By what actions might the current representation of the landscape be altered (whether conserving or changing the landscape): what, where, and when? This level of inquiry leads to Change Models. At least two improtant types of change should be considered: how the landscape might be changed by current trends, leading to Projection Models; and how it might be changed by implementable design action, leading to Intervention Models.



[Impact Diagram] [Impact] Impact Models

What predictable differences might the changes cause? This level of inquiry shapes Impact Models, in which hte Process Models are used to simulate change.



[Dec Diagram] [Decision] Decision Models

How is a decision to change (or conserve) the landscape to be made? How is a comparative evaluation to be made amond alternative courses of action? This level of inquiry leads to Decision Models.

RELATED INFORMATION

[Framework Diagram] A Detailed Explanation of the Framework

Click on the icon to retrieve Carl Steinitz's recent paper.


[Framework Diagram] Recent Paper on the Past, Present and Future Use of the Framework

Click on the icon to retrieve Carl Steintiz's Paper- Geographical Informations Systems: A Personal Historical Perspective, The Framework for a Recent Project, and Some Questions for the Future" devivered at the European Conference on Geographical Information Systems, Genoa, Italy, March 30, 1993


[Framework Diagram] An Example of the Framework in Practice

Click on the icon to retrieve a summary of the Alternative Futures Snderville Basin, Utah Study completed at the Graduate School of Design in the 1991.


[Home Page Icon] A Very Recent Project

Click on the icon to go to the home page for Alternative Futures for the Region of Camp Pendleton, California.