by Ian Ramey
In 2026, development success still depends on assembling a thorough set of compliant technical drawings and cost-effective material selections, but it also hinges on delivering a convincing vision—one that satisfies regulatory requirements while advancing a project’s economic goals. Across nearly every market, municipalities now expect developments to provide clear and measurable public realm benefits as a condition of approval. New public open space, enhanced walkability, resilient landscapes, and stronger connections to surrounding neighborhoods are no longer “nice to have.” They are fundamental. Of the entire design team, the landscape architect is best positioned to envision, organize, and give physical form to these essential elements.
This is where landscape architects bring critical value to developers early in the process. Architects and engineers solve essential challenges in building and infrastructure, but approvals often hinge on how a project contributes to the public good and sensitively integrates into its context. Landscape architects translate zoning language, design guidelines, and environmental standards into spaces that feel intentional rather than transactional. When those elements are conceived early—as drivers rather than add-ons—they help shape sites that are more efficient, more compelling, and easier to entitle.
Recent projects illustrate this clearly. For a mixed-use project proposed in Ashland, Mass., a developer had assembled a strong team of architects and engineers, yet the project stalled during municipal review due to the lack of a cohesive site design. Despite technical compliance, the town struggled to understand how the development would benefit its residents. The design met requirements on paper, but it lacked a unifying idea that addressed open space, pedestrian experience, and environmental performance holistically. The result was a loss of momentum and growing uncertainty about the path forward.
When Copley Wolff became involved, our role was not to redesign the project wholesale, but to establish a clear landscape-led public realm. We re-envisioned the site as a shared street in lieu of a traditional parking lot and driveway. This shared street design featured a flexible, activatable linear plaza that provides the commercial retail uses with crucial day-to-day vehicular access and parking while also ensuring a pedestrian friendly space that can transform on occasion into a community gathering space. The duality in use that the shared street concept created immediately resonated with the review board and unlocked the stalled project approvals.
For a lakefront multi-family project in Wakefield, Mass., Copley Wolff guided the design of extensive storm water treatment basins required for water quality into verdant rain gardens that not only manage and treat stormwater, but also attract pollinators, provide habitat for local fauna and celebrate and beautify the lakeside open space. The enhancement from engineered detention basins to orchestrated landscape features was a key ingredient in obtaining the support of the local zoning board, conservation commission and friends of the lake group.
In East Boston, Copley Wolff led the public realm design for The Mark, a waterfront multi- family project built in 2023. Working with the City of Boston, community leaders, and a forward-thinking development partner, the landscape architect was able to create a site plan that opened up two-thirds of the site as publicly accessible open space while graciously negotiating a significant grade transition required for coastal resiliency. The landscape architect developed a multi-faceted yet seamless public realm that elegantly integrated universal access to the waterfront, ecologically sensitive coastal plantings and activated public open spaces. These public realm attributes were the central focus of the project’s 2-year approvals process.
In all three of these project examples, the landscape architect’s role on the development team was central to the success of the project. Once a cohesive public realm vision was in place, the projects gained the traction they had been missing. The landscape elements became the organizing device for the entire plan by giving reviewers and the public a clear vision they could understand, support, and ultimately approve.
These approaches also highlight another evolving role for landscape architects: mitigating project risk. Public realm requirements are often the least defined but most scrutinized aspects of a development. Without a strong framework, they become sources of delay, redesign, and friction with permitting authorities and the community the project sits in. Landscape architects anticipate where regulatory expectations and community priorities intersect and resolve those issues proactively through design. In doing so, we reduce uncertainty and help teams avoid reactive problem-solving late in the process.
Integrated design teams amplify this value. When landscape architects collaborate early and continuously with architects, engineers, and permitting consultants, public benefits are embedded into the site’s DNA rather than layered on after key decisions are fixed. This integration streamlines approvals because agencies see a coordinated response to multiple objectives: environmental compliance, accessibility, neighborhood connectivity, and long-term stewardship.
Projects move forward when they present a compelling, coherent vision of how private investment delivers public value. Landscape architects are uniquely equipped and trained to create that vision and to use it as an organizing structure that aligns design, permitting, and community goals.
Ian Ramey
Ian Ramey is principal at Copley Wolff Design Group.
