ABH442 Landscape Design 7: Resilient Landscapes

Unit Outline: Semester 2 2026, Gardens Point, Internal

Overview

This fourth-year design unit builds on your understanding of landscape systems developed in your Landscape Ecologies and Environmental Planning units. It advances your understanding of resilience theory, and its implications for landscape appraisal and design. This understanding is critical to respond in an ecologically, socially, culturally, and economically responsible manner to ecosystems in crisis. In this unit you will learn about resilience theory including and understanding of system thresholds, anti-fragility, adaptability and transformability. You will apply this knowledge in the research, development and communication of a design proposition in response to a current issue within a selected landscape system. The knowledge and skills you acquire in this unit consolidate and advance those from your previous design units, and will prepare you to display professional and ethical judgement and initiative as a landscape architect. 

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit you will be able to:

1. Understand, research and apply advanced resilience theory and responsive landscape architectural precedents.
2. Research a current issue/s affecting landscape systems generally, and critically and creatively analyse and evaluate the effects of this issue/s within a specific landscape system.
3. Plan, develop and complete a design proposition informed by applying resilience theories, design precedents and landscape systems analysis in an ecologically, socially and culturally responsive manner, displaying professional and ethical judgement in response to a current issue.
4. Effectively communicate your acquired knowledge and its critical and creative application in visual, written and verbal forms.

Content

Learning Approaches

This unit engages you in your learning through: 

• Individual and group learning via in-class lectures and activities introducing and exploring advanced resilience theory and its implications for current issues affecting landscape systems; 
• Individual learning through the planning, development, completion and communication of research and a responsive design proposition. 

Feedback on Learning and Assessment

Feedback will be provided by: 

• Formative feedback on in-class activities and assessment work-in-progress in the form of verbal feedback from peers, academic staff and industry guests 
• Summative review of submitted assessments in the form of verbal or written feedback from academic staff, industry guests and criteria-referenced assessment rubrics. 

Assessment

Overview

This unit includes two assessments. These have been designed to enable you to first undertake and apply research into advanced resilience theory, current issue/s affecting a landscape system, and responsive design precedents to analyse the selected landscape system. You will then plan, develop and communicate in visual, written and verbal forms a critical and creative design proposition to improve the resilience of the selected landscape system in response to the identified issue/s. 

Unit Grading Scheme

7- point scale

Assessment Tasks

Assessment: Design Project 1

You will apply knowledge of advanced resilience theory, and research into a current issue/s and responsive design precedents to analyse a selected landscape system. You will plan, develop and communicate in visual, written and verbal forms an appraisal of this landscape system though a framework of resilience theory, as the basis for a critical and creative design concept to improve its resilience.

This assignment is eligible for the 48-hour late submission period and assignment extensions.

Assessment: Design Project 2

Building on your work in Design Project 1, you will apply your knowledge and research to plan, develop and communicate in visual, written and verbal forms a critical and creative design proposition to improve the resilience of the selected landscape system in response to the identified issue/s.

This assignment is eligible for the 48-hour late submission period and assignment extensions.

Academic Integrity

Academic integrity is a commitment to undertaking academic work and assessment in a manner that is ethical, fair, honest, respectful and accountable.

The Academic Integrity Policy sets out the range of conduct that can be a failure to maintain the standards of academic integrity. This includes, cheating in exams, plagiarism, self-plagiarism, collusion and contract cheating. It also includes providing fraudulent or altered documentation in support of an academic concession application, for example an assignment extension or a deferred exam.

You are encouraged to make use of QUT’s learning support services, resources and tools to assure the academic integrity of your assessment. This includes the use of text matching software that may be available to assist with self-assessing your academic integrity as part of the assessment submission process.

Breaching QUT’s Academic Integrity Policy or engaging in conduct that may defeat or compromise the purpose of assessment can lead to a finding of student misconduct (Code of Conduct – Student) and result in the imposition of penalties under the Management of Student Misconduct Policy, ranging from a grade reduction to exclusion from QUT.

Resources

Course Learning Outcomes

AB01 Bachelor of Built Environment (Honours)

1. Apply theoretical, practical and cultural knowledge and skills across a range of disciplines and specialist knowledge and skills in one built environment area.
   Relates to: Design Project 1, Design Project 2
2. Design and critically evaluate sustainable and creative solutions to social, economic, technological and environmental challenges.
   Relates to: Design Project 1, Design Project 2
3. Communicate knowledge, ideas and creative solutions in diverse modes, for a range of contexts and diverse audiences.
   Relates to: Design Project 1, Design Project 2
4. Plan, develop and complete research and other projects.
   Relates to: Design Project 1, Design Project 2