Sections

Research Articles

The article section offers room for critical reflection on landscape architecture practice, theory and history. The section is open to proposals that support and stimulate scholarly debate in landscape architecture, reflecting on the diverse identities of the discipline: research, design and education methodologies; practices and knowledge transfer; epistemological directions; historiography; questions on the creation of better environments; landscape at the centre of political and ecological questions; and the exploration of the boundaries of the discipline and its audience.

Besides articles that follow established conventions, the section also gives space to the reflective practitioner. It accommodates unconventional and emerging forms of research enquiry at the interface between academic research and professional practice, including practiced-based methodologies, research originating in visual and artistic practices and media, design research, and pedagogy-based articles.

Under the Sky

This scholarly critique section aims to develop the critical reading of projects as a basis for landscape architecture research. Critique is intended as a way to stimulate debate and to make a contribution to theory building in landscape architecture. A critical reading of any built landscape architecture project may be submitted, on any scale from territory to garden, anywhere in the world, but the project has to be built and realized, existing ‘under the sky’. The author has to have experienced the place and must not have been involved in the design of the project. Critique is not restricted to new projects, but can also be directed at older achievements.

The selected project(s) should not simply be described as a finished product, but also interpreted in light of site transformations and the original commission. Different stakeholders and designers’ points of view should be discussed. Graphic and visual discourse is considered a key element in the article (for example, more than mere illustration). The manuscript should be no longer than 5,000 words including notes and references to keep a good balance between text and visuals. Submissions should include background information on the project following the data sheet to be found on the ScholarOne Manuscripts website. The critical reading of a completed work is considered equal to, and edited as stringently as, any other research essay or academic paper.

Thinking Eye

Thinking Eye is the visual methods section of JoLA. It aims to support critical investigations into visual concepts, methodologies and media, and to promote scholarly discourse on the visual culture of landscape architecture by publishing experiments and methodological innovation, including practices and ideas drawn from the fine and other arts and related design and environmental disciplines that have demonstrable relevance for contemporary landscape architecture theory and practice. Submissions are primarily peer-reviewed and critical, not merely illustrative. They comprise predominantly visual material, with text in a supporting role. Thinking Eye articles demonstrate contextual understanding, rigour and original ways of visually documenting, conceiving, evaluating or changing perceptions of landscape, by addressing an issue pertinent to contemporary theory or practice.

Reviews

The Review Section of JoLA is a platform for scholarly criticism. It focuses on recent research outputs and on a variety of media, including books, conferences and symposia, and exhibitions. Reviews are mostly solicited by the section editor. Submissions are internally reviewed by the section editor, and are reflective rather than descriptive.