The release of the 2026 Landscape Australia Awards shortlist is notable not just for the projects it names but for what its structure and emerging themes say about the current direction of the discipline.

This is an inaugural program. That framing matters. The Landscape Australia Awards arrive at a moment when the built environment sector is being asked to do substantially more — to address ecological pressures, to improve social outcomes in public space, and to adapt cities and regional areas to a climate that is no longer a background variable. Establishing a national recognition program of this kind signals that the profession is prepared to be evaluated against those demands.

The program spans eight categories: Public Design, Residential Design — Large, Residential Design — Small, Analysis and Planning, Research, Policy and Communications, Small Project Design, Climate Action and Urban Design. The breadth is deliberate. Landscape architecture in Australia now operates across every scale and sector of the built environment, from private residential gardens to public transport infrastructure, from wetland restoration to urban masterplanning. A narrower structure would flatten the diversity of current practice. Eight categories acknowledge that the discipline cannot be reduced to a single set of evaluation criteria and that different types of work require different lenses.

The jury brings corresponding depth. Claire Martin, associate director at Oculus, and Jefa Greenaway, director of Greenaway Architects, represent active practice. Catherin Bull, professor emeritus at the University of Melbourne, brings scholarly rigour. Robert Champion, founder of Tarn, contributes further practical perspective. Jury chair and Landscape Australia editor Emily Wong observed that the shortlisted projects demonstrate “continuing development and progression in sustainability practices across the field of landscape architecture and design” — a characterisation that speaks to the ambition of the submissions as much as the program itself.

Two themes emerged consistently across categories and are worth examining on their own terms. The first is biodiversity. Wong identifies improving biodiversity as a clear pattern across all program categories. This is more significant than a trend. It suggests the discipline’s most recognised work is now being assessed not only for how it performs aesthetically or functionally for people but also for what it returns to ecosystems — a meaningful development from the green credentials that have become standard project language without always being substantiated.

The second theme is wellbeing, defined broadly to include both mental and physical health outcomes. Alongside biodiversity, this dual emphasis maps a coherent direction: landscape architecture’s value is being understood simultaneously as ecological and human. Projects that can demonstrate both improving ecological health while generating measurable wellbeing outcomes for communities are the ones emerging as the reference point for the field.

The inclusion of a dedicated Climate Action category is the program’s most direct statement. It positions climate response not as a credential to be appended to project descriptions but as a distinct and evaluable practice area. That framing invites a more precise question than the sector has typically been asked to answer: what does climate action actually look like as built landscape work, and how is it distinguished from sustainability practice more broadly? The shortlisted projects in that category will begin to define the terms.

Research, Policy and Communications also warrant attention as a category. Awards programs in the built environment have historically centred on completed, photographable outcomes. Recognising research and policy alongside built work reflects a broader understanding of how the discipline contributes. Not every significant advance in landscape practice produces a finished project — some of the most consequential contributions are the frameworks, guidelines and research that shape how projects are conceived and evaluated.

Winners will be announced on Thursday 22 October 2026.

Images: Supplied

Architecture & Design Team

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