Margie Ruddick's approach to landscape design moves beyond the tradition that distinguishes ecology from form, to integrate environmental systems with rigorous design. Her aesthetic evolves hand-in-hand with an understanding of the site's natural systems, and with the ecological operations at work in the landscape. Ms. Ruddick's work considers the natural systems of a site as the starting point for design; her process involves working within social, architectural, historical, cultural and economic frameworks as well.

Margie Ruddick has focused on integrating natural systems with strong landscape form since the early 1980s, when she worked both on the restoration of Central Park and the management and restoration of the natural parklands of New York City. After graduating from Harvard's Graduate School of Design, she worked on urban landscape projects in New York City with her partner Judith Heintz, introducing sustainable landscape strategies into such sites as Battery Park City, where the recycled recreation park both minimized cost and maintenance while providing much needed community open space.