Experts in the field of architecture and landscape design have reached a broad consensus that the Chinese literati garden is a type of built environment that seamlessly integrates architecture and landscape with exceptional cultural, artistic, and historical values. However, previous site-based studies have often leaned towards either a subjective description of the experience or a technical analysis of the space. Both approaches may result in oversimplified interpretations of the Chinese literati garden, failing to adequately capture its fundamental spatial-experiential structure. This paper aims to address this challenge through the lens of phenomenology. Specifically, it examines an essential spatial-experiential structure—the FS-FW structure—embedded within the Chinese literati garden. The term FS-FW structure, as meticulously established in this paper, refers to the spatial-experiential structure formed by the relationship between one's experience within a single “focusing space” (a space built for visitors to linger and mindfully appreciate their surroundings) and that within its “focused world” (a phenomenal world of surroundings generated during visitors' stay in the focusing space). Using the Master of the Nets Garden as a case study, this paper investigates how the FS-FW structure shapes one's experiences within a literati garden and explores several important mechanisms related to it. A variety of methods are employed throughout, with GIS-based spatial-visual analysis being particularly significant. The case study leads to a series of original results, including some significant mechanisms, that explain how Chinese literati gardens shape visitors' experiences. This paper concludes that the FS-FW structure is a key factor responsible for shaping a continuous, rich, and clearly formulated experience within the Chinese literati garden.

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Spatial-visual landscape design vocabulary is important for landscape architects to understand, design, and communicate about landscape spaces. Despite the importance, there is no comprehensive overview available. This article aims to fill this gap by reviewing and categorising the spatial-visual design vocabulary for the field of landscape architecture and to provide a systematic framework for understanding landscape spaces inter-subjectively. Based on the analysis of the vocabulary used in the extensive body of literature available in landscape architecture and related disciplines, four dominant categories are selected in describing spatial and visual organisation. The categories identified and discussed are sequence, orientation, continuity, and complexity. In addition, a landscape design syntax is developed to understand and to describe the visual manifestation of landscape spaces, how space is organised, and what ordering principles play a role from both qualitative and quantitative perspectives.

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The subject of modern landscape architecture in the Netherlands has a history of more than one hundred years. During this period, have not only many well-known landscape architects been educated, but also a modern and characteristically Dutch teaching system for landscape architecture has been developed. This article looks at three universities in the Netherlands that have master and doctoral degrees in landscape architecture in order to analyse their teaching and research systems. Firstly, by comparing the curricula, research specialisations and summer schools of each university, this article summarises the framework of the Dutch landscape architecture education system. Secondly, by analysing the different research themes selected in the graduation projects and theses in recent years, this article explores the practice and research trends within Dutch landscape architecture. Finally, the analysis results are combined with the feedback of Chinese students studying landscape architecture in the Netherlands to discuss the differences in practice and research between Chinese and Dutch landscape architecture educations. This article aims to learn from the diverse as well as interconnected landscape architecture teaching system in the Netherlands and provide suggestions for the current landscape architecture teaching system in China.@en

Spatial design is at the core of landscape architecture. Mapping spatial–visual characteristics is of significance for landscape architects to interpret and talk about space. Advanced mapping methods and tools for spatial–visual analysis (i.e., mapping techniques describing landscape architectonic compositions from both qualitative and quantitative perspectives) offer great potential to increase knowledge of spatial organization and reveal design principles. Despite the availability and wide range of possibilities, the application of advanced mapping methods and tools for spatial–visual analysis is still not common in landscape architecture. The main reasons include the lack of awareness and prejudice. In order to get a more detailed understanding of the problem, this study presents the outcome of semi-structured open-ended interviews with 11 practitioners with a design background in landscape architecture. The paper discusses the relevance of advanced mapping methods and tools with practitioners in order to gain a better understanding about what methods landscape practitioners use to describe and experience space in their daily work. Findings demonstrate the critical bottlenecks of implementing advanced mapping methods in daily practices and how the practitioners think about the implementation of advanced mapping methods in the future of landscape practices.@en

With the growth of digital technology, the possibilities increase for landscape architects to gain a deeper understanding of landscape compositions and their spatial-visual characteristics. Despite the fact that digital methods are acknowledged to be useful for thinking about landscape space, in practice their potential is often still underutilized in the spatial design process. In order to break down the barriers of using digital methods in the practice of landscape design, it is essential to develop applications that show their potential and added value in a practical design context. This paper aims to provide an overview of some useful applications of digital mapping methods to understand spatial-visual characteristics of landscape and their transformations in a hypothetical landscape design process.@en

