In Praise Of Journals: Landscape Review and Asylum
Different publications on or about landscape architecture, in all its facets and manifestations, often serve different purposes.
Some will shine a light on academic perspectives, others will be more focused on professional practice and projects, and yet others will angle themselves to readers who are just starting to familiarise themselves with the idea and context of what being a landscape architect means.
Their common lifeblood is a stream of contributors and a structured sense of what might be called ‘editorial kaitiakitanga’.
With different but overlapping audiences in mind, Lincoln University’s Landscape Review and Unitec’s Asylum tick a box for ‘all of the above’.
Celebrating Landscape Review
Landscape Review is rightly known as an exemplary mainstay for keeping the flame of a collective literature on landscape architecture in Aotearoa New Zealand burning. Not only is it on the cusp of the milestone of 40 editions in 2025, it is also a year that marks its 30th anniversary since Volume No.1 debuted in 1995.
Through the erudite and scholarly editorial stewardships of Simon Swaffield, followed by Jacky Bowring and now Gillian Lawson, it’s a journal that has formed a steadfast and stimulating kete of knowledge about landscape architecture.
Some of the many themes explored in Landscape Review - An Oceanic journal of landscape architecture, include: Crossovers Between Knowledge Systems; Convergences of Practice and Research; Māori Landscapes; Contemporary Writing on Landscape; A Time for Designing; Integrated Urban Grey and Green Infrastructures; Potential and Possibility -Educating Landscape Architects and Exploring Landscapes; Gardens as Laboratories; New Directions in Landscape Heritage; Commemoration and Public Space; Mappings; Post-disaster Landscapes; and Globalisation in Landscape Architecture. And many, many more.
The November 2024 Landscape Review was themed under the rubric of ‘Landscape Performance: An Emerging Field’, and at 75+ pages was one of the largest issues in its history.
Readers will be looking forward to the April publication of a special edition that will dive into the collective and relational qualities of landscape and seascape from within and across the vast and fluid Moana Oceania.
It is being guest edited by Hannah Hopewell at Cornell University, USA (formerly at Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington).
As Gill Lawson notes, something that gives Landscape Review a point of difference to most online journals is that authors and guest editors are encouraged to create video abstracts, video editorials and include images of themselves in their articles.
“This adds to the multimodal interest and the ability to ‘get to know each other’ a wee bit more as a network of scholars and practitioners in Oceania,” says Gill.
The next theme on Landscape Review’s horizon, for publication in November, is an interrogation of the relationship between landscapes and heat.
As alerted to LAA by Gill, an exploration of what we know about the impacts of increasing temperatures across our region is a timely topic. “Flooding, storms and sea level rise are readily associated with climate change but the impacts of heat in our farming landscapes, built environments, rivers, lakes and oceans need to be factored into our thinking as well,” says Gill.
Gill is especially keen for practitioners to engage with Landscape Review, with an encouragement to reflect on a range of sub-topics, including but not limited to: .
heat impacts on inhabitants of our cities
challenges for food production and producers in the heat
considerations of aquatic and marine creatures in warming waters
examples of user-friendly materials for hot conditions
ways of integrating heat into landscape performance studies
educating groups on exposure to heat
green infrastructure and designing for heat
“It’s important to highlight how academic research and professional practice might work in partnership, or are already working together, to assist clients, regulators, planners and designers to create or maintain cooler places for all of us”.
The deadline for submissions to the ‘Heat’ edition of Landscape Review is 1 June 2025. See the Submission preparation checklist.
Asylum at uniteC
A contrasting but equally vital publication is Asylum, a design research journal produced by Unitec’s School of Architecture and published as both a printed and online resource annually by ePress, Unitec’s vibrant publishing platform.
Its end-of-year 2024 edition marked thirty years of the School of Architecture, and more than twenty years of the publication, named for the former hospital building that originally housed the School.
It was edited by Anna Bulkeley, architectural historian Renata Jadresin Milic and head of School, Professor Peter McPherson. The journal is so large it has been split into four PDFs (running to a total of 281 pages).
The first part includes a short history of the School. This notes that “as a result of restructuring, Unitec’s Landscape programmes, which had formed part of the School of Landscape and Plant Science, became part of the School of Architecture in 2004. [At the time] the School was renamed the School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture (ScALA) to reflect this change. The change led to long-term co-operation between Architecture and Landscape staff”.
Another major transformation took place in 2016, establishing an organisation of networks and practice pathways. The School then became the Architecture Practice Pathway, combining disciplines of architecture, landscape architecture and design, and interior design.
Regarded as a highlight of the academic year at Unitec, Asylum showcases student work and scholarly articles as well as presenting some of the school’s many events and community initiatives.
The 2024 edition was infused with a decidedly ‘90s vibe and the visuals alone are a triumph.
In an introductory outline Prof McPherson described the design input as a “fascinating journey of adaptation, where trends from the 90s are reinterpreted through the fresh perspectives of our talented students.
“Through their exploration – reviving collage, drop shadows, bold colour and a grunge aesthetic – we witness a dynamic interplay between nostalgia and innovation, highlighting the enduring legacy of the 1990s”.
The impressively colourful Landscape Architecture section of Asylum 2024 runs to 33 pages. Supplementary attention is devoted to electives and peer-reviewed articles, all of which deserve a wide readership.
The Landscape Architecture section was aligned with headings for public space, mana whenua engagement, climate change and natural world. Individual contributions in the section featured:
Kaitianga woven for Patunarua – Georgina Barnes
Te Papa Rēhia o Whau – Isla Bailie
Rangitoto connection walkway: From Pupuke to Rangitoto – Ben Nicklin
Takapuna – Isaac Denny
Decolonised play – Lyrck Maiava
Mount Roskill War Memorial Park – Brynn Salmon
The People’s Market: Avondale Market Square – Nikki Clendinning
Ōkahumatamomoe – Rosie Rolls
Resilient coastal communities – Ava Wright
Working with Mana Whenua – Kuramahaurangi Kotlowski
Pontinia – Nathan French
Browns Bay – Jack Norris
Pontinia Riverside Park – Morgan Manoharan
Mangawhai growth strategy – Rosie Rolls + Simone Zoellner + Summer Kivits
Selwyn Village – Brandon Berry
Editorial note
The Landscape Review board has seven members: Emeritus Professor Simon Swaffield (Lincoln University), Associate Professor Matthew Bradbury (Unitec Institute of Technology), Rachel de Lambert (Boffa Miskell), Brad Coombs (Isthmus), Meg Back (WSP), Dr Sara Padgett Kjaersgaard (University of NSW) and Dr Ata Tara (The University of Melbourne). See the editorial team here.
The advisory committee for Asylum 2024 consisted of Professor Daniel K. Brown (Victoria University of Wellington), Dr Dermott McMeel (Auckland University of Technology), Dr Paola Boarin (University of Auckland), Dr Farzad Zamani (Wellington City Council), Rameka Alexander-Tu‘inukuafe (TOA Architects), James Mooney (Architectus), Dr Natalie Allen (The Urban Advisory), Dr Linda Tyler (University of Auckland), Maia Ratana (Pūrangakura Kaupapa Māori Research Centre and Unitec) and Dr Yusef Patel (Unitec).