Modern engagement methods of building a universal understanding of Landscape Architecture: A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Landscape Architecture at Lincoln University

Abstract

Community engagement in Aotearoa New Zealand is a key part of how Landscape Architecture can be understood by the public. However, the way in which it is communicated is not universally accessible to all of the community. A comprehensive understanding is not necessary for all projects however universal access to undertstand is a basic human right. Engagement practices are tailored to each project and lead to various levels of engagement known as the Spectrum level of public participation. For the lower levels such as ‘Inform’ and ‘Consult’ the public are often presented with limited access to the project in the form of finalised drawings or polished visualisations. The inflexibility of these communication types is not universal and does not account for all types of people in the community. My first literature review analyses the engagement best practices to assess how universal they currently are. My second literature review reframes these best practices with a lens from the education sector known as Universal Design for Learning (UDL). This lens highlights three dimensions that teachers use in the classroom to achieve an inclusive and universal access to the information they’re teaching. My research aims to answer the question: What role can Landscape Architects’ play to provide information that is more universally accessible through the community engagement process by creating an assessment of engagement methods based on how universally accessible they are. I then introduce the third literature review of modern technology available as suggested solutions to achieving a higher level of universal understanding. The outcomes of my research look at two case studies of engagement methods and introduce a Universal Scoring system to quantify how universal a method is. The results are presented as gaps in the method than can be improved up by integrating UDL principles and modern technologies available for Landscape Architects.