In landscape architecture, visual representations are the primary means of communication between stakeholders in design processes. Despite the reliance on visual representations, little critical research has been undertaken by landscape architects on how visual communication forms work or their socio-political implications. In this theoretical paper, we argue that such research is of great importance. We explain how concepts of visual and critical social theory such as visual semiotics, simulacra and simulation, and power/knowledge can be used to critically reflect on landscape architectural representations. We further propose to study these representations at different stages of meaning-making by using visual methodologies such as visual discourse analysis, iconographical content analysis and social semiotic analysis. We conclude that these research approaches have the potential to explain issues such as dominant power structures, miscommunication between participants, and visual path-dependencies during landscape design processes.

Considering the importance of visual representations for communication between stakeholders in landscape planning and design processes, the authors identify a lack of critical visual research methods supportive of the disciplines involved. As part of such a method, they have developed an analytical framework based on semiotic and iconographic theory that enables a visual content analysis and iconographic interpretation of landscape design representations. Two projects from Rebuild by Design, a participatory transdisciplinary design competition organized in the New York City area after hurricane Sandy, were analysed to demonstrate this framework. The article presents a semiotic vocabulary based on four categories: medium, mode, formulation and knowledge with which to ‘read’, discuss and potentially create design representations. This enables a syntactic analysis for assessing the semiotic complexity of design representations in terms of validity, readability and interactivity. This assessment enables further qualitative study of the production and interpretation of landscape design representations in practice.

Visual landscape design representations facilitate communication and knowledge exchange during participatory planning and design processes. The production of representations is considered to be a discursive act: actors and institutions construct knowledge with a certain authority and credibility through the use of visual expression. We aim to study the context in which the production of representations is embedded and how this context manifests itself in the communicative qualities of design representations. We present a visual discourse analysis of landscape design representations, employing empirical examples from the transdisciplinary design competition Rebuild by Design. The analysis uncovers interdependencies among three components of the visual discourse: the arrangement of participatory processes, media interactivity and the visual rhetoric embedded in the composition and style of the image. A conscious use of these discursive components could help prevent miscommunication, manage participant expectations and increase the validity of participatory design process outcomes. Design visualization / visual discourse analysis / participatory design / visual rhetoric / rebuild by design introductionAs intermediaries in participatory design processes, landscape architects 'provoke situations of exchange and dialogue between a place and a public'. 1 Landscape architects and planners facilitate such exchanges of knowledge among scientific experts, stakeholders and local inhabitants through visualization, by either letting participants draw or by mediation of the designer. 2 The act of drawing is seen by Catherine Dee 'less as a technique, and more forcefully as an experimental method'. 3 By extension, the ability of participants to draw and their level of access to the production of visualizations shape the influence of those participants on the outcomes of planning and design projects. Besides drawings, landscape architects and planners use various kinds of visual representations to facilitate the communication of design ideas among project participants. 4 These design representations are not considered as neutral communication devices. 5 Especially the conscious and unconscious use of increasingly accessible digital visualization technologies by spatial designers has become an important topic of scholarly debate. 6 For example, it is argued that digital technologies enable designers to think at higher levels of complexity and to achieve different solutions in terms of systems, form and materiality. 7 However, Karl Kullmann also notes the limits of some digital media for designing and representing landscape designs. Digital media, and the skills required to use them, may contribute to increase the distance between the producers and viewers of the image. Instead, 'loose-realism' techniques such as digital freeform collages and montages should aim to retain control over the medium while enjoying the benefits of its modern visual styles. 8 The nature of participatory processes not only consists of consensusdriven faci...

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