“As a ‘going away present’ to our university Cal Poly Pomona, the Landscape Architecture undergrad class of 2008 has published this magazine titled SUBSURFACE. Through our years of education we discovered that the public perception (and previously our own) of landscape architecture is limited to garden design/ curb appeal, or the preservers of the ‘natural landscape’. We wondered why.”
Mitch Howard, editor-in-chief + contributing writer
Courtney Embrey, editor + contributing writer
Kimberly Kearney, editor + contributing writer
Joshua Llaneza, graphics coordinator + contributing photographer
Bahar Mahgerefteh, graphics + contributing photographer
Joel Carrasco, public relations + contributing writer
Judy Lee, public relations + contributing writer
Jen Rueda, public relations + contributing writer
Lancelot Hunter, contributing writer
Dear Readers,
As a revival of the magazine – sixteen years later – SUBSURFACE is a direct outcome of the course JUSTICEscape, encouraging landscape architecture students to craft written and artistic narratives, giving form and character to speculative futures, and reimagined realities, challenging systems of power. In the pursuit of embracive design, equitable representation and consideration of all peoples and living beings in built and natural environments, SUBSURFACE aims to provide windows into lived experiences through stories translated into socio-spatial and environmental visions. It is a publication-space of authentic journalism by students, about students and for students who are instigating dialogues on the land.
Cal Poly Pomona Landscape Architecture students seek holistic and contextualized inclusion of the intersectional factors permeating the built environment – they strive to dig below the surface, how the landscape is generated, and to see themselves as integral to those processes. Students are asking for safe spaces to voice the personal and collective impact of their sociopolitical and environmental concerns. Students need virtual and physical places - unbound by convention - to examine and discuss the histories of right-to-place, space-propriety and how law defines territory. They express how inequitable systems influence the canon of design and how restrictive ideologies are intimated by policy and education - how constructing public space can sustain the means and methods of exclusivity. Students seek to develop a more honest understanding of society’s collective memory of itself, how worlds within worlds work and shape our spatial mobility (and our cultural capital). They ask how history’s relationship to the land, aesthetic erasure and iconography reflect the stories we tell – how the implications of these stories shape cultural narratives – how these narratives embed themselves in, and outline public policy - and how policy structures the material conditions of our lives through the making of place.
Students are conscious of the disproportionate burdens carried by some related to mobility, access, poverty, inflation, unemployment, being unhoused, public heath and safety, food insecurity, environmental injustice, and the laborious pursuit of happiness. Spatial inequalities remain obvious, intricately knitted into our systems, and students untangle these knots – to reckon with American tales. As a community of Bravely Curious, talented, emerging practitioners, the SUBSURFACE team reframes how we build and unbuild and engage with communities - to protect and strengthen their cultures and sacred places.
Nina Briggs
Landscape architecture involves the ability to explore current issues and connect them through design. It is about seeing things that would normally be viewed as isolated elements or events and finding how they relate to each other, and to the landscape at large. (Subsurface ‘08)
The first revival issue of SUBSURFACE magazine unpacks our teaching/ learning/practice work, decoupling labor from its economy-based definition and reimagines it as preparation for harvest – envisioning the fruits of labor in our community, optimal for pollination. How can we re-invest our embodiment and cultivation skills into becoming, even when our growth may be difficult to see? Are we able to keep faith in the mysteries of natural processes as we ‘learn-by-doing’? This issue asks us to consider the way we work concurrent with the labor systems with which we are complicit. We begin to examine the impacts of pandemic, technology, planetary crisis, profit, policy, design, craft and construction on the pedagogy and profession of landscape architecture and its laborers. The time is ripe for growth and harvest.
We wish you all a thought-promoting read! And check out The Landscape Architectural Workers for Justice (lawj), which “seeks to increase awareness of equitable labor practices within design disciplines”.
Designers of Tomorrow pt. 1
by Charly Villalpando and Kaitlin VillavicencioYimby, Nimby, and Quimby?
by Jovanny GonzalezDesigners of Tomorrow pt. 2
by Charly Villalpando and Kaitlin VillavicencioDesigners of
by Charly Villalpando and Kaitlin VillavicencioThird Place
by Madeline SmithDesigners of Tomorrow pt. 4 How to Thrive in This Major?
by Madeline Smith by Madeline Smith by Natasha Harkinson by Madeline Smiththe devoted designers at CPPLA; accomplishing many dreams one sleepless night at a time.
Nina (the orange culture-futurist) learns more than she teaches, connects the invisible dots, recreates systems and reclaims appropriations. As a recipe-inventor, a seasoned Flâneuse, and an aspiring cellist, she wanders the landscape in search of fabulous food, follies and rhythm.
