About/History

The Therapeutic Landscapes Network began as the Therapeutic Landscapes Database in 1999.

At the annual ASLA Healthcare and Therapeutic Design Professional Practice Network Meeting in Boston, MA, members bemoaned the scant and scattered information about evidence-based design for therapeutic landscapes. They also discussed the dearth of opportunities for people outside of the landscape architecture profession to communicate about healthcare design. We decided that a website – which could act as a “virtual bibliography” that could be continuously updated with references, lists of built works and designers, and links to other useful websites – was a good idea. And so, the Therapeutic Landscapes Database was born.

In 2004, our (then) newly designed website won the ASLA Professional Communications Award of Merit. Despite the award-winning improved design and functionality, the TLD was still a series of lists rather than a truly searchable database, and still lacked a way for people to communicate with each other. Visiting the site also felt more like walking into a library rather than a garden, which didn’t seem to make sense.

In 2008, the Therapeutic Landscapes Database Blog was launched as a way to introduce more imagery to the site, keep content fresh, and reach out to a broader audience of like-minded people.

In 2009, we took the next logical step: Forming a true network and interactive knowledge base. The Therapeutic Landscapes Database became the Therapeutic Landscapes Network, with an active membership, an advisory board, and a new searchable website with more information than ever, an integrated blog, an online forum for communication, and an expanded directory of designers and built works. And it’s all still free!

For information about how we fund the work that we do, please visit the funding page.

Monarch_hdfa

Image courtesy of Henry Domke Fine Art