Through nearly 20 years of practice, authorship and teaching, landscape architect Margie Ruddick has pioneered an approach to landscape design blending aesthetic expression with ecological purpose.

She has been integrating natural systems with strong landscape form since the early 1980s, when she worked on the restoration of Central Park and other parklands in New York City. At Battery Park City, she introduced sustainable landscape strategies to minimize maintenance cost. Other US projects range from the Queens Plaza landscape improvement plan in New York City to sustainable master plans for such diverse landscapes as downtown Trenton, New Jersey and Marlboro College in Vermont.

Water is central to many of her international projects, including Living Water Park, in Chengdu, Sichuan, China, where she collaborated with environmental artist Betsy Damon to create a riverfront refuge for thi bustling city of nine million people. The park's fountains and constructed wetlands showcase the natural processes used to clean the water. Her work on a 2,500-acre ecological resort in India emphasizes the preservation and enhancement of existing wildlife habitats.

Honored with Audubon's Rachel Carson Award in 2006, she also received the Places Design Award 1999, the Waterfront Centre's first prize 1998, and the Lewis Mumford Award for the Environment from Architects Designers and Planners for Social Responsibility in 2002.

For more information:

• Margie Ruddick Landscape
• "Human Nature; In the Suburbs, Brave, New Lawns"