Kevin observes, questions, unpacks and makes all kinds of things through a bravely curious lens and an open heart. He is a polymath, grooving to multiple beats while innovating how students learn. As an expert, a dear, a boss, a visionary, and a player – he animates all that is meaningful.
Madeline Smith is a compassionate human being who is always willing to help others. Her genuine kindness and respect towards other designers at Cal Poly Pomona promote a positive learning environment. Her thoughtful gestures uplift the spirits of her peers and motivate the creativity within future designers.
Jovanny Gonzalez is a fourth year BSLA student at Cal Poly Pomona. He works at the Lyle Center for Regenerative Studies, where he passionately pursues projects that not only promote sustainability and ecological design but also emphasize fair labor practices within the landscaping industry. His deep commitment to highlighting labor issues in environmental projects shows his dedication to creating a more equitable field.
“FREE PALESTINE TILL IT’S BACKWARDS”
Kaitlin is a kind, dedicated and hardworking person. Always helping her fellow classmates and being a social butterfly to hang out with. Dedicated to her work with staying up late and getting the job done. Always concerning the rest of the group if she got any sleep. Consistently, she is learning new hobbies such as woodworking for her group projects and making our crazy squirrel cutout ideas into a reality.
Jose Cruz, a 4th year undergraduate, is a solid friend, extremely hard worker, and talented designer. His background in horticulture and graphic design allows him to stand out throughout his works. A reliable teammate whose collaboration always amplifies the entire team’s work. He is helpful to fellow classmates who have questions on how to work design programs. Quiet but also very approachable with valuable insights that enlighten perspectives frequently not acknowledged. Wherever his future endeavors land him he will be valuable in many ways.
Charly is a generous and thoughtful person who is always putting others before themselves. Their laughter is contagious, and their smile can instantly fill a room with joy. They are an artist who loves painting and sketching the most. Also dabbling in rock carving, jewelry making, and even creating their own paint (a lot of flowers from the school were stolen for this). They are the type of artist best at achieving “last-minute miracles” especially in their 4 years at this school. They love SpongeBob and will quote it, minimum, 5 times a day. Their favorite being “Escalators, Escalators, Escalators! Eels?!” and “Fine dining and breathing.”
SUBSURFACE NEEDS YOU!
Let your voice be heard! Come join us!! E-mail: subsurface.magazine08@gmail.com We are recruiting students for all positions in the magazine. In need of 7 under class-people and 7 upper class-people to fulfill roles. Overall time spent: 40 hours a semester.
Outcome: inspiring to all CPPLA students and a position that looks great on a resume.
Labor (verb): to exert one’s powers of body or mind especially with painful or strenuous effort: work ―Merriam-Webster Dictionary
We are a different department in a different world.
You wouldn’t know it by looking at us. We faculty and students appear to be continuing the tradition of landscape architecture education as we’ve known it for at least a century. As in the past, we craft our syllabi and plan field trips to dissect and propose landscape as a primary actor in our lives. As in the past, we use lectures and readings and tutorials and projects as learning activities to teach the business of design. As in
the past, the design studio is front and center of every term. Student work still hangs on studio walls in all states of completion. Instructors still sit next to students, working through the design process during the ubiquitous desk crit. We still invite guests, who still respond to our students’ mid-term and final presentations by mining their own expertise and experience.
Under the surface, however, we are a different department in a different world.
We labor in response to events of the past four and more years (see figure 1). As a teaching university, teaching is the primary labor of our faculty. We re-learn or learn for the first time how to teach. We create new classes to teach about justice and working thoughtfully with communities in supportive, not extractive, ways. We hire new faculty with a priority on studentcentered teaching and environmental and social justice. We pour over student-centered and antiracist teaching guidelines from our Center for the Advancement of Faculty Excellence. We give them to our new faculty and try to explain what has happened … how students are different now … how design education needs to be different now.
We rebuild our classes to be more flexible and varied. We create learning activities to serve a plethora of learning styles. We zoom in students who can’t come to class because of COVID or sick family members or broken cars. Or anxiety. Or depression. And there is a lot of anxiety and depression. We talk to each other to find out how our students are doing and what is working for them. We research authors and case studies outside of the mostly European and mostly male “canon” of design. We give each other tips and new resources on forgotten cultural landscapes and histories. We invite guest speakers who have something new to say about what landscape architecture is and who it can serve.
New students join our programs unaware of this work, struggling more and more to come to class. And we wonder what else we can do to support them and each other when it seems all the band-aids that covered a million traumas and injustices have been ripped off one after another and another and yet still more are ripped off day after day after day. And still we labor. We try to engage our students in a new kind of design education that centers them and teaches them that they can make our world a more livable place … a healthier place … a better place. We hope it is enough. We hope we are enough.
