About Rod Barnett

Rod Barnett is Chair of the Graduate Program in Landscape Architecture at Auburn University, Alabama. For many years he was Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture at Unitec, New Zealand. His main research interest is in nonlinear landscape design and self-organization in landscape architecture. This is exemplified in his Artweb project, a multi-disciplinary design and planning strategy that focuses on marginalised and under-utilised urban spaces to create a physical network of arts and science projects throughout the Auckland region.

Rod Barnett has written extensively on nonlinear landscape architecture, and received grants from science and arts organizations to pursue this interest in design projects. His most recent work is a series of historical studies showing that issues of emergence, transformation and disturbance - features of self-organizing systems - have often shaped landscape discourse, and continue to distinguish it from other design disciplines.

Rod is Director of the Auburn University Landscape Unit, a research and consultancy centre that investigates ideas of nature in contemporary urban theory through nonlinear strategies of urban landscape design. His private design practice has focused on gardens, where he explores the fluid and interactive connections between humans and their personal environments.