Infrastructure is a much discussed topic within the field of landscape architecture. It regards the entire urban and rural space as a network that calls for an integrated planning and urban design approach. Natural and man-made infrastructures are viewed as forming a single, overarching whole. The book examines this robust and ecologically sustainable approach with essays by well-known experts in the field. It also documents 14 international case studies by SWA landscape architects and urban designers, among them the technologically innovative roof domes for Renzo Piano’s California Academy of Science in San Francisco, the restoration of the Buffalo Bayou in Houston, and several master plans for ecological corridors in China and Korea. Other projects develop smart re-use concepts for railroad tracks that no longer serve their original purpose, such as Kyung-Chun railway in Seoul or Katy Trail in Dallas. All projects are described extensively with technical diagrams and plans. The publication offers ideas for reinventing, repurposing, and repositioning infrastructure as a viable medium for addressing issues of ecology, transit, urbanism, and habitat.
Ying-Yu Hung is a principal of SWA Los Angeles, co-founder of Infrastructure Research Initiative, and a Studio Professor at the University of Southern California.
Gerdo Aquino is president of SWA and adjunct associate professor of landscape architecture at the University of Southern California. He received his Master of Landscape Architecture in 1996 from Harvard University Graduate School of Design.
Pierre Bélanger is a landscape architect and Associate Professor at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design. His academic research and public work focus on the convergence of urbanism, landscape, and ecology in the interrelated fields of planning, design, and engineering.
Charles Waldheim is the John E. Irving Professor of Landscape Architecture, Chair of the Department of Landscape Architecture at Harvard University Graduate School of Design, and principal of Urban Agency, a multi-disciplinary consultancy in design and contemporary urbanism. He coined the term "landscape urbanism" to describe the recent emergence of landscape as a medium of urban order for the contemporary city.
Julia Czerniak is an Associate Professor of Architecture at Syracuse University and the inaugural Director of UPSTATE. She is founder of CLEAR, an interdisciplinary design practice.
Adriaan Geuze, landscape architect and urban designer, is founder of West 8 urban design and landscape architecture, with offices in Rotterdam, Brussels, Toronto, and New York.
Matthew Skjonsberg, architect and urban designer, is a practitioner with strong roots in design theory and research, and works closely with Adriaan Geuze. He has obtained degrees from Taliesin and ETH-Zurich.
Alexander Robinson, a graduate of Harvard University Graduate School of Design, is an Adjunct Professor of Landscape Architecture at the University of Southern California. His book, Living Systems (2007) is an exploration of the new potentials of landscape architecture materiality.