I am familiar with many forms of labor. I pushed three babies into the world and raised them to adulthood. I cleaned houses, built and worked a landscape, cared for others’ children, bussed tables in restaurants, administered offices, went back to school, and worked in two landscape architecture firms before landing here in academia the year before the pandemic. Teaching and mentoring students gives me more autonomy and intellectual freedom than any of those efforts. But it is still emotionally
“There is joy in this work. Our students bring new ideas, new perspectives, and new hopes for what the world can and should be and how our program can ready them. It is a gift to get to know every student.”
and intellectually and physically strenuous. Like childbirth, the labor of teaching is about gestating and pushing forth new actors and voices into our small but impactful profession.
There is joy in this work. Our students bring new ideas, new perspectives, and new hopes for what the world can and should be and how our program can ready them. It is a gift to get to know every student. They push me to think and teach in new ways that help me grow. Listening to them and learning from them makes me a better teacher. As with any worthwhile subject, the more I teach, the more I realize I know nothing. I am encouraged to keep learning—from our students, from our faculty, and from those who have lit the way towards an inclusive and accessible and humane education. Paolo Freire.i Angela Davis. bell hooks.ii Laura Rendón.iii Maggie Berg and Barbara K. Seeber.iv Judy Heumann.v Others.
We are lucky to be at Cal Poly Pomona, where we “learn by doing.” Here in Los Angeles County, we educate students from urban, suburban, exurban, and rural communities throughout Southern California and beyond. Over half are first generation college students. Forty percent display exceptional financial need. Nearly sixty percent identify as Hispanic/Latino. But our students are a microcosm of the world they live in—from nearly every continent, dozens of languages, infinite identities. They are wise and worldly and care deeply about their communities and each other. As the largest landscape architecture program in the United States, our students represent the future of landscape architecture. I know they will transform our discipline and our profession to be more culturally competent, socially just, and environmentally healthy.
This will require labor from the rest of us that is painful and strenuous and slow and steady and unending: the labor of really knowing our students and trying to understand the unprecedented and unpredictable landscape they will face.
i Freire, Paulo. 1970. Pedagogy of the Oppressed. New York Seabury Press.
ii Hooks, Bell. 1994. Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom. Routledge.
iii Rendón, Laura. 2009. Sentipensante (sensing/thinking) Pedagogy: Educating for Wholeness, Social Justice, and Liberation. Stylus Publishing, LLC.
iv Berg, Maggie and Barbara K. Seeber. 2017. The Slow Professor: Challenging the Culture of Speed in the Academy. University of Toronto Press.
v Heumann, Judith. 2020. Being Heumann: An Unrepentant Memoir of a Disability Rights Activist. Beacon Press.
Teaching is a labor worth doing well, and worth doing with hope and healing and justice and love in mind. Our students, our communities, and our profession deserve no less.
Subsurface investigated perspectives and experiences of students working towards Landscape Architecture careers. Through a series of insightful interviews, Subsurface unearthed the motivations and challenges of future designers as they navigate their academic and professional journeys. Ranging from the repercussions to the academic environment during the pandemic, to the shifting models of collaborative design, our interviews reveal the multifaceted and complex issues students navigate in higher education. Join us as we engage with the next generation of landscape architects, gaining valuable insights into their vision for the future of our built environment.
Unlike the upperclassmen who navigated college throughout the pandemic, the first-year cohort began their design journey with in-person classes. Nonetheless, the pandemic’s impact resonated across the academia and practice, fundamentally shifting the labor paradigm in Landscape Architecture and design related disciplines. Despite the hurdles the field has encountered, the design community has embraced alternative means of connectivity, fostered effective collaboration methods, and championed design innovative. We asked this cohort questions focused on their experiences in learning about Landscape Architecture.
Before attending Cal Poly Pomona, what knowledge did you have of landscape architecture? What knowledge have you gained in the first year of this major?
Has transitioning from high school to college affected your work ethic in any way? Do you see your skills improving as you expected, or do you feel behind in the pace of your learning in preparation for the profession?
By Jovanny Gonzalez
“We couldn’t get the goddammed developers to budge an inch”
In an effort to provide context on the origins of the Quimby Act, when former Democratic Assemblyman from San Bernardino John Quimby’s law passed in 1965 at the time he authored the law he is quoted saying “We couldn’t get the goddammed developers to budge an inch”, referring to developers not dedicating land for public use, including implementing sidewalks. The law was a pivotal pushback to the problems that overdevelopment was bringing to California cities such as the lack of implementing public green spaces in developers’ master plans. The Quimby Act requires developers to set aside land for parks or pay fees for park maintenance and improvements in some cases. The developers at first reluctant to pay the fees later realized that building these green spaces actually increased the value of their constructed residential subdivisions, quickly acknowledging that there may be some benefits in implementing these green spaces into their master plans after all.