Landscape design focuses on the construction and articulation of outdoor space and results in landscape architectonic compositions. In order to communicate about three-dimensional forms and functions, vocabulary, representations, and tools (in terms of spatial-visual characteristics) are of fundamental importance for landscape architects to describe, interpret, and manipulate landscape spaces. While combining design vocabulary and landscape indicators, qualitative and quantitative mapping approaches, visual representation and interpretation methods, this research aims to provide a framework for describing, understanding, and communicating about spatial-visual characteristics in landscape design. A pilot study is used to explore the potential of specific mapping approaches, such as compartment analysis, 3D landscapes, grid-cell analysis, landscape metrics, visibility analysis, and eye-tracking analysis, which are employed to address spatial-visual phenomena like sequence, orientation, continuity, and complexity. Hypothetical design experiments are conducted to evaluate the feasibility and effectiveness of spatial-visual mapping in the design process. Interviews with designers are carried out to reflect on techniques for mapping spatial-visual characteristics in the daily practice of landscape architecture. This research opens a way in which to apply visual landscape research in the process of landscape design and supports the development of multidisciplinary approaches. By expanding the spatial-visual mapping toolbox, designers can engage in issues of landscape development, transformation, and preservation while providing realistic and instrumental clues for interventions in urban landscapes. @en

Mapping landscape spaces by means of manual and modern technology enables landscape architects to describe, understand, and interpret spatial-visual properties of landscape. This can help to strengthen the body of knowledge of spatial design in landscape architecture through measurement and visualization of common concepts in the field, as well as through the possibility to explore spatial-visual landscape features that was not possible before. Despite the wide ranging possibilities and the methods available for mapping landscape spaces, there is evidence that its potential is often still underutilized mainly due to a lack of awareness. This paper aims to contribute to the increase of awareness by providing an overview of mapping methods and tools that can be used to study spatial-visual characteristics in the field of landscape architecture, and show the potentialities of its application by brief examples. This paper introduces six categories of mapping methods: compartment analysis, 3D landscapes, grid cell analysis, visibility analysis, landscape metrics, and eye-tracking analysis. These methods are used to explore, for spatial design in landscape architecture, crucial spatial-visual categories sequence, orientation, continuity, and complexity in an analogue and digital way. The Vondelpark, a well-known urban park in the Netherlands, is used to exemplify how the spatial features can be mapped by means of the mapping methods.

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Building on the mystery/complexity/legibility/coherence model of Kaplan and Kaplan (1989) and up-to-date landscape visualization techniques, this paper presents a case study analyzing people's aesthetic preferences for scenes with varying levels of enclosure created through vegetation. Participants were asked to view 48 computer-generated urban park scenes with different levels of enclosure and to rate them for three aesthetic preference factors: coherence, complexity, and legibility. The results are as follows: (1) If the visual and/or physical setting is enclosed, participants will give lower ratings for legibility than in open scenes. (2) Physically open scenes are rated as more coherent than physically enclosed scenes. (3) Participants rate complexity for physically enclosed scenes lower than for physically open scenes. It is concluded that enclosure as a predictor variable for landscape preference has a practical significance for future urban landscape research and designs.

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Momenteel werkt Noord-Holland aan een omgevingsvisie, die o.a. de concurrentiepositie van de Metropoolregio Amsterdam wil behouden en versterken, een doel waar het landschap een goede bijdrage aan kan leveren. Voor het bereiken van dit doel is het essentieel dat zowel bestaande kwaliteiten van het landschap beschermd worden als nieuwe landschappelijke kwaliteiten ontwikkeld. Deze pilot genereert hiervoor inspiratie door succesvolle voorbeelden van plannings- en beleidsinstrumentaria voor de bescherming en ontwikkeling van landschappen te bekijken en testen. We geven een overzicht van ruimtelijke concepten voor regionale landschapsbescherming en –ontwikkeling, geïllustreerd aan de hand van internationale voorbeelden. Bij drie voorbeelden is onderzocht hoe ruimtelijke concepten in de praktijk werken, hoe deze gefinancierd worden en welke organisatievorm gekozen is (governance). De belangrijkste lessen zijn vervolgens schetsmatig toegepast op de landschappen van de MRA. De internationale instrumentaria blijken interessante aanknopingspunten te zijn in de ontwikkeling van een aantrekkelijk en waardevol landschap waar natuur, water, cultuurhistorie, landbouw, recreatie en wonen elkaar versterken.@en