Open Access

Henrik Schultz

• The simple act of walking stimulates the complex, iterative process of landscape design. It supports and integrates engagement (intensively perceiving space), flow (encouraging intuition), and reflection (supporting organization). In the rhythmic, often strenuous act of walking, designers can change the landscape, as well as generate knowledge and ideas. Walking therefore has the potential to become a method for large-scale landscape design. Additionally, because perception, creative action, and reflection come together in the process of walking, it becomes an important practice of research through design. Walkers can generate knowledge, exchange ideas, and discuss their experiences with other walkers of different professional backgrounds. The article begins by describing the key processes of largescale landscape design and research. After that, the author develops three characteristic walking modes: the ‘discovery mode’, the ‘flow mode’, and the ‘reflective mode’. Finally, a framework for a method of ‘walking in largescale landscape design’ is laid out. The findings are based on the author´s research on walking, his experiences with projects at Stein+Schultz, and by taking approximately 100 walks in areas such as, the Swiss Alps, Scottish Highlands, parts of Patagonia, and in larges cities, like Berlin and London.