Quimby fees are collected by one of two methods. Developers must dedicate park land in their master plans, or pay an in-lieu fee to dedicate land to neighborhoods
and parks. Dedicated park land ratio may not exceed five acres per 1,000 residents and a minimum of three acres per 1,000 residents is allowed if the existing ratio is lower. The in-lieu fee is calculated by multiplying acres per capita by the cost per acre and residents per unit. (An example would be 00.05 acres multiplied by $250,000 per acre multiplied by 3.2 residents per unit would end up costing $4,000 per unit built). Although the in-lieu fees are based on land cost, they can also be used to improve and maintain parks. The use of quimby/in-lieu fees are typically used in varying ways. They could be used in the neighborhood where the funds were collected; the fees could serve the residents of the subdivision and/or community parks ; or the fees may serve a subdivision without being in close proximity. The in-lieu fees must be committed within five years of receipt or otherwise refunded. However, the methods by which these fees are distributed and used can differ throughout California counties.
Just twenty years after the Quimby Act was put into effect in 1985 heavy lobbying by developers pushed Orange County supervisors to side with them on changing the requirements that originally accompanied the law. The revised version the developers advocated for was
for them to obtain full credit for the developments as long as they maintained and improved the parks. When previously building private parks, the developers would only obtain partial credit. The result of the developers’ advocacy gives them full credit for developing neighborhood parks in new subdivisions even if they are built within private gated communities where park guests were required to be members of the community’s Home Owner’s Associations (H.O.A) https://www.pbssocal.org/shows/lost-la/giving-upyour-rights-to-live-in-a-planned-community-yes-it-started-in-orangecounty.The updated version was met with public outcry by some community members labeling the decision as a form of “social engineering” by allowing only those who can afford homes in the immediate area to access the park. Other members of the citizens’ committee said that this change would be “locking out children”. One member of the citizens’ committee was quoted saying “You’re locking out children who don’t understand jurisdictional responsibilities, what develops is kind of haves vs have-nots situation that isn’t good for kids.” The developers who pushed for the changes acknowledged working with county supervisors on drafting the language on the new changes in the policy. The Quimby act does not specify that the green spaces NEED to be public
and the developers found legal grounds to privatize their parks. The Mission Viejo Company freshly acquired by the tobacco giant Philip Morris Company in 1972 heavily lobbied for the changes in the Quimby Act. Some notable quotes coming from the Mission Viejo company during the Philip Morris acquisition came from Executive Vice President, Phil Reilly who during a speech before the Home Builders Association in 1983 said “We don’t have a philanthropic bone in our body.” And Philip Morris Board Chairman, Joseph F. Cullman III who stated the company’s goals very clearly when he said “There is one primary reason why Mission Viejo does what it does – that reason – that motive – is to make a profit. That was the motive 20 years ago, and that is the motive today.” After successfully lobbying for the changes on Quimby requirements in 1985 Mission Viejo company Spokesperson, David Celestin said that “They view the changes as a better way to meet the original intent or the Quimby Act, which was to provide local parks for residents of new tracts.” Others such as Executive Director of the Orange County Builder’s Association went so far as to praise the changes by saying,“When you’ve got the situation where a developer is willing to dedicate the park and improve it, whether it’s private or not is really irrelevant because it’s satisfying the need created by that subdivision. Whether it’s got a little gate around it or whether it’s sitting on a corner really doesn’t matter.”
In Los Angeles the Quimby Act park fee has been expanded to apply to rental apartment projects that require zoning changes for building approval. In 2016 the fees ranged from $2,800 to $8,000 per unit and it had to be spent within half a mile to two miles in the development making it difficult to build green spaces in already densely developed spaces such as Downtown and Hollywood. The fees did not apply to apartment projects not requiring zoning changes, meaning some communities that were adding residents did not raise funds for additional recreational spaces. A change was made in how Los Angeles County collected the fees for the Quimby Act in September 2016, requiring that the apartment buildings that did not require a zoning change pay the fee as well. The city at the time before the act was updated, received up to $22 million annually in fees collected from 15,000 housing units. Jose Huizar, at the time, Chairman of the Planning and Land Use Management Committee said that the updated Quimby Act would generate $30 million more a year for the park budget. “Reform is needed
to increase funding for parks citywide, adjust standards so that more green space gets built and create incentives for developers to build parks on-site. This proposal does all that and more” Huizar said. (Side note: Huzair was sentenced to 13 years in prison earlier this year in a corruption case involving him taking bribes, gambling chips at Las Vegas hotels, luxury hotel stays, and, other financial benefits from developers with projects in his downtown district while his time as councilman.) Developers of condominiums and single family homes would now pay $10,000 per unit as opposed to the previous $2,800 to $8,000 per unit fee, and apartment complex developers will pay $5,000 per unit. Affordable housing units are exempt from the fees. Luxury apartment developers don’t feel much of an impact by the changes because they provide park or
“Many corporation executives who make key decisions about the city have surprisingly little acquaintance with the life of its streets and open spaces… some don’t venture out of the building until it is time to go home again. To them the unknown city is a place of danger.”
