The relational concepts found within the study of ecology possess insights into the operation of the bio-physical world and appear to possess the potential to provide society with keystone solutions to many environment problems.  Because of this potential, the design disciplines, considered by many to be a form of art well within the socio-cultural domains, are extending towards the ecological disciplines to utilize ecological knowledge for both general creativity and professional practice purposes aimed at achieving both specific and broad reaching socio-ecological goals.  

As designers begin this cross-disciplinary foray, it is important to discuss the question:  what theories of ecology translate to the design of urban landscapes as frameworks of creative practice?  To examine this question, the profession of landscape architecture, with a long history of integration of applied life sciences, provides an accessible discipline for study.  Therefore, this work discusses the recent occurrences of teaching three ecological theories in the educational design studio environment; biophilia, reconciliation ecology, and the ecosystem services theory. In the studio, each theory was introduced, studied, and used to initiate student design solutions for urban landscape projects. During the projects, the theories were combined with common social-cultural landscape goals to greater and lesser degrees.

Results/Conclusions

In several cases, there was a high integration of socio-ecological goals in those projects initiated with ecological theory.  Given here are examples of the student generated projects and commentary on the activities incurred. Although results differed, the project examples remain useful in understanding the body of knowledge transferring between ecology and design.  To provide professional context, the ecosystem services theory is discussed for its relevance in the recently created guidelines for sustainable site design and development, the Sustainable Sites Initiative ^TM.