The Landscape Lab – Merging Science and Design for a Landscape of Learning

Many so-called sustainable solutions to the challenges of urban systems rely on across-the-board application of a set of “best practices” which are often developed elsewhere and may or may not have been rigorously tested or monitored. Such best practices are probably an improvement over the alternative conventional practices, in that they probably do less ecological damage, however we believe there is a better way to engage in landscape and urban design that tests best practices in situ, and offers the opportunity to innovate and generate knowledge, shortening the time lag between research and application. I present a landscape re-design project, the Landscape Lab, on the University of Utah campus, that has been developed as a collaborative design project between university research faculty and landscape architects. The goal of this merging of scientific and design processes is to create a landscape that is beautiful and engaging, ecologically functional, and that serves to build our pool of knowledge about water management in urban landscapes in our unique climate of northern Utah. I will discuss the unique challenges of this merged process, and the considerable potential it holds for changing the way we shape our built environment.