recreational amenities to tenants said Beverley Kenworthy of the California Apartment Association, who said that there is a concern with the “middle market” that really does not provide similar amenities. The updated law also allows for the usage of Quimby fees at regional parks as far as 10 miles away. The Planning Commission recommended that developers obtain a 35 percent credit for the Quimby fee if their projects included private park space on their projects, or a 100 percent credit if they would build public parks. The passed ordinances included additional park funding, apartment development fees, and updated credits for developers who build on-site recreational space and include exemptions for affordable housing.
Both Los Angeles and Orange Counties have their differences in scale and population density, but, there seem to be some common trends when it comes to the collection of Quimby fees such as Los Angeles gives partial credit to developers for building private recreational spaces, yet since 1985, Orange County gives 100 percent credit to developers. Los Angeles may consider this percentage in the near future. Accessibility to public green spaces is an issue that both counties have not been able to completely figure out. While the usage of Quimby fees seem to fluctuate throughout California counties, the importance of public space for residents is an agreed upon necessity.
Developers’ projects and park spaces are increasingly privatized, purposely othering those who do not live in the immediate vicinity, profiling them as “suspicious”, rendering them suseptible to removal.
In “PARK ACQUISITIONS UNDER THE QUIMBY
ACT” a list of parks that where funded by the Quimby Act, I found parks either completely privatized, or eliminate from public internet access. One park found was Beverly Glen Park at 2448 Angelo Drive in Los Angeles. This park was only revealed by finding Yelp reviews in which one
“So called ‘undesirables’ are not the problem. It is the measure taken to combat them that is the problem”
William H. Whyte
park guest wrote, “We tried to go hiking here. It’s listed on the LA Parks website, but when we arrived, the entrance was behind a locked gate that read the park was private, and for exclusive use of residents of the Bel Air Ridge estate. LA County should be clearer; is this a public park, or not? If not, take it off the map!” Another reviewer wrote “Why is this public park allowed to be closed off to the public? The park is funded by Los Angeles County, however, it is gated by the surrounding property owners. If they want the property, buy it from the County.” Another park found that stood out was Alizondo Drive Park, which was very hard to obtain information on via the City of Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks website which had a very outdated image that showed only an aerial view of a hill and a hedge. Searching the address was very confusing, leading to unlikely locations. The most information I gleaned from searching this park was from the Woodland Hills Magazine, naming the best parks for summer picnics, describing Alizondo as “Open Monday through Friday, dawn to dusk and Saturdays and
Sundays from dawn to dusk, and boasts a unique cactus farm and other intriguing elements that allows it to stand apart from other Los Angeles area facilities. A great place to take the family for an afternoon or early evening picnic, Alizondo Drive Park offers a relaxing and calm respite far away from the honking LA traffic just beyond its borders.” In my hometown of Anaheim, California there is an abundance of parks built in the “Platinum Triangle” region. Some parks I have been able to visit are Aloe Greens Park, Coral Tree Park, Magnolia Park, and, Aloe Promenade. None of these parks have a restroom, some have mounded grass fields or concave grass bowls to prevent sports games. Aloe Promenade is deceivingly labeled as an Anaheim City Park, but feels more like an amenity for the newly built housing development - a linear fairway or urban-scaled courtyard, inviting leisure and promenade, flanked by two long 3-story, luxury condominum buildings. Coral Tree Park’s signage states that it is stay until 10:00 pm, but the lights that are supposed to light up the park at sundown never turn on once it gets dark, making the park only usable during daylight hours. These socalled public parks are neither accessible or inviting to many due to their hidden, concealed and restricted conditions. PUBLIC SPACE IS FOR THE PUBLIC. Empowering developers to have major social and design input in the building of these space could be very dangerous. Our responsibility as designers should be to build more inclusive and inviting public
spaces where visitors gain an increased sense of belonging.
