JoLA – is the new peer-reviewed academic Journal of Landscape Architecture. Established by the European Council of Landscape Architecture Schools (ECLAS) it will have two issues per year with the first scheduled for Spring 2006. The launch of the journal coincides with a time of significant change in Europe and a burgeoning of intellectual confidence in Landscape Architecture. Ninety European schools with courses in Landscape Architecture and a continuously growing body of research urgently call for a platform to support, stimulate and increase scholarly debate in the discipline. The rich and diverse cultural backgrounds of European Landscape Architecture require exposure to global contexts and vice versa – JoLA has a European base, but is internationally oriented and seeks to draw in global perspectives, both in terms of submissions and readership.

The Concept
JoLA has two distinctive sections in addition to the central section of four to six research papers. The first, “Under the Sky”, presents a critical reading of a Landscape Architecture project each issue. Since critical judgement is a key element of the design and planning process, we hope to promote innovative approaches to critique of projects as a part of theory building in Landscape Architecture. The second, “Thinking Eye” is a Visual Essay section. Its motivation is to extend traditional discourses which are largely characterised by non-visual modes and to offer a platform for explorations and experiments in visual culture of or related to Landscape Architecture. These peer-reviewed sections are accompagnied by book reviews, academic notes and the editorial.