Landscape Architecture

Skirting Process, Bremerton Makes Beautiful Public Spaces

25 June 2008 - 8:00am
Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Landscape architect Gary Sexton worked on a tight budget and dodged commissions and regulations to create a beautiful vision for downtown Bremerton (near Seattle).

Lawrence Halprin Opines Redesign of His Charlottesville Mall

6 June 2008 - 5:00am
The Hook (Charlottesville, VA)

Many of famed landscape architect Lawrence Halprin's optimistic 1970s public spaces are being updated and reconsidered. Historic preservationists fight back, but supporters say, "It's a living, breathing space, not a museum."

Watch for Desire Paths

2 June 2008 - 5:19pm

My graduate school education left me with a lot of general ideas and a handful of specific ones. One that stuck with me is a concept from landscape architecture: the desire path. Technically, the term means a path where there isn't supposed to be one, a trail of wear and tear that wasn't planned.

Despite Downturn, Landscape Architects Keep Busy

23 May 2008 - 10:00am
Daily Journal of Commerce, Portland, OR

A national survey shows that despite the depression in the housing market, landscape architects across the U.S. continue to get work.

Two Things People Hate: Density and Sprawl

26 March 2008 - 3:13pm

We’ve been conducting public meetings for years. And it used to be easier. Present the plan. Discuss the plan. Talk about how your plan is better for the neighborhood/community/city/region and provide the conclusion. But things have changed.  

A Guide to Taser-Free Public Meetings

27 September 2007 - 7:15am

 We all saw it on the Internet—the fellow at a public meeting being hauled away from the microphone before getting wrestled to the floor and tasered during a Q&A with John Kerry. Fortunately, silencing argumentative speakers with a taser is not a common occurrence at most public meetings. While I might confess that there have been meetings where, in retrospect, one might have secretly wished one was armed with a stun gun, facilitators generally try to avoid confrontation. Yet there’s no denying that sometimes people show up at public meetings looking for a fight, begging for outrage, and hoping to irritate and inflame.

'Civic Theater' at Its Best

20 August 2007 - 12:33pm
Like many others, I tuned into the CNN/YouTube debate a few weeks ago. As a firm believer in citizen involvement, to the point of recently writing a book* full of case studies of public process in action, I found CNN’s broadcast of real people with real questions in real time to be utterly fascinating. The public taking hold of technology, influencing candidates with their frank questions, and getting answers that sounded less scripted and on message—it was a sight to see. YouTubers’ questions of the nine Democratic candidates were succinct and to the point. And no, I did not hear the other 3,000 submitted questions, but the ones that aired on live TV were brilliant. Anderson Cooper even quipped that it might be the end of newscasters.

So You Want to Change the World, Part 1: Networking for Students (and Others)

9 June 2007 - 7:45am

Some people choose to work in planning because they see it as a relatively interesting and stable job. Others have dreams of being the equivalent of an all-powerful SimCity-style mayor. However, many choose planning as a career because they want to make a difference in the world. They want to do good and to help those who are the least advantaged. They are attracted by the potential, if limited, for planning to foster environmental justice and social equity.

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