Evaluating Urban Trail Needs

by Kelly Mathiesen, SWA Group

• Landscape performance research

Each year, SWA Group awards the firm’s Patrick T. Curran Fellowship to employees who look to challenge thinking in the landscape architecture profession and provide tools and resources for the firm and industry. Landscape designer and 2021 Curran Fellow Kelly Mathiesen took a landscape performance approach, looking at which elements are important in creating successful urban trails for runners and cyclists and how the rise of these recreational communities will affect the future of trail design.

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Vibrant Cities Lab: Urban Forestry Research and Resources

by Lauren Marshall, US Forest Service

• Landscape performance research
• Tools and calculators

Decades of research show that urban forests improve health and quality of life and deliver measurable economic benefits. Yet trees are often an afterthought because many decision makers aren’t aware of these multiple benefits. 

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Time and Landscape Performance

• Landscape performance research
• Post-occupancy evaluation

Have you ever visited a park or public space that you saw pictured in a glossy publication, just to discover that it didn’t quite live up to the photos? Simon Colwill at the Technical University of Berlin is working to increase the knowledge of the myriad factors that contribute to the aging, patination, and decay of built landscapes over time.

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Landscape Performance Special Journal Issue

• Landscape performance research
• Metrics and methods
• Theories and frameworks

A new special issue of the Chinese journal Landscape Architecture is devoted to landscape performance. The issue features research about the Landscape Performance Series and research gleaned from the process of producing Case Study Briefs for the series. It’s very exciting to see the concept landscape performance gaining traction internationally! Abstracts (in English and Chinese) are available in the online version. 4/6/15 UPDATE: We have obtained and posted digital copies of the full articles.

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Enhancing the Framework for Landscape Performance Quantification

by Yi Luo, PhD, PLA, Texas Tech University

• Landscape performance research
• Theories and frameworks

Because landscape performance is a relatively new concept, there might be gaps in its framework, metrics and methods. For my PhD dissertation research I studied the Landscape Performance Series to provide recommendations for future improvement.

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