Conclusions | Chapter 6

CONCLUSIONS

The relationship between landscape architecture and sustainable agriculture is much deeper than traditionally understood, going back to the origins of humanity and our interaction with our environment. This report recognizes the existing theories, principles, and research within the two disciplines, illustrating their similarities and differences. The fields are compared to identify areas where existing knowledge bases overlap and examples of successful and unsuccessful collaboration are studied. In particular, this report emphasizes the growing need for interdisciplinary collaboration in the design of multifunctional agricultural landscapes. Such landscapes offer the opportunity to integrate agricultural production with ecosystem restoration, conservation practices, local food production, and recreational and educational opportunities for greater community and environmental benefits. Landscape architects have the unique opportunity to not only learn from research in other disciplines, but to integrate that research into design work in a collaborative and dynamic way.

Quantitative landscape performance assessment strategies have proven themselves to be a valuable tool in understanding the benefits of multifunctional and environmentally sustainable landscape design. When arguing for interdisciplinary collaboration, it is crucial to provide clear means to compare design strategies in quantitative ways to all members of a team, regardless of their educational or professional background. Landscape performance metrics offer teams the opportunity to use quantitative information to describe design strategies and goals, encouraging more collaboration and resulting in a more thoughtful design. The fields of landscape architecture and sustainable agriculture both have existing systems of landscape assessment. Despite the existence and overlapping information in these performance metrics, the professions rarely collaborate or compare their strategies.