In conclusion, the privatization of public green spaces leads to outcomes such as “social engineering” a light term for segregation in my opinion. American urbanist and sociologist William H. Whyte provided an interesting point in The Social Life of Small Urban Places, “Many businessmen have an almost obsessive fear that if a place is attractive to people it might be attractive to undesirable people. So, it is made unattractive. There is no loitering, no eating, no sitting! So, it is that benches are made too short to sleep on, that spikes are put in the ledges; most important, many spaces are not provided at all, or the plans for them are scuttled… The preoccupation with the undesirables is a symptom of another problem. Many corporation executives who make key decisions about the city have surprisingly little acquaintance with the life of its streets and open spaces… some don’t venture out of the building until it is time to go home again. To them the unknown city is a place of danger.” By giving developers the power to build and design these spaces gives them the power to exercise biases and exclude their perception of an unwanted population or “undesirables” that they believe lessen the value of their development and allows the local government to hold little to no accountability of the outcomes because they are being privately maintained, enforced and commodified. Another negative outcome is the corruption that comes from the city officials and private developers like Huizar’s case in Los Angeles and Harry Sidhu in Anaheim. This can also lead to a negative ownership sentiment by community members that may deputize themselves to police these spaces. Trayvon Martin. Greenspace continues to become a “luxury” where it can only be found in areas of wealth, exclusivity and homeowner investment. As some of us may soon become designers of spaces like these, I believe we should all take a stance on how we approach these projects, and if we will speak up about them. We all must strive to keep public space PUBLIC and accessible to those representing historically disenfranchised communities.
McNary, Saharon. 2016. LA Wants Apartment Builders to Pay for Parks. LAist Murphy, Kim. 1985. County Eases Rules That Require Public Parks From Builders. L.A. Times.
Roe, Mike. 2016. Increased Park Fees for Developers Approved Unanimously By LA City Council. LAist Rogers, Tom. 2023. Agent’s Orange Chapter 7B: Meet the Mission Viejo Company! Orange Juice Blog.
Smith, Dakota, Zahniser, David. 2024. Former L.A. Councilman Jose Huizar Sentenced to 13 Years in Prison in Corruption Case
Walton, Alice. 2016. First Change to Developer Fees in 30 Years Could Bring in $ 30 Million More for L.A. parks. L.A. Times. Wood, Tracy. 2011. OC Park History Is a Tale of Two Counties. Voice of O.C. 1990. How Quimby Act Became 0.C.’s Park Law. L.A. Times Archives. 1990. Park Acquisitions Under Quimby Act. L.A. Times Archives. 2016. L.A. Needs more parks. Here’s how we should pay for them. L.A. Times.
What does labor mean to you in landscape design? What role do you see yourself playing in landscape design (e.g. field work,desk job or something else)?
How has the pandemic affected your work flow or improvements of skill expected in your major?
What does labor mean to you in landscape design? What role do you see yourself playing in landscape design (e.g. field work,desk job or something else)?
How has the pandemic affected your work flow or improvements of skill expected in your major?
Americans shuttle back and forth from the “womb” to the “rat race” and lost their third spaces
Why is third place such a hot topic today in the United States?
We all know of the American Dream, right? Part of it includes the need for a single-family home, a piece of land - typically with a manicured lawn, and a white picket fence separating your land from your neighbors. We have taken this centuries-old idea and codified it into law so that building anything other than miles of single-family homes is practically illegal. These ideas are all Veblen goods. A Veblen good can be characterized as a good that even though the demand remains the same, the prices increase (Veblen, 1918). There is a foundation of competition in capitalism for an increase in the comforts of life, mostly producing material amenties and having people consume goods (Veblen, 1918). An “unproductive consumption of goods is honorable” mostly to show status and pride (Veblen, 1918, 69). A good example of this is cars - you may buy a Lamborghini to show you’re wealthy, an Aston Martin to show you’re rich, a Mercedes to show you’re well off, a Toyota to show you’re middle class, and a Kia to show you’re lower middle class.
Lawns became part of the American dream as a Veblen good because initially there was ample space to occupy that quarter acre for a single-family home, with an immaculate lawn dawning the front yard. The ordinance-coded short cropped grass is so engrained into the American consciousness, that any dissenting aesthetic must fight for a non-normative front yard. Some places in Arizona go as far as to spray paint dead grass green to uphold the facade of “wealth”, which has been idealized since the 1800s.
A typical subdivision creates a hostile environment for anything other than a single-family home and roads that go between them (Oldenburg, 1989, 4). America is described as “a man works in one place, sleeps in another, shops somewhere else, finds pleasure or companionship where he can, and cares about none of these places” so packing up and moving across the
country or world feels easy and almost meaningless because it will all be the same somewhere else (Oldenburg, 1989, 4). There is often more encouragement to leave than to stay.
