I'm looking for articles or books on the notion of private vs. public in landscape architecture, architecture and design. Anyone know anything about this? General insight is also good.
There is quite a bit of literature to go at. The most famous of course is Robert Somer's Personal Space. But Edward T Hall's Hidden Dimension is probably more useful to you. Then of course you could try my book The Language of Space which not only discusses these issues fairly comprehensively especially thinking about cultural variations which you should not forget. It also has a bibliography that might help you further. One of the big cultural variations is the extent to which it is possible to be private in public without being seen as offensive. This is much easier in UK than USA for example. I think most of these issues are as valid for landscape as for interiors.
Sommer, R. (1969). Personal Space: the behavioural basis of design. Englewood Cliffs, Prentice Hall.
Hall, E. T. (1966). The Hidden Dimension. London, The Bodley Head.
Lawson, B. R. (2001). The Language of Space. Oxford, Architectural Press.