Landscape Urbanism in Europe: From Brownfields to Sustainable Urban Development

The article explores the notion of landscape urbanism in the European – and especially the French – context. It develops the idea that this very recent notion of American origin, which is at the intersection of many theories and practices in landscape architecture, urban planning and design, ecology and architecture, may be used to partly describe a set of professional practices in landscape architecture which emerged in France and Europe from the 1970s. The role of the State in France in this change is highlighted, as well as the recent acknowledgment of the notion of urban sustainable development.