**1. Introduction**

Over the past few decades, information scientists, plus others, have been interested in the structure and nature of the knowledgebases that comprises both disciplines/professionals in many academic areas and subjects, including landscape architecture. A discipline is the body of information collected, studied, analyzed, and reported by a group of individuals who collectively are affiliated with a subject [1]. For the most part, a discipline is usually associated with being a science describing the way of the universe as best as it can be deciphered, interpreted, and explained, usually with the scientific method. On the other hand, a profession is an activity where a group of individuals practice the art of the profession—making decisions about what to do and how to accomplish the task. For example, in the area of medicine, researchers study the body, conduct experiments, and report results in the discipline of medicine. In contrast, medical doctors give advice to patients and perform operations, deciding what to do and what should be done, often without perfect information, practicing the art of medicine. Usually those who study the discipline are found at research institutions and organizations. Those who practice the profession are typically in business applying their art. Doctors, lawyers, architects, planners, musicians, and athletes are all examples of practitioners applying their skill, deciding what to do and what should be done; thus, it is called the 'art of practice.'

In landscape architecture, dominance has been expressed through the activities of the profession, where individuals practice the art of decision making for planning, design, construction, and maintenance of the exterior environment [1]. It was only relatively recently (1980s) that any attention was given to the discipline of landscape architecture, although some may claim landscape research extends back at least to the a thesis by Frank Waugh concerning campus planning and design at Oklahoma State University for a master's degree at Kansas State University in 1894 [2–6]. The debate concerning the difference between professional practice and the need for the accreditation of schools offering professional practice degrees and the role of research in graduate education is illustrated in *Graduate Education in Landscape Architecture: a Compendium* [7]. Much has changed since the 1980s in the discipline of landscape architecture. An undated report by the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) illustrates how little activity in landscape research was undertaken by American landscape architecture programs in the United States in the early 1970s [8]. A report titled: *Metrics Evaluating Multivariate Design Alternatives: Application of the Friedman's Two-way Analysis of Variance by Ranks: A Personal Reflection*, provides some insight into the progression and develop of landscape research over the last 50 years from the viewpoint of one American scholar [9].

Research in landscape architecture can be divided into two aspects. The first is the development of predictions (models) [1]. Models can be equations, graphs, or even 3-dimensional representations. The other aspect is the development of theories (explanations) [1]. In addition, theories can be further divided into scientific theories (explanations about the universe that if shown to be false are discarded) and normative theories (explanations about reasons and ideas forming a a foundation for decision making, such as a set of ideas about why a designer created a design in a particular manner—exceptions can always be found and all of these normative theories are false, but they are not scientific theories and are simply guides or principles to make decisions in an imperfect world of knowledge—for a designer this is very useful) [1]. There is very little in the way of scientific theory in landscape architecture as most of the theory is normative, useful for practitioners. Most books on landscape theory are about normative theory, ideas and approaches for creating and managing landscape. For example, the deployment of a concept in a design is a normative theory [10, 11]. In contrast, landscape scholars often focus their energy upon developing predictive models accepting the models as evidence but rarely focusing upon scientific theory. Examples of predictive models developed by landscape architects are in human perception research related to assessing visual

#### *The American Landscape Architecture Research Universe and a Higher Education Ordination… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.99119*

quality [12–15] and in natural resources to develop soil reclamation Eqs. [16–21]. 'Human intrusion theory' in explaining visual quality equations [22] and 'mesic preference theory' for reclaiming surface mines [23] are explanations that are scientific theories developed by landscape scholars. Within this context/framework of models and theories, landscape research has evolved.

As the volume of landscape research accumulated. Research about research was of interest to some. One approach to study this research was to derive a structure to examine citations in articles written and published in journals [24]. This general approach was reported in a study by Dr. Burley and his spouse Cheryl (an information scientist) concerning the landscape architecture literature for a journal titled: *Landscape Journal* [25]. The co-authors of this book chapter queried Dr. Burley about the reception of this effort. "Well, for the conference, they gave us a premiere setting at the beginning of the conference. With the exception of a few conference people in the room who were required to attend the session, the room was empty. There were a lot more people in the hotel bar. At the time, I really do not think anyone went to these conferences to learn about research, but rather to escape their academic institution, converse with friends and colleagues, and unwind. No one was interested. A better venue would have been an information science setting. Still, I kept looking for opportunities to expand the research endeavor. I was undaunted, very independent; I still am." reflected and commented Dr. Burley. In 2009, a similar expanded study was reported examining the landscape research literature in transportation [26]. Surprisingly, this study was noticed and featured in a seminal book about landscape research [27]. And the study earned an ASLA state award for research. An interesting finding in the study was that the results indicated a fractured, weakly linked research universe where investigators were deep into their line of research and not tied or integrated into other areas. In contrast, in the landscape architecture discipline, there were many connections and interrelationships. "The blending and borrowing across different subject areas was something that landscape architects have claimed for a long time. The study supported those claims. Often in academia, other disciplines tout their depth and wonder why landscape architects do not do the same? Again, here was evidence that in one area, environmental transportation, they were deep but unconnected. I believe both approaches are beneficial, but the differences illustrate where conflicts from those who believe in one approach over the other can be generated. Because landscape architects borrow and integrate, it can go unappreciated by other academics." assessed Dr. Burley.

The foundation of the research is to employ multivariate principal component analysis (PCA), something that landscape architects rarely study. "During my time as a graduate student, my professors at the University of Manitoba urged me to take as many advanced statistic courses as possible and I took even more at the University of Michigan for my PhD. It was like learning the analytic tools for conducting research. If one does not know the tools, it can be difficult to understand the possibilities. Similarly in landscape architecture, if one does not know the design process, it is difficult to generate a design. Many landscape programs around the world have research programs, but seem to emphasize learning more about the environment and less about the tools of research." noted Dr. Burley. In ecology and other fields, multivariate analysis was essential to study and compare settings and ideas. Curtis studied vegetation communities in Wisconsin and ordinated the communities by recording the frequency, density, and dominance of each plant type in a stand [28]. An ordination of research activity can be accomplished by treating the category of literature cited in an article (like a vegetation type) and the article itself as a stand of vegetation. "When it was first proposed to me about studying research structure of literature with citations, it only took me about 15 seconds to develop the experimental design, but it had taken half a lifetime to be prepared for

those 15 seconds." stated Dr. Burley. With this basic analytic tool (PCA), other kinds of studies related to garden design, cemeteries, cultural heritage landscapes, and paintings have been examined by those working with Dr. Burley [29–34].

The intent of the study reported in this book chapter, an expanded investigation of the landscape research literature to visualize the changes across time for *Landscape Journal* were initiated. The study provides insight into how topics studied change and evolved.
