Landscape Architecture Professional Knowledge Abstraction: Accessing, Applying and Disseminating

Yue Qiu, Zheng Cong, Karla Nicole Opiniano, Xuesong Qiao and Zheng Chen ()
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Yue Qiu: School of Architecture and Urban Planning, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China
Zheng Cong: Shanghai TIANHUA Landscape & Design Co., Ltd., Shanghai 200235, China
Karla Nicole Opiniano: UNLV School of Architecture, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, NV 89154, USA
Xuesong Qiao: Shanghai Urban Construction Design and Research Institute (Group) Co., Ltd., Shanghai 200125, China
Zheng Chen: Key Laboratory of Ecology and Energy-Saving Study of Dense Habitat, Department of Landscape Studies, College of Architecture and Urban Planning, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China

Land, 2023, vol. 12, issue 11, 1-18

Abstract: Rigorous abstract knowledge, such as academic knowledge, is vital to a profession’s resilience against other modern professional competition. In the field of landscape architecture, a growing number of concerns about a lack of rigorous knowledge have been observed, which may jeopardise the jurisdiction of its professional practice. A study was conducted that collected behaviours and attitudes from various members of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) regarding how they accessed, disseminated, and applied knowledge in practice. Their responses concerning the knowledge were analysed by dividing and ranking the options according to the degree of knowledge abstraction. Knowledge abstraction refers to theories and commonplace best practices that are established within a profession through shared knowledge, experience, and research. The results showed that (1) most practitioners tended to access new knowledge through tacit experience, which is indicative of a lower level of abstraction in their practice; (2) design decisions were based less on higher and rigorously abstracted knowledge such as research findings and, in circumstances where it was deployed in the design process, such knowledge was seldom used to guide design independently; (3) the majority of practitioners rarely share knowledge through high-abstracted publications; and (4) compared with accessing relatively diverse levels of knowledge abstraction, practitioners were less resourceful in knowledge application and even less in dissemination. The knowledge acquired, used and circulated in the workplace of landscape architects—as indicated by this survey—is still not comprehensively abstracted to a rigorous level, which may provide an insight into the concerns of practitioners regarding this profession’s breadth of knowledge and jurisdiction.

Keywords: landscape architecture; profession knowledge; knowledge abstraction; knowledge accessing, applying, and disseminating (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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