Landscape architecture has long occupied an ambiguous position within architectural culture. In its early European lineage, landscape design was closely aligned with aristocratic display. Far from being a shared civic system or public right, formal gardens such as Versailles used landscaping as an expression of power, a microcosm of political hierarchy and territorial control. Even as public parks emerged in the nineteenth century, they were often framed as relief from the city, not as structural components of it. Buildings and roads defined urban order; the landscape was treated as an amenity, often seen as an urban tool aimed at increasing real estate value.<\/p>\n
That hierarchy reflected the priorities of its time. Industrial expansion and rapid urbanization placed emphasis on density and construction speed, while opening the door to speculation. Architecture appeared to shape the city\u2019s identity, while landscape simply softened its edges or added a decorative flair. The ground was something to decorate or escape to, not something that organized urban life. Today, these assumptions are increasingly untenable.<\/p>\n
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Hudson River Park\u2019s Gansevoort Peninsula<\/a> by Field Operations<\/a>, New York City, New York | Project of the Year & Jury Winner, Public Parks and Green Spaces, 13th Architizer A+Awards<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n Yet, as cities confront the dual-prong issues of climate volatility and intensifying patterns of urban growth, the performance of the ground itself has become central to how cities function. Heat mitigation, flood management, biodiversity and public health are now negotiated through landscape systems as much as through buildings. What was once considered embellishment has now become essential infrastructure.<\/p>\n And yet, architectural and societal discourse have been slow to adjust. In the broader culture, landscape architecture continues to be described in the language of activation and beautification, even as it quietly carries responsibilities that determine whether cities can endure. Meanwhile, in architectural practice, this type of expertise still sits somewhat uncomfortably and is seen as a relatively separate discipline.<\/p>\n Loures Riverfront<\/a> by TOPIARIS Landscape Architecture<\/a>, Loures, Portugal | Popular Choice Winner, Public Parks and Green Space, 14th Architizer A+Awards<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n Meanwhile, across contexts, landscape architecture now carries responsibilities that extend well beyond aesthetics. For example, projects such as New York City\u2019s Hudson River Park\u2019s Gansevoort Peninsula<\/a>, by Field Operations<\/a>, <\/span><\/span> illustrate how coastal landscapes can operate simultaneously as public space and flood defense. Here, grading, planting and shoreline design absorb environmental risk while sustaining recreational use. The landscape is not applied to infrastructure \u2014 it functions as infrastructure<\/em>, while still improving the quality of life for the city\u2019s residents.<\/p>\n Similarly, TOPIARIS Landscape Architecture\u2019s<\/a> Loures Riverfront<\/a> demonstrates how flood-prone territory can be reimagined as a resilient civic landscape. Restructuring access to a mosaic of natural ecosystems found along with highly urbanized zones (think mudflats, salt marshes, and native reed beds \u2014 all just minutes away from densely populated neighbourhoods), the project transforms environmental vulnerability into longterm spatial asset. A unique wooden walkway invites visitors to immerse themselves in the marsh in a variety of ways, raising public awareness of the importance of estuarine ecosystems and ocean management, while preserving a crucial and complex natural flood barrier.<\/p>\n These projects signal a broader shift: landscape architecture is increasingly responsible for the long-term performance of cities.<\/p>\n Masterplan Begbroke Innovation District<\/a> by OKRA<\/a>, Oxford, United Kingdom | Popular Choice Winner, Unbuilt Master Plan, 13th Architizer A+Awards<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n The most consequential landscape work today does not exist as isolated parkland. It operates at the scale of districts and master plans, shaping growth patterns before buildings define them.<\/p>\n Planned for the Oxford University campus, the Masterplan Begbroke Innovation District<\/a> by OKRA<\/a> positions landscape as the organizing framework for development by coordinating circulation, ecological networks and public space \u2014 all of this before architectural objects are resolved. Put differently, this is a landscape-led masterplan, reversing the traditional sequence of urban design. Buildings respond to landscape logic, not the other way around.<\/p>\n A similar inversion occurs in MASS Design Group<\/a>‘s\u00a0The Rwanda Institute for Conservation Agriculture<\/a>, where productive landscapes structure academic life and environmental stewardship simultaneously. Here, landscape is not an ornamental setting; it is pedagogical and ecological infrastructure.<\/p>\n In both cases, landscape architecture operates as planning intelligence \u2014 establishing durable frameworks that not only structure new ways of living but also are capable of accommodating change.<\/p>\n Lignano 2.0 : Embracing Nature, Celebrating People<\/a> by STUDIO VI [studio six]<\/a>, Lignano Sabbiadoro, Italy | | Jury Winner, Unbuilt Masterplan, 13th Architizer A+Awards\u00a0<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n Landscape architecture\u2019s evolving role is equally visible in projects that reconcile heritage with both ecology and daily use. Take, for example, Lignano 2.0: Embracing Nature, Celebrating People<\/a> by STUDIO VI [studio six]<\/a>, which <\/span><\/span>reconsiders coastal urbanism through landscape-led strategies. The design goes beyond aesthetics, aiming to boost social interaction and community engagement by providing new community spaces and public sports areas while promoting environmental awareness and sustainable practices.