In their efforts to provide better land stewardship and management, landscape architects are increasingly addressing site ecology in a wide variety of project types. From urban developments to rural properties, designers are using more sustainable design and management techniques, which include the expanded use of regional native plants. This survey study explores the use of native plants by landscape architects in the southeastern United States. Survey results show that southeastern United States designers are using a significant proportion of regional native plant species in their project specifications. Rather than using native plants strictly for conservation measures, landscape architects have found local species to be better suited to difficult or unique site conditions. The findings show that there is potential for expansion in the production and marketing of plant species indigenous to the southeastern United States.

There is an increasing demand for research in landscape architecture to inform design decision making. The role of the faculty in departments of landscape architecture has changed from one of educating professionals to one that includes contributing to research and to the development of the discipline. This paper develops a framework for assessing the contribution of faculty in landscape architecture. It proposes a reconsideration of Boyer's [Scholarship Reconsidered: Priorities of the Professoriate, The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, Princeton, NJ, 1990; Building Community: A New Future for Architecture Education and Practice, The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, Princeton, NJ, 1996] scholarship framework by clarifying the definition of scholarship as research, and identifies research, teaching and service as contributions to academe. Furthermore, it proposes that design, teaching and service can be either topics of research or products of research, but are not, by definition, research. This framework clarifies the issue of how design fits into the academic environment, and provides concrete guidelines for the assessment of both traditional research activities and non-traditional activities such as design.Boyer [Scholarship Reconsidered: Priorities of the Professoriate, The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, Princeton, NJ, 1990; Building Community: A New Future for Architecture Education and Practice, The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, Princeton, NJ, 1996] identifies six main criteria that should be considered in the review of scholarship: clear goals; adequate preparation; appropriate methods; significant results; effective communication; and reflective critique. These criteria have been adapted in light of the argument developed by this paper for peer review, new or substantially improved insight, and universal accessibility as the overarching criteria for contributions to academe. The result is a set of detailed checklists for the assessment of published research and of other contributions to academe (such as teaching and design), which are communicated through other vehicles.

Studies have identified that, given the opportunity, the majority of North Americans would prefer to live in small towns and rural areas. This preference is based in aesthetic notions linked to landscape features, personal meaning, and perceptions. In order to understand how the growing non-farm rural landowner population will influence the rural landscape, this research explored the motivations of non-farm rural landowners for living in rural areas, and their perceptions of their property. It involved five preliminary focus groups with farm and non-farm landowners owning land in rural, urbanising rural, and urbanised rural areas, and four final focus groups. The research also included a survey of 944 landowners in Southern Ontario. People choose to live in rural areas because they are quiet, natural, open, private, and clean. In contrast, people chose to buy their properties for very practical reasons: location, cost, availability and quality of resources, and size. Results suggest that non-farm rural landowners prefer landscapes with trees and water, and landscape health, restorative benefits, and aesthetic quality are crucial. Associations with family, history, and activities provide the affective connection which supports ongoing efforts on their land.