Landscape Architecture and Urbanism
The research group Landscape Architecture and Urbanism (see below who we are) wishes is to provide, develop and communicate knowledge of landscape architecture and urbanism. More specifically that is theories of and methods for the analysis and planning of the urban landscape.

Focus areas
Our research bridges design and humanities exchanging and developing knowledge at the intersection of architecture, landscape architecture, urban design, urban planning, architectural philosophy, cultural studies, and art history.
Being situated in a bioscience and natural science research environment allow us, on a daily basis, to benefit from access to and general understanding of how other scientific fields affect and are influenced by our perspectives.
Our focus is on open, dynamic urban and rural spaces, paying special attention to design theories, methods, and aesthetics; urban phenomenology; and various forms of representations, both textual and visual. Our overall objective is to substantiate the quality of our shared open spaces.
A landscape – urban, rural, public, private – can be understood as human interaction with a specific site over time and thus as accumulated interpretations, reinterpretations, and spatial transformations.
The dynamic material and immaterial qualities and histories are pivotal for our research, directing our attention to the intersection of design and cultural theory; of conception and reception; and subsequently the spatiotemporal continuum of past, present, and future.
Our research thus aims to develop theories and methods for preservation, reuse, and development of the hybrid of natural and human-made landscapes.
Current projects
- Reconfiguring Welfare Landscapes (Ellen Braae, Svava Riesto, Henriette Steiner, Anne Tietjen)
- Sven Hansen – a Welfare Designer and Planner (Ellen Braae)
- Landscape Biography (Svava Riesto)
- Developing Place-based Potential (Anne Tietjen)
- A Tale of Two Towers (Henriette Steiner)
- Permitted exceptions: Authorized temporary urban spaces (Anne Wagner supervisors: Bettina Lamm)
- Big Cities – Quiet Places (Hanne Wiemann Nielsen, supervisors: Ellen Braae & Gertrud Jørgensen)
Completed projects
- BK2015 (Ellen Braae, Svava Riesto, Lisa Diedrich)
- Transformation of Urban Industrial Areas (Ellen Braae)
- Negotiating (In)visibilities (Henriette Steiner)
- SEEDS (Bettina Lamm)
- Naturpark Amager – Muligheder og indsatser (Rikke Munck Petersen)
Design research is central to understanding, conceptualising, and developing landscape architecture and urbanism. Topical issues include transdisciplinary co-creation, 1:1 prototyping, new forms of media mediation, and new performative aesthetics in an increasingly transformative practice.
We use practice-based research and design education to develop design theory, methods, and pedagogy as well as place-specific knowledge for urban landscape development, often in collaboration with practice partners.
Current projects
- Move the Neighbourhood (Bettina Lamm)
- Companion to Landscape Architecture Research (Ellen Braae & Henriette Steiner)
- Developing Place-based Potential (Anne Tietjen)
- Sensory Large Scale Analyses and Design (Rikke Munck Petersen)
- Co-Design Lab (Peter Lundsgaard Hansen)
- Demosspace (N, Aas, Bettina Lamm & Anne Tietjen)
- Permitted exceptions: Authorized temporary urban spaces (Anne Margethe Wagner, supervisor: Bettina Lamm)
- The We-Project. Co-designing Playable Environments with Children and Young People (Laura Winge, supervisor: Bettina Lamm)
- Urban Gardening (Anne Madsbjerg, supervisors: Trine Agervig Carstensen & Gertrud Jørgensen)
- NN (Natalie Koerner, supervisors: Peter Bertram & Henriette Steiner)
Completed projects
- SEEDS (Bettina Lamm)
- Playable (Bettina Lamm)
- Travelling Transects (Ellen Braae, Lisa Diedrich, Gini Lee)
The ecological crisis has turned urban development into a key issue for the 21st Century. Greening cities is regarded as the solution to major challenges such as climate change, loss of biodiversity, and the problem of creating more liveable environments in an era when the majority of the world’s population lives in cities.
Our research critically examines contemporary urban nature design and contributes to developing the new design strategies, methodologies, and knowledge needed to shape these human/non-human assemblages into desired future interactions.
