Landscape architecture is a subject area which is strongly interdisciplinary in nature, and consequently landscape architecture education and scholarship frequently calls upon inputs from and involves collaborations with a wide range of neighbouring disciplines. Teaching inputs can include introductory courses on subjects ranging from ecology, sociology and horticulture to art history, urban and regional planning or environmental law. Because of the close links with these and many other disciplines, it makes sense to involve them in a structured way the work of the LE:NOTRE Thematic Network.
However, it is not just in the introductory fields that landscape architecture's neighbouring disciplines have an important role to play. Landscape architecture also shares research interests and approaches with a large number of other disciplines, such as landscape ecology, garden archaeology, urban design or environmental psychology.
Because of the wide range and specialised nature of disciplines involved and the breadth of the interests of landscape architecture, the intention is to make direct links between each of the LE:NOTRE Working Groups and the neighbouring disciplines which are most relevant to them. The Working Groups will each be asked to nominate at least one discipline with which they feel a closer dialogue is desirable. They will also be asked to find an academic representative of the discipline who has some first-hand knowledge of landscape architecture and experience of cooperation in the teaching and/or research fields.
The primary involvement of these representatives will be during the second year of the project, when it is envisaged that they will be commissioned as consultants and asked to prepare a review paper on their view of the common areas of interest shared by their discipline and landscape architecture as well as potential shared research fields and research methods approaches which should be common to both disciplines if they are to be able to work together more closely and effectively in the future.
Where appropriate representatives of the relevant neighbouring disciplines will be sought from within the ranks of other thematic networks, in order to maximise the potential 'networking' effect and the range scope of the ideas which can be integrated into to the work of the LE:NOTRE Network.