COMMONS OF INSTAGRAM: A SOURCE OF LANDSCAPE AESTHETICS

Abstract

The challenge with producing design is how to stay attuned and relevant to the needs of the end users. Professionals are required to understand the demands of their users or consumers for their design to work, including the practice of landscape architecture. To address this challenge, methodologies are always developed for target users. This study tries to add to this, with the consideration of social media as a timely source for aesthetic information. Through the landscape qualities found in big data, designers can be able to access a new type of community - the online commons. For this research, visual content from Instagram shall be translated into aesthetic landscape vocabulary that landscape architects can consider. The main problem was how to establish a method to derive aesthetic vocabulary from the representations found within the images posted on Instagram online. The methodology is segmented into two parts – big data mining and coding, and evaluation with landscape architects. This study suggests a method for landscape architects to be able to align themselves with what the online community deems as aesthetic landscapes. As a profession that produces design, landscape architects must be aware of emerging sources of information such as social media.