Our research bridges the gaps between natural sciences, the humanities, and design research to engage with the post-nature condition and the emerging theory and design methodology of post-nature in its full complexity.
Current projects
- Sensory Large Scale Analyses and Design (Rikke Munck Petersen)
- Urban Nature (Anders Busse Nielsen, Marina Bergen Jensen, Ellen Braae
- System & Atmosphere - Landscape Based Storage of Acclaimed Water (Rosalina W.Torgard – supervisors: Ellen Braae & Marina Bergen Jensen)
- Space for Rain, the Street (Anna Aslaug Lund – supervisors: Ellen Braae & Marina Bergen Jensen)
- Ecological Edges in the Dense City (Ann-Charlott Eriksen – supervisors: Marina Bergen Jensen & Svava Riesto)
- Urban Gardening (Anne Madsbjerg – supervisors: Trine Agervig Carstensen & Gertrud Jørgensen)
Completed projects
- Green Heritage versus Climate Change and Urbanisation (Ellen Braae)
- Travelling Transects (Ellen Braae, Lisa Diedrich, Gini Lee)
- Beauty Redeemed (Ellen Braae)
- Challenges to Governing Urban Green Infrastructure in Europe – The Case of the European Green Capital Award. / Gulsrud, Natalie Marie; Krajter Ostoic, Silvija; Faehnle, Maija ; Maric, Bruno; Paloniemi, Riikka; Pearlmutter, David; Simson, Alan. In: The Urban Forest: Cultivating Green Infrastructure for People and the Environment. ed. / David Pearlmutter; Carlo Calfapietra; Roeland Samson; Liz O'Brien; Silvija Krajter Ostoić; Giovanni Sanesi; Rocío Alonso del Amo. Vol. 7 1. ed. Springer International Publishing, 2017. p. 235-258 (Future City; No. 1, Vol. 7).
- Introduction: Governance and Economic Valuation. / Gulsrud, Natalie Marie; Krajter Ostoic, Silvija. In: The Urban Forest: Cultivating Green Infrastructure for People and the Environment. ed. / David Pearlmutter; Carlo Calfapietra; Roeland Samson; Liz O'Brien; Silvija Krajter Ostoić; Giovanni Sanesi; Rocío Alonso del Amo. Vol. 7 1. ed. Netherlands : Springer International Publishing, 2017. p. 233-234 (Future City; No. 1, Vol. 7).
- Urban Forests in Nordic Regions : What can the National Forest Inventory tell us? / Gulsrud, Natalie Marie; Nielsen, Anders Busse. Nordic Forest Research Cooperation Committee (SNS), 2017. 1 p.
- Urban Green Infrastructure: Connecting People and Nature for Sustainable Cities : A Summary for Policy Makers. / Mattijssen, Thomas Johannes Maria; Olafsson, Anton Stahl; Møller, Maja Steen; Gulsrud, Natalie Marie; Caspersen, Ole H.
GREEN SURGE, 2017. 25 p. (GREEN SURGE, Vol. D8.5). - Drone affect : Drone filming as possible affectivity mediator in large-scale planning. / Munck Petersen, Rikke. In: Landscape and Urban Planning, 05.2017.
- Mødet mellem krop og horisont - En kystpark mellem Kalveboderne og Øretaden : Sted, Sanser, Arkitektur. Håndværk og æstetik i landskabsarkitektur - Studio 2017. / Munck Petersen, Rikke (Editor); Kjær, Emilie Kjeldsen (Editor). 1 ed. Frederiksberg, 2017. 186 p.
- Sensory-aesthetic learning habitus. / Munck Petersen, Rikke; Braae, Ellen Marie.
In: Journal of Architectural Education, 2017. - Resonance and Transcendence of a Bodily Presence : How a filmic mapping of non-visual, aural and bodily relations in space can strengthen the sensory dimension in (landscape) architectural design. / Petersen, Rikke Munck; Farsø, Mads. Architecture filmmaking. ed. / Igea Troiani; Hugh Campbell. Intellect Ltd., 2017.
- An Incomplete Manifesto for Landscape Studio. / Hansen, Peter Lundsgaard.