Even back in 1957, when Max Lerner wrote “The Problem of Place in America” he asserted that unless we are able to fix this sense of lack of community, we will become more jangled and fragmented (Oldenburg, 1989, 3). Then, in 1989, Oldenburg reiterated that the problem of place has not been resolved and life has become more jangled and fragmented. Then again in 2001, he stated that life continues to grow more devoid of gathering spaces, and people begin to spend time on the net and not outside (Oldenburg, 2001). So what about our landscapes in 2024? What is the increase of net use for entertainment and the normalization of working from home doing to us? What can we do to meaningfully reconnect to each other and embody the landscape?
Subdivisions can exacerbate the loss of outside interaction, as well as urban locations designed without the wellbeing of its citizens in mind. We are subjected to the misfortune of being reduced to consumerism (Oldenburg, 1989). In most cities around the world - those of a rich urban fabric - there are restaurants, plazas, cafes where one goes to relieve the stress of the day. Some American cities seem increasingly unenjoyable and stress-inducing because they not only lack ample spaces of relief, but also are commodified. Think of Starbucks for example, which cares more about a fast, surveilled turnaround than fair labor practices and creating environments of leisure for the community. “Our urban environment is like an engine that runs hot because it was designed without a cooling system” (Oldenburg, 1989, 10). We tend to think the problem with the neverending stress of modern life is the people, so we go and isolate to try and find relief. While other countries take full advantage of the freedom to associate, we take pride and glorify our freedom not to associate (Oldenburg, 1989).
The lifestyle we have created seeking after material acquisition for comfort and pleasure leads to being plagued by boredom, loneliness, alienation, and high price tags (Oldenburg, 1989). This is not entirely the everyday people’s fault as advertising is the enemy of an informal life - including inhabiting a third place (Oldenburg, 1989). Advertising creates competition and an increased desire for Veblen goods. They create “our drive to consume and to own whatever the industry produces” (Oldenburg, 1989, 11). American life is
no longer connected with the community as we are always trying to preserve the individual’s circle and privacy against the public. We are always designing to minimize expression and humancontact when in public. Sometimes the fact of no third place existing near someone is just being in the wrong place and it is not a matter of timing or accident, but a fact of social structure and design (Fitzpatrick et al., 2011).
The space we inhabit is a key element to who we are and how we identify (Fitzpatrick et al., 2011). In a thriving community we would often inhabit three main spaces - the home, the office/shop, and finally the community space. This last element is called the third space first referenced by Ray Oldenburg in “The Great Good Place” in 1989. These places don’t encourage competition or achievement and are a respite from obligations (Oldenburg, 2001). In The United States today - especially after the pandemic - our lives are slowly transitioning from three places to one. Our home, our work - we are starting to work from home more, and community time - having social media created a third place we can be in from our couch. This reduction has made the lack of third place a prevalent conversation on the internet. Third places can be curated in the States, but it is much harder to do. A prime example of a third place in action is from a girl who often comes with her dad in the morning to get a cup of coffee. His friends are there with him. She thinks this is a beautiful and wonderful place. So, she wrote to Oldenburg:
“During my senior year, our band had been chosen to march in the Rose Bowl Parade. A friend of mine who was also a band member could not afford the nine hundred dollars required to make the trip. He was from a broken home, and was forced to live in a taxicab for three years and watch his mom snort cocaine. Having done drugs since the age of ten, this seventeen-year-old recovered addict presented an amazing story. He cleaned himself up on his own, and moved into the home of a drug counselor at school. He began going to church, participating in extracurricular activities, and tried to make up the academics he had avoided for so long. The drug counselor’s home was average-sized, but housed a family of six. There was barely room for my friend and absolutely no money. He slept on three couch cushions, which was a luxury compared to the taxi. With all the help this family had provided for him, there was just no way they could afford to finance his band trip. I expressed my concern to my father the following morning,
he spoke to his all-male coffee group about my friend. It only took a quarter of an hour to convince them. One pulled out a hundred-dollar bill and laid it on the table. Several followed his lead, laying hundreds, fifties, and twenties out on the round table. Within just a few minutes, there lay nine hundred dollars. My dad went to the school and deposited the money into my friend’s account. No one ever knew where the money came from. That’s the way they wanted it” (Oldenburg, 2001, 1).
