Europeans no longer develop their towns on unspoiled terrain but rather on former agricultural land. European landscape architectures' response to the question how to address progressive urbanization of the landscape is thus: working not only on site but also with the geographic and historical characteristics of the site.

The European landscape is a narrowly enclosed, diverse, densely built, and domesticated space that is rich in brilliant landscape architecture.

On site presents pioneering projects and strategies in landscape architecture from Berlin to Bordeaux, from Akkarvikoden in Norway to Evora in Portugal. The projects are supplemented by essays on European cartography, the cultural landscape, the history of ideas in landscape architecture, the role of ideal landscapes, urban policies, and the pioneers from Portugal such as Francisco Caldeira Cabral and Goncalo Ribeiro Telles.

The projects and texts have been selected by an independent jury of practicing landscape architects from various European countries and edited by a team of experienced European professionals, lavishly illustrated, and skillfully designed by the makers of the successful book Fieldwork: Landscape Architecture Europe.