Landscape Architecture Frontiers

HONOR AWARD

COMMUNICATIONS

Beijing, China | Peking University, College of Architecture and Landscape Architecture | Client: Publisher: Higher Education Press

PROJECT STATEMENT

Landscape Architecture Frontiers (LA FRONTIERS) is a bi-monthly, topic-oriented publication and the only entirely bilingual Chinese periodical exploring contemporary landscape research and practice. Transcending traditional notions of landscape architecture in China, LA FRONTIERS has pioneered methods of exchange and communication between the East and West, and has published original articles and projects that combine academic research, contemporary practice, and social responsibility.

PROJECT NARRATIVE

Introduction

LA FRONTIERS (formerly published as LA CHINA, releasing 26 issues between 2008 and 2012) was established as a new public publication for contemporary landscape architecture in China. In March 2013, LA FRONTIERS was re-launched to response to the increasingly massive urban transformation that is taking place in both the natural and constructed landscapes of China.

Purpose

Landscape is the spatial development of land and form; it is the systems that support the interdependence of people and environment. LA FRONTIERS approaches landscape as a social process, and as a discipline, particularly in China, with an urgent need for both an expanded and more rigorous definition of methods of practice and public discourse. LA FRONTIERS is expanding the agency of landscape architecture, creating a platform for projects, theories, and critiques that address the magnitude of environmental issues in China while advocating for an aesthetic ethos that celebrates quality public spaces in both China and the world.

Message

As the only bilingual landscape-focused periodical in China, LA FRONTIERS is setting a precedent for how landscape trends and projects are communicated in China. Concurrently, it provides a platform to present the burgeoning body of built work and research taking place worldwide. Each issue of LA FRONTIERS is composed of four main sections making up 80 percent of the content. These include Papers, Views and Criticisms, Original Practice, and Experiments and Processes. The remaining twenty percent is composed of editorials, briefs, and professional updates.

LA FRONTIERS is tasked with ensuring that the realities, and future needs, of our contemporary cities are accurately reflected to the public. In each issue, a general topic is selected for greater exploration. In the past two years, issue topics have included Crossing Boundaries, Landscape Ethics, Landscape as Infrastructure, Foreign Designers Venture into China, Geodesign, Disaster Landscapes, and Archaeology and Landscape Architecture, etc. Each of these focused topics serves as a springboard for a larger conversation, inviting economists, archaeologists, mayors, authors, and NGOs to contribute. LA FRONTIERS’ body of work can be viewed as a “textbook” series that expands the public image of landscape architecture in China by bringing focus to the fundamental practices, pressing concerns, pioneering theories, and current trends in the profession.

Beginning with LA CHINA in 2008, LA FRONTIERS has prided itself in being more than just a singular publication. It has launched multiple interactive platforms as a way of increasing reader participation and access to local and international events such as university lectures, blogs, seminars, and exhibitions.

Audience, Impact, and Reach

LA FRONTIERS has a committed and continuously growing audience that includes professionals, researchers, teachers and students, and policy makers in landscape architecture and urban planning and design, as well as related fields such as ecological engineering. Over 70% of our readers are in Asia, providing an opportunity to foreign contributors to increase readership and publicity of their work.

LA FRONTIERS is the dominant platform for disseminating the concepts and projects to Chinese practitioners. For example, LA FRONTIERS was the first Chinese publication to formally introduce the theories of Landscape Urbanism and Geo-design. The publication has become a trusted source for exposure to current trends, new knowledge and technologies, and speculative topics.

Landscape Architecture is a young discipline in China. LA FRONTIERS highlights and actively promotes the diversity of academic and educational communities by showcasing various bachelor and graduate programs worldwide. The publication makes an effort to introduce innovative teaching-learning methods that might help provide an alternative to traditional methods, and establish a modern system for both teachers and students.

By focusing on issues of environmental and urban design and advocating for new solutions and strategies, such as Greenways, Sponge City, Socio-Ecological Infrastructure, and Ecological Security Patterns, LA FRONTIERS connects with policy makers and has a potential to positively influence them to generate more shrewd and responsible policies and plans at local, regional, even national scales.

Distribution

Beijing Yiran Bookshop manages the general distribution in China, and China International Book Trading Corporation is the general agency abroad. Subscriptions and individual issues for Chinese and international readers can also be purchased through LA FRONTIERS’ official website. Subscribers in mainland China receive their copies through the China Post Office. Finally, many small, specialized stores in many cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu, Urumqi, and Taipei carry the current issue. Digital versions are available through the CNKI database and the Frontiers Journals Website.

Circulation

The standard print is 10,000 copies per issue. Print copies of LA FRONTIERS are currently distributed to more than 130 cities, including many colleges around the world.

Future

Through print and digital media LA FRONTIERS has increased the visibility of landscape architecture in China and has promoted intellectual exchange between China and the world. As LA FRONTIERS has continues to expand, it will become increasingly important in China as a database for innovative built landscapes, and as a think tank to support the theoretical development of the landscape architecture within China.

"A publication that is far and above what we have seen in discussions of Chinese landscape design."

- 2015 Awards Jury

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