Abstract: James Corner is one of the most distinguished landscape architects of our time, whose design theory is the research object in this paper. In addition to describing Corner’s intellectual imaginations, this paper includes two other contents. It attempts to show his specific method regarding to historical knowledge, namely recovering. It also elaborates his approaches on the reconstruction of landscape theory. The aim is to analyze Corner’s inner logic of reconstruction of landscape discourse and, with exemplary contributions, indirectly promote creative exploration in Chinese landscape architectural design.