An Incomplete Manifesto for Landscape Studio. 2017. - Landscape Studio. / Hansen, Peter Lundsgaard.
- What the ‘green city’ is up to : Two lenses of criticism for the green facades of Oluf Bager Plaza in Odense, Denmark . / Eriksen, Ann-Charlott; Riesto, Svava.
In: SPOOL, Vol. 4, 2017. - Biography of an Industrial Landscape. Carlsberg's urban spaces retold. / Riesto, Svava.
Amsterdam : Amsterdam University Press B.V., 2017. 224 p. (Landscape and Heritage Studies ). - Doing critique of what design does at Superkilen. / Tietjen, Anne; Riesto, Svava; Haddad, Rana. In: CRIOS - Critica degli Ordinamenti Spaziali (Critique of Spatial Orderings) , Vol. 4, No. 13, 2017, p. 45-60.
- Working with the backside of urban mobility: Strategic design for rural decline.
/ Tietjen, Anne. In: Urban mobility: architectures, geographies and social space. ed. / Anne Elisabeth Toft; Magnus Rönn. Nordic Academic Press of Architectural Research, 2017. p. 45-68 (Nordisk Arkitekturforskning, Vol. 1). - Navigating the Internet of Things / Rassia, Stamatina; Steiner, Henriette.
Networks Design and Optimization for Smart Cities. ed. / Konstantinos Gakis; Panos Pardalos. Washington : World Scientific Publishing Co Pte Ltd, 2017. p. 122-142 (Series on Computers and Operations Research:, Vol. 8). - TV-Serien SKAMS Byforestillinger : - mellom skam og skyld, innenfor og utenfor det urbane. / Riesto, Svava; Steiner, Henriette. In: Nordisk Tidsskrift for Informationsvidenskab og Kulturformidling, Vol. 6. årgang, No. 3, 2017.
- Architectural Pre-Script. / Ring, Annie ; Steiner, Henriette; Veel, Kristin Eva Albrechtsen Haahr. Architecture & Control. Brill, 2017.
- Architecture and Control. / Ring, Annie (Editor); Steiner, Henriette (Editor); Veel, Kristin Eva Albrechtsen (Editor). Brill, 2017. 250 p. (Architectural Intelligences).
- Eine Flise gegen den Starkregen. / Steiner, Henriette. In: Garten und Landschaft, Vol. 2017, No. 7, 2017, p. 24-29.
- Negotiating the Boundaries of the Home : The Making and Breaking of Lived and Imagined Walls. / Steiner, Henriette; Veel, Kristin Eva Albrechtsen. In: Home Cultures, Vol. 14, No. 1, 2017.
- Phenomenologies of the City : Studies in the History and Philosophy of Architecture. / Steiner, Henriette; Sternberg, Max. London: Routledge, 2017. 304 p. (Ashgate Studies in Architecture).
- The tower, the transmitter and Lyotard’s double sight : towering oscillations of the (In)visible. / Steiner, Henriette; Veel, Kristin Eva Albrechtsen Haahr. In: Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung, 2017.
- Case Study : Move the Neighbourhood with children. Learning by co-designing active urban environments. / Wagner, Anne Margrethe; Lamm, Bettina; Winge, Laura.
Architecture Connects: AEE Conference proceedings 2017. Oxford, 2017. - Move the Neighbourhood : Study design of a community-based participatory public open space intervention in a Danish deprived neighbourhood to promote active living.
/ Pawlowski, Charlotte Skau; Winge, Laura; Carroll, Sidse; Schmidt, Tanja; Wagner, Anne Margrethe; Nortoft, Kamilla Pernille Johansen; Lamm, Bettina; Kural, René; Schipperijn, Jasper; Troelsen, Jens. In: B M C Public Health, Vol. 17, 481, 2017. - Welfare Landscape and Communities. / Braae, Ellen Marie. In: Forming Welfare. ed. / Katrine Lotz; Deane Simpson; Kirsten Marie Raahauge; Kjeld Vindum; Mette Jerl Jensen; Jannie Rosenberg Bendsen. Kunstakademiets Arkitektskole, 2017. p. 34-49.
