Open research questions in Urban Planning and Landscape Design
65 unresolved questions extracted from the limitations and future-work sections of 631 Urban Planning and Landscape Design papers in our library. Each links back to the study that raised it.
What the literature leaves open
The paper identifies a gap in the understanding of neighbourhood relations in Norwegian cities. The concept of symbolic fences is introduced as a means of addressing this gap.
There is no single source that adequately surveys the city's many plant communities and their functions. The paper identifies a gap in considering nature in city design beyond parks and new suburbs.
The paper identifies a gap in understanding the autonomy of action and the role of projects in shaping individual and collective behavior. The study highlights the need for further research on the intersection of time-geography and existential anthropology.
The complexity of the settlement system. The need to integrate theoretical concepts into explanatory schemes. The difficulty of measuring the importance of settlements.
The lack of integration of theoretical concepts into explanatory schemes. The need to relate the processes of regional urban growth to the factors often cited in individual urban histories.
The paper suggests that future research should focus on working out the relationship between mind, society, and environment in concrete studies of real places and landscapes. It implies that a dialectical approach may lead to a more nuanced understanding of human geographical experience.
The paper identifies a gap in the understanding of the relationship between mind, society, and environment in creating and sustaining places. It notes that the precise relationship between these factors cannot be stated as a general theory.
To develop adequate theory, we need to combine macro and micro analyses in single pieces of research. To provide the missing complementarity, increase the information content contained in our models, and reduce the number of arbitrary decisions which must be made to facilitate research.
The scale problem in human geography is a significant issue that affects the development of comprehensive theories. Macro and micro scale studies do not complement each other due to different philosophical and methodological positions.
Future research should continue to explore the concept of hierarchy and its application in various disciplines. The study of levels of integration should be further developed to inform the development of more effective theories and models in regional science.
The paper identifies a gap in the understanding of hierarchy and its application in central place theory. The study seeks to address this gap by exploring the concept of levels of integration and its importance in understanding order and coherence.
Further study of the dimensions of locational conflicts in different cities. Analysis of the impact of demographic changes on facility usage and the rising standards of expectations for basic educational and health services.
The need to understand the conflict basis of public and private decisions on the use of land. The lack of insight into the complex interdependencies linking participant and land-use combinations.
The paper identifies a gap in our understanding of the pre-agricultural landscape and the Mesolithic economy. The study highlights the need for further research into the impact of human activity on the landscape.
The complexity of the social structure of antebellum cities - The limited availability of data on the social configuration of these cities - The need to consider the overall social structure rather than just particular pieces
The paper identifies a gap in current research, which has focused on particular pieces of the city rather than the overall social structure - It notes that historians have failed to take into account the social configuration of antebellum cities
The study of cultural landscape is challenging due to the complexity and diversity of the landscape. There is a need to consider the geographic context of cultural elements.
The paper suggests that future research should explore the application of phenomenology in human geography. It argues that phenomenology can provide a new perspective on geographical research. The paper also suggests that future research should investigate the potential applications of phenomenology in geography, including the study of regionalism and the concept of action space.
The paper identifies a gap in the application of phenomenology in human geography. It argues that phenomenology is a suitable approach for human geography, but it has been neglected in the field. The paper also identifies a gap in the discussion of the potential applications of phenomenology in geography.
There is a gap in the understanding of dualism and its implications. The concept of dualism has been characterized by mistaken or inadequate analyses.
Further analysis of the implications of the "balanced community" standard on zoning law. Examination of the impact of fiscal zoning on residential development. Investigation of the relationship between zoning laws and the planning process.
The ambiguity of the "balanced community" standard. The lack of clear guidelines for evaluating competing land uses. The need for a comprehensive understanding of the relationship between zoning laws and the planning process.
The paper identifies a gap between Olmsted's narrative descriptions and actual plans for urban parks. The paper argues that Olmsted's ideal of natural scenery was a product of a culturally determined ideological framework.
The paper identifies ambiguities and potential fallacies in the current use of the concepts of center and periphery. The paper identifies the need for clear and distinct concepts of centrality-peripherality.
The lack of understanding of the relationship between networks for man's movement and human settlements. The need for a clear definition of the principles guiding human settlements.
Most-cited papers in Urban Planning and Landscape Design
- Principles for urban nature-based solutions · AMBIO · 2022 · 210 citations
- Infrastructure and non-human life: A wider ontology · Progress in Human Geography · 2021 · 144 citations
- The territory of property · Progress in Human Geography · 2015 · 142 citations
- A conceptual framework to untangle the concept of urban ecosystem services · Landscape and Urban Planning · 2020 · 130 citations
- The politics of scale through Rancière · Progress in Human Geography · 2020 · 49 citations
- For a ‘new new regional geography’: plastic regions and more-than-relational regionality · Geografiska Annaler Series B Human Geography · 2022 · 48 citations
- Bringing Urban Parks to Life: The More-Than-Human Politics of Urban Ecological Work · Annals of the American Association of Geographers · 2020 · 45 citations
- Cultivated, feral, wild: the urban as an ecological formation · Urban Geography · 2022 · 36 citations
- Places are not like people: the perils of anthropomorphism within entrepreneurial ecosystems research · Regional Studies · 2022 · 34 citations
- The fly that tried to save the world: Saproxylic geographies and other‐than‐human ecologies · Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers · 2019 · 33 citations
Most recent work
- Multifunctional landscapes in Sweden – How the concept is understood and implemented in research and practice · Journal of Environmental Planning and Management · 2026
- Territorial design as frictional landscapes: reframing urban-landscape discourse and practice into multi-scalar governance · Proceedings of DRS · 2026
- Art en forêt, forêt en ville : les manifestations culturelles dans les espaces forestiers métropolitains comme leviers de (re)connexion des populations en milieu « naturel » · HAL (Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe) · 2026
- From the city as a system to the system of cities: The systemic approach to urban planning · Quaestiones Geographicae · 2026
- Architect-Urbanist: House and Habitat in the Work of Ian McKay · Fabrications · 2026
- Mixed Use Urban Design · Open Scholarship Institutional Repository (Washington University in St. Louis) · 2026
- Elements of Urban Design - Shrewsbury · Open Scholarship Institutional Repository (Washington University in St. Louis) · 2026
- Elements of Urban Design - Forsyth · Open Scholarship Institutional Repository (Washington University in St. Louis) · 2026
- Grounding our perspectives: musings on ‘landscape scale’ · Landscape Ecology · 2026
- Commoning the gardens by the Bloc . Informal gardening practices in the collective housing districts of a post-socialist city · Environmental Sociology · 2025
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