The critical case study: Advancing methods of design scholarship through investigation of Peter Walker’s landscapes

Abstract

In his 2001 article for Landscape Journal, Mark Francis puts forward a compelling argument for developing the case study method in landscape architecture. Francis notes that the case study—be it formally written or anecdotally conveyed through stories—has an extensive history in the discipline that can be traced back to the time of Olmsted. This form of recording and transferring knowledge also has a strong tradition in other fields such as medicine, law, and business. Indeed, Francis states that “the case study method is now the standard method used in most professional education.” But even as certain individual projects within the discipline of landscape architecture are given thorough and repeated treatment, there still is an unsatisfied need for developing more comprehensive and critical studies. Francis breaks down the wide spectrum of case study types into three categories. The first is a basic collection of project details brought together in abstract form. The second category builds upon the first, being more thorough with inclusion of specific details and issues relevant to the studied project. The third and most ambitious form of case study described by Francis is distinct for the way the study contextualizes its subject matter and draws out more specialized insight from these works. This paper presents means of advancing the case study method through a critical analysis of built works designed by the landscape architect Peter Walker. In-person investigations of more than forty of these landscapes, located in six countries and across four continents, have been combined with interviews and desktop studies to better understand the economic, political, and cultural contexts within which they were created. Analyzing these works with particular focus on landscape systems (e.g. topography, vegetation, water) has been conducted to distill specific design strategies embedded within these works. Learning from a singular portfolio such as Walker’s is posited as being valuable in better equipping the next generation of designers facing contemporary challenges and seeking to maximize landscape’s utility as a public resource.