- Designing Urban Natures : Ambiguities in urban space design on the threshold of climate disaster . / Braae, Ellen Marie; Riesto, Svava. In: Kritische Berichte, Vol. 45, No. 2, 2017, p. 92-101.
- Approaching the 'As Found'. / Braae, Ellen Marie. Pamplet Delta Dialogues. ed. / Lara Mehling. Vol. 20 Zürich : gta Verlag, 2017. p. 46-59.
- Quiet areas: outer experiences and inner sensations – a qualitative approach using film and drones. / Petersen, Rikke Munck.
- Affective Architecture. Film as a Sensory Transference Tool and an Intimacy Projection Environment. / Petersen, Rikke Munck; Farsø, Mads.
- Martin Søberg; Svava Riesto; Markus Bogisch. 2016. ‘Arkitektonisk kvantitet – modstand, magi og mangfoldighed. In: Periskop – forum for kunsthistorisk debat, Vol. 16
- Peter Lundsgaard Hansen; Dam, T.; V. le Goffic; Braae, E.: The Campfire Design Studio: Design Conversations in Landscape Architecture Education. In Edinbourgh Architectural Research, EAR 34, 'Architectural Education – Educational Architecture: Part 1‘
- Natalie Koerner and Henriette Steiner. 2016. ‘Nature, Time and the Anthropocene: Julius von Bismarck’s Landscape Painting’, in Esse – Art+Opinon - Landscape 88 (Autumn):.
- Anne Tietjen, Gertrud Jørgensen, Translating a wicked problem: A strategic planning approach to rural shrinkage in Denmark, Landscape and Urban Planning, Volume 154, October 2016, Pages 29-43, ISSN 0169-2046,
- Braae, E.; Riesto, S. Wet Heritage. Redesigning 'urban nature' in a heritage protected park. In: Nature & Culture. Heritage in Context; 7th Annual Conference on Heritage Issues in Contemporary Society: Amherst / Prague : Uni Massachusetts Amherst, 2016
- Henriette Steiner. 2016. ‘Café Chairs, Bar Stools and Other Chairs We Sit on When We Eat: Food Consumption and Everyday Urban Life’, in Food and Architecture at the Table, ed. by Samantha Martin-McAuliffe (London: Bloomsbury Academics), pp. 223-238 (peer reviewed).
- Green City Branding: I Melbourne har træerne e-mail adresser! / Gulsrud, Natalie Marie. In: Teknik & Miljø : Stads og Havneingeniøren. 2016 ; 8, 01 January 2016.
- Lamm, B.; Wagner, A.M.: Book of Pilots - Transforming Cities and Landscapes through Temporary Use. SEEDS wp5, Copenhagen, 2016. 47 p. Research › Report
- Henriette Steiner. 2016. ‘H.C. ANDERSEN WAS (not) HERE’, in Scandinavica, 55(1):106-117 (peer reviewed).
- Henriette Steiner and Kristin Veel. 2016. ‘Smart Complexity?’, in What Urban Media Art Can Do – Why, When, Where, and How?, ed. by Susa Pop and Tanya Toft (Stuttgart: av editions), pp. 275-281.
- Henriette Steiner and Kristin Veel. 2016. ‘A Window to the Black Box – Stories from a Calm Surveillance Society’, in The 2016.: Motif and Topos in Austrian, German and Swiss Art and Literature, London German Studies XV, ed. by H. Kunzelmann and A. Simon (Munich: Iudicium Verlag), pp. 149-163.
- Winding City Visions. / Gulsrud, Natalie Marie; Steiner, Henriette. In: Topos, Vol. 93, 2016, p. 24-31.
- Henriette Steiner and Kristin Veel. 2016. ‘A Portrait of the Artist as a Smart City – Body, Complexity and Urban Life’, in Complex Ubiquity-Effects: Individuating, Situating, Eventualizing. Ed. by U. Ekman, J.D. Bolter, L. Diaz, M. Engberg, M. Søndergaard, Ubiquitous Computing, Complexity, and Culture. (London, New York: Routledge), pp. 195-204 (peer reviewed).
