• Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.14-25
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• 2009

We live in an age which is exponentially growing as the knowledge paradigm is changing. New sites are subject to contemporary landscape architecture function as "fields" in which this hybrid aspect is both actively practiced and becoming a catalyst for change in the area of landscape architecture. With this as its background, this study attempts to deal with how the aspect of integration in environmental design is manifested. For this purpose, the tendencies for the discussion of integration in various fields of practice were examined: planning theories, urban theories, architecture, public environment, engineering, and landscape architecture. As yet, the discussions of interdisciplinary integration, which occur in practice in these respective fields, mainly tend to be oriented toward the effective implementation of the merits of other related fields. Seen from these examples of practice, integrated design approaches can be found in the following three aspects: design objects, respective professional areas, and methodologies of approaches and design. In terms of design objects, the positions of individual design subjects present themselves as most obvious, and integration or combination of the physical targets that come to exist through design can be easily seen. Most examples of integration turn out to be this, in almost every case of which the theme and the target of expression are integrated via a small number of certain methods. In terms of professional areas, what can be mainly evidenced is how the individual subject acts when the subject designs. The strong points of professionals from each field seem to create synergy, achieving through integration optimum results. In terms of methodologies of approaches and design, there are attempts to create integrated approaches as ways of effective decision-making, in which case the integration of all of the interest parties is of primary concern. As yet, few instances have been found in which integrated design has had enough strength to be seen as a concrete design methodology based on practical examples. However, it is encouraging that theoretical approaches and the necessity for integrated design have been identified from multiple perspectives, and that a practical movement such as landscape urbanism has come into active being. The authors of this study find this point in time to be ripe for discussions on integrated practices in terms of environmental design, on the basis of the synthetic approaches mentioned above.