Landscape Architecture Europe (LAE) shows the most relevant and exemplary projects for publication in the fifth yearbook on European practice (2014-2017). The selection committee –Jandirk Hoekstra (NL, chair), Dominka Tihany (Hungary), Rasmus Astrup (Denmark), Stefan Rotzler (Swiss) and Margarita Jover (Spain) selected almost 50 projects. Besides ‘traditional’ landscape architectural work – designed and constructed sites of all sizes – there are strategic projects and research results in which the landscape architectural approach is predominant.  Nature and democray were two themes that interested the committee in particular, being important ‘forces’ for sustainable development and so for the agenda of landscape architecture in Europe . These projects redefine the playground and the scope of the creative practice where society, politics, ecology and economy meet, at micro or macro scale, whether long term or ephemeral. LAE explores how landscape architects in Europe work and design: What strategies, tools and methods do they use? What design innovations are taking place? How do they improve the disciplinary domain and effectiveness? 

In the new book – to be published end of September at the Bienal in Barcelona the selected projects are described and evalauated in so called explorations, gathered around three subtheme’s: ‘to care’, to create’ and ‘to act’.

Next to these explorations two portraits were written: one about the young Hungarian landscape architect Dominka Tihany and her experiences with bottom-up projects; and one about Dirk Sijmons, a well known Dutch landscape architect, and recent winner of the Sir Jellicoe Award.

Nature and Democracy are subject of the two essays in the book that will consist of 320 richly illustrated pages, all edited by Lisa Diedrich (editor-in-chief, D), Mark Hendriks (NL), Claudia Moll (CH), Mike Friesen (SE) and Christel Lindgren (SE) - 

Landscape Architecture Europe is produced in collaboration with IFLA Europe.