A Case Study Method for Landscape Architecture
Created as the foundation of the series, this publication lends the case studies uniformity in format and method and promotes a multi-method approach combining observational, attitudinal, archival, historical, qualitative and quantitative methods. Depending on the subject and goals of each case study, the author recommends three unique study types:
- site-based studies (of specific projects)
- issue-based case studies (of issues that cut across projects or cases)
- hypothetical case studies for teaching (to aid in training and theory development)
"Most case studies in urban design consider a designed product from the actor's (the creator's) point of view. Case studies courses in universities consist of designers explaining what they did and, ideally, why. In doing so they tend to miss describing the dynamics of the design/decision making process. They focus on the form, the architecture. The emphasis on developing case studies needs to be placed on drawing from the observations, secondary though they may be, of those outside the process looking critically in on them. The designers' voices need to be heard but placed in context."
"What can we learn from case studies? .... The fields (traditional design professions) need to have a sound empirical foundation on which to base their decisions. Case studies can provide an important part of that base."
Excerpts from Jon Lang "Urban Design: A Typology of Procedures and Products"
2005