- Svava Riesto, Anne Tietjen, Doing heritage together – New heritage frontiers in collaborative planning. In Torgrim Sneve Guttormsen, Grete Swensen, eds., 2016, Heritage, Democracy and the Public: Nordic Approaches, Farnham: Ashgate, Pages 160-174.
- Green justice in the city: A new agenda for urban green space research in Europe. / Rutt, Rebecca Leigh; Gulsrud, Natalie Marie. In: Urban Forestry & Urban Greening, Vol. 19, 2016, p. 123-127.
- Et internationalt perspektiv på branding af grønne områder. / Gulsrud, Natalie Marie; Plum, Bibi Lisbet Edinger. In: Videnblade Park og Landskab, No. 3.0-11, 04.2016.
We teach theories and methodologies substantiating design work, context, and process analyses that address constructive, functional, societal, sensorial, and artistic issues. These include various theories and methods for transforming and reassembling complex multi-scalar spatial relationships, leading to problem formulation and subsequently strategic design by means of spatial interventions.
The development of media and representation as two sides of the same coin is crucial to this work. Focus is on current societal and climate changes, which necessitate spatial transformations of the urban landscape in addition to increased aesthetic and recreational functions for this landscape.
The Research Group for Landscape Architecture and –Urbanism contributes substantially to BSc Landskabsarkitektur and MSc Landscape Architecture via the following courses:
- BSc course Plan & Design (Richard Hare)
- BSc course Håndværk og Æstetik (Rikke Munck-Petersen)
- BSc course Geodesign (Richard Hare)
- BSc course Fagets videnskabsteori (Henriette Steiner)
- BSc course Byplanstudio I og II (Johanne Heesche)
- BSc course Planter og Teknologi (Torben Dam)
- BSc Bachelorprojekt
- MSc course Theories and Methods of Landscape Architecture (Svava Riesto and Ellen Braae)
- MSc course Theories of Urban Design (Anne Tietjen)
- MSc course Landscape Studio (Peter Lundsgaard Hansen)
- MSc course Urban Intervention Studio (Bettina Lamm)
- MSc course Urbanism Studio (Ellen Braae)
- MSc course Transformation Studio (Anne Tietjen)
- MSc course Design by Management (Torben Dam)
- MSc course Landscape Film (Rikke Munck-Petersen)
- MSc Master thesis
Collaboration and networks
Members of the Research Group
Name | Title | Phone | |
---|---|---|---|
Anna Aslaug Mortensdottir Lund | Assistant professor | +45 353-20528 | |
Anne Louise Cunningham | Enrolled PhD Student | +45 353-32645 | |
Anne Margrethe Wagner | Assistant professor, tenure track | +45 353-31788 | |
Anne Tietjen | Associate professor | +45 353-31934 | |
Asbjørn Jessen | PhD fellow | +45 353-31392 | |
Bettina Lamm | Associate professor | +45 353-31771 | |
Carsten Johansen | Academic employee | +45 31 10 97 40 | |
Ellen Braae | Professor | +45 353-31792 | |
Hanne Wiemann Nielsen | Research assistant | +45 353-31528 | |
Henriette Steiner | Associate professor | +45 353-31033 | |
Johanne Heesche | PhD fellow | +45 353-31039 | |
Laura Winge | PhD student | +45 353-24133 | |
Liv Løvetand Rahbek | Graphic designer | +45 353-33328 | |
Lærke Sophie Keil | PhD fellow | +45 353-28140 | |
Natalie Marie Gulsrud | Associate professor | +45 353-31794 | |
Peter Lundsgaard Hansen | Teacher | +45 353-31789 | |
Rikke Munck Petersen | Associate professor | +45 353-20416 | |
Sophia Charlotte Rose Jerram | Enrolled PhD Student | +45 71 45 42 39 | |
Svava Riesto | Associate professor | +45 353-31768 | |
Torben Dam | Associate professor | +45 353-31797 |
Head of Research Group
Ellen Marie Braae
Professor
E-mail: embra@ign.ku.dk
Tel.: +45 35331792
Mobile: +45 29177117
Copenhagen Landscape Lectures
February 17: How site matters: A public online lecture and conversation with designer, researcher and educator Andrea Kahn