James Hitchmough

James is a tutor with 40 years of experience most of it teaching landscape architecture students design and underpinning theory.

He undertook a BSC in Horticultural Science followed by a PhD at the University of Bath, and after working in Melbourne for 10 years, returned to the UK in 1993 and joined the Department of Landscape Architecture at the University of Sheffield in 1995. H

e became a full Professor in 2004 and was Head of the Department from 2014-18.

Videos of James teaching-presenting can readily be accessed through Google.

He is a regular speaker at conferences and workshops around the world.

James has published 7 books and written many academic papers and articles.

He is a Fellow of the Institute of Horticulture and the Kew Guild.

James has worked as a consultant (in parallel with teaching and research) on major landscape projects around the world, for example, the London Olympic Park, and is a regular collaborator with Tom Stuart Smith.

Describe your approach to teaching
My approach to teaching has always been to try to get students to engage with my ideas by presenting them coherently, in ways that are easy to understand and to do so in a way that is fun and inspiring. I hope that students will then want to explore the subject further by themselves. I also like to challenge students where it is appropriate to do so.

What inspires your own work?
I have always been driven to critique existing ideas, which I feel need to be re-imagined, for new times and situations, and to synthesise new perspectives. This is  often by adopting a multidisciplinary approach to the topic in question, stepping outside of my own comfort zone