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Abstract
At the present nexus of technological reverence, ecological concern, and occupational distress, quantification methods and rating systems like LEED and SITES understandably offer landscape architecture a certain validation. However, there is a deeply rooted sense that cultural expression and aesthetic and experiential qualities are integral to the success of the designed landscape, and can hardly be reduced to a 250-point scale. Is the importance of the designed landscape being undervalued in this new direction toward a numerical rationale? What now, is the value of the cultural, aesthetic and experiential in landscape architecture, and how can discussions of this nature be reinserted into contemporary sustainability centered design discourse? This thesis will consider the ideas of a number of contemporary practitioners and scholars in the field in an effort to explore possible avenues for future design process and practice.