The claims made for Landscape Urbanism have been difficult to evaluate, since they rely heavily on theoretical and aspirational arguments, and new projects to date have offered little post-occupancy evidence. However, more specific claims have also been made about historic projects as proposed precedents for Landscape Urbanism, and these offer a more substantial evidence base for the evaluation of claims. Here we take the claimed precedent of Detroit’s Lafayette Park, and evaluate the stated claims for its performance on social, economic and ecological criteria, in light of the available evidence. We conclude with an assessment of broader claims for Landscape Urbanism in light of the evidence we find in Lafayette Park.

Historically, a large number of public housing estates in the United States and Europe have had concentrated poverty and isolated residents, either socially, economically, ethnically or all of the above. This paper investigates the demolition of public housing in the US through HOPE VI grants, and the rebuilding of mixed-use neighborhoods. Based on site visits, visual documentation, interviews, and analysis of documents and other reports, as well as scientific articles, this paper uses a qualitative mixed-methods approach to the analysis. It examines project sites in three US cities to see if the Sustainable Urbanist paradigm offers an alternative to the failed suburban-alienated type of living in major European cities. Applying Sustainable Urbanism concepts to European housing areas could be a way forward, where the papers expressing some ideas towards the complex issue of analyzing and coming up with solutions for re-urban renewal of isolated and distressed European cities housing areas. The paper then proposes a meaningful set of strategies based on the Futurescape method. The paper concludes with a concentrated and constructive critique of HOPE VI efforts.

The popularity and impact of the High Line in New York mirrors the complex reality of contemporary provision of public space. The development of the project, its relationship to its surroundings and the evolving trend of elevated parks are analyzed in relation to the role of urban green space and impacts of Landscape Urbanism. The High Line shows the way to a new role for urban green space by utilizing abandoned infrastructure. In analysing the narrative of the High Line, this article stresses the importance of understanding localities and connectivity. Based on observations as well as a review of the literature and media, the article concludes that great landscaping does not create great places without careful consideration of the surrounding community and residents.

At this historical moment, the urban planning and design professions are confronted with the twin challenges of unprecedented rapid urbanization on the one hand, and declining post-industrial regions on the other. In this environment, there are many different and often conflicting ideas about urban heritage and its relevance for contemporary urban planning and design. In this paper, we look for commonalities and a way forward from among a range of competing urban design models. We examine the illustrative case study of the geography and landscape of Detroit, USA. We consider seven contemporary urban planning and design ideals that dominate the contemporary planning and design discourse and their different views of the past and urban heritage in relation to the approaches in Detroit. From these, we draw a synthesis approach, making several recommendations and observations with a focus on the capacities of so-called “placemaking” approaches. In this paper, urban heritage is understood and examined as contributing a pattern of infrastructure that provides a helpful supportive framework, and (importantly) a set of structural limitations (e.g., historic plot boundaries), that can serve as a generative resource for new urban planning and design. We conclude that the necessary framework for democratic participation and opportunity within urban space can be provided most directly by leveraging the assets of urban heritage.

Within the realm of contemporary urban design theory and practice, a number of authors have conceptualised the trends and processes of city development and planning into a series of urbanisms. This discussion essay examines the overall tenets of the 'ReUrbanism paradigm', a paradigm that has long been present in city planning and development but has received limited analysis and criticism and has not gained a more integrated position within the professional and academic worlds. This paper continues a paradigm development outline, leaning on the characteristics of other urbanisms in order to develop and provide a frame of reference and to contribute to the ongoing build-up of taxonomies about the trajectory of contemporary urban design thought. Focusing on the American representative case of Detroit, the authors of this paper argue for a better understanding of this urban regeneration paradigm, which they characterise as a rational urban planning & design approach in the contemporary age of inner city renewal.