<\/p>\n Likewise, Bedford Heritage Park<\/a> by Lemay<\/a> demonstrates how landscape can mediate between memory and movement without relying on monumentality. The monumental land reclamation project transforms an area one beridden by limestone extraction byproduct, transformed into a thriving regional greenspace. Crucial to the design is spatial sequencing, which supports public gathering while maintaining ecological continuity.<\/p>\n These projects succeed not through spectacle, but through sustained usability and environmental logic. What unites them is not stylistic cohesion, but structural clarity. Landscape is the driver of the design, organizing movement and supporting social exchange \u2014 roles traditionally attributed to architecture or engineering.<\/p>\n Alibaba Xixi Campus (Park C)<\/a> by ASPECT Studios<\/a>, Hangzhou, China | Jury Winner, Best Landscape Design Firm, 13th Architizer A+Awards<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n The evolution of landscape architecture is being advanced by practices that reject ornamental expectations in favor of systemic thinking.<\/p>\n Firms such as ASPECT Studios<\/a>, which have offices across multiple countries, consistently position landscape as an operational framework at the metropolitan scale. This big-picture thinking is reflected in the scope of their team’s skills, which span from landscape architects and urban designers to wayfinding specialists, strategists, and graphic designers. Their work underscores that landscape architecture can carry authorship, complexity and long-term ambition equal to any building project.<\/p>\n Likewise, Change Studio<\/a> approaches landscape as a mediator between climate systems and urban form, foregrounding adaptability rather than fixed outcomes. Landscape architecture has always been about shaping land systems \u2014 hydrology, ecology, public space, spatial sequence. What\u2019s changing isn\u2019t the discipline\u2019s scope, but the urgency and scale at which those capacities are now required.<\/p>\n The Rwanda Institute for Conservation Agriculture<\/a> by MASS Design Group<\/a>, Rwanda | Jury Winner, Architecture +Landscape & Jury Winner, Sustainable Landscape\/Planning Project, 13th Architizer A+Awards<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n Recognition plays a quiet but influential role in shaping professional priorities. Awards programs, publications and institutional frameworks signal what counts as architectural excellence. When landscape architecture is treated as supplementary \u2014 or judged primarily on visual qualities \u2014 its infrastructural contributions risk being underappreciated.<\/p>\n Aligning recognition with the discipline\u2019s expanded responsibilities is not a matter of disciplinary competition. It is a matter of urban capacity. As cities confront climate risk and spatial inequity, landscape architecture increasingly determines whether public environments can endure.<\/p>\n Celebrating landscape projects that uphold environmental intelligence, planning rigor and long-term adaptability reinforces the idea that resilience is designed \u2014 and that this type of thinking is something that should be valued.<\/p>\n Bedford Heritage Park<\/a> by Lemay<\/a>, Bedford, Canada | Popular Choice Winner, Sustainable\/Landscape Project, 13th Architizer A+Awards<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n The historical marginalization of landscape architecture was shaped by different urban conditions. Buildings once appeared to define cities more clearly than ground systems did. That balance has shifted.<\/p>\n Today, the success of urban environments depends as much on how land absorbs water and mitigates heat as on how buildings perform. Landscape does not simply complement architecture. It sustains it. Repositioning landscape architecture within architectural discourse is not about correcting an oversight. It is about acknowledging where urban performance now resides.<\/p>\n As climate pressures intensify and cities continue to densify, the most consequential design decisions may not be those that rise above the skyline, but those that shape the ground beneath it.<\/p>\n The judging process for <\/i>Architizer's 14th A+Awards<\/i><\/span><\/a> is now underway. Subscribe to our <\/i>Awards Newsletter<\/i><\/span><\/a> to receive updates about Public Voting, and stay tuned \u2014 winners will be announced later this spring. \u00a0<\/i><\/i><\/p><\/p>\n Top image: Floating Cloud | Jade Carvings of Long for Chongqing<\/a> by Change Studio<\/a>, Chongqing, China\u00a0| Jury Winner, Best Landscape Design Firm, 13th Architizer A+Awards\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The future of cities won\u2019t be defined by skylines, but by the ground that sustains them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":337,"featured_media":211034,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"architizer_featured_type":"insert","architizer_featured_image":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,5],"tags":[29185,34],"architizer_project":[],"architizer_brand":[],"architizer_firm":[],"architizer_product":[],"class_list":["post-210925","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-inspiration","category-stories","tag-aspotlight","tag-awards"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
\nLandscape as Urban System<\/h2>\n
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\nPlanning From the Ground Up<\/h2>\n
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\nPublic Life, Structured<\/h2>\n
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\nAdvancing the Discipline<\/h2>\n
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\nRecognition and Responsibility<\/h2>\n
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\nRecalibrating Urban Priorities<\/h2>\n
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