These third spaces can seem to be almost anything and not have a substantial reasoning behind them and how they came to be. But there are specific characteristics that define what a third place is. In the book, “The Great Good Place” by Ray Oldenburg he defines key elements of a third place that are:
Neutral ground meaning that there is little to no obligation to be there. You don’t feel tied down to a place financially, legally, or otherwise. A place where you may come and go as you please. Leveler meaning there is an abolition of all differences and prerequisites to exist there. Conversation must remain playful. This is the main requirement for a third space, but not the only required activity. A lively community talking always welcomes new people to explore and brings people back. Accessibility meaning it is open and readily available as many hours of the day as possible, providing space and time for all the occupants to fulfill their needs. Regulars who set the tone and the mood to attract newcomers. The lure of a third place only relies secondarily on the seating, beverage, food, parking, prices, or other features. The main attraction is the fellow customers and
Fig. 1: A typical Greek taverna suggests that good company and good conversation do not require a lavish setting. [print] The Great Good Placethe mood they give the place. Low profile meaning the location should not feel extravagant as to ostracize anyone, but it should feel homey and welcoming. Playful mood which is highly encouraged along with some frivolous banter. For the ones who want to try and have a serious conversation for more than a minute are almost doomed to failure. That is not to say it is without wit. Most topics should have a potential trapeze for the exercise and display of wit.
Most notably a third place should be a home away from home. Psychologist David Seaman’s definition of home is 5 key elements that are: rooted or feeling like your existence matters, appropriation or a sense of possession or control over what happens there, regeneration of the spirit or social regeneration, freedom to be or freedom to actively express yourself, and finally warmth which emerges out of friendliness (Oldenburg, 1989). A third place is where the marginalized voices speak and be heard (Moles, 2017). Where the community isn’t separated by status.
After reading what a third place is, do you recognize anything in your life to be a third place? Personally, the best thing I can think of is landscapes. They are my favorite places to escape. However, it does not fulfill all of Oldenburg’s characteristics listed above. But that’s the thing about third places - especially in the US - they often don’t, but they can still function as a third place. Some third places you may inhabit are:
• Libraries
• Clubs on campus
• BSC on campus
• Local park
• Cafe
• Salons and barber shops
• Community centers
• Churches
• Gyms
• Bars
• Bookstores
• Shops
The best designed third place combines amenities from more than one of these locations together, to create a place to satisfy all types of customers.
Most designs we create are from taking inspiration from other’s successes and incorporating that into our designs. So, let us look at some examples around the United States of thriving third places. A fantastic example is a third place on a rural street in Amherst, Massachusetts. A shop called Annie’s Gift and Garden Shop. Run by Annie, whose goal in life was to run a third place as a business. She had grown up near one and decided she needed to create one in the town she lives in now. But, a rural life requires driving in lieu of public transportation and walking. So, attracting people to park, get out of their car, and spend down time in her garden shop was the first obstacle to overcome. She achieved this through signage which read “Only fourteen more days till we open” and, “Honk if you think we’ll make it”, and after she opened the signs read, “Come in/Tell us what to make for supper” (Oldenburg, 2001, 12). These signs became a local favorite and people always looked forward to seeing them and coming in to talk to Annie. Once she opened and found her niche on how to get people to come in, she realized she needed a way for people to stay. Through this she decided to add a tearoom to the garden shop and have 8 tables and chairs around. This part never made enough money to stay afloat by itself but became a local favorite place for people to meet friends and relax. The goal for Annie the whole time. Third places do exist around the US, but they are much harder to develop and run without a dedicated owner striving to create a community space.
Fig. 2: An Istanbul café - hangout for cronies or lovers.[print] The Great Good PLaceThere is a community space local to our school that was never meant to be a third place but through accidental community engagement it did. Have you ever been to Taco Nazo? It’s located at the corner of Grand Ave and Amar Road. The restaurant where this magazine’s staff held its meetings no less. Well, this restaurant used to be located in downtown Pomona in the Arts Colony district and opened its doors in January of 2000. As soon as it opened it became an instant third place for the growing community. The owner, Marisa, had the doors open while construction was still going on, and with her welcoming attitude people decided to wander in. She was always open to talk to locals about what they desired to have at a restaurant and what would keep them coming back for more. So, by the time opening day came around, people already started to hang out there regularly. The main reason this one restaurant became a hangout spot is because it was open 9 a.m. till 10 p.m. seven days a week and even later on the weekends and that was something people could rely on (Oldenburg, 2001, 77). Taco Nazo became a third place through community engagement and finding out what the people wanted and needed. As well as it was in the right place at the right time. As designers, we can create these spaces and incorporate them into our projects to thrive after being built and not just look good in our presentations. People will not come just because you built it. It needs to fulfill a purpose for them.
People have often been identifying locations - as a third place - that do not fall into the characteristics of a third place in the US. The prime ones brought up in America are cafe’s where people are working in and coworking buildings (Brown, 2017). While these are fantastic examples of good second places, they do not constitute third places. It must be understood that a third place is “an open-ended set of defining moments” (Moles, 2017). Which means if the place has a defined goal of work and creating profit as you are obligated to be there, it may not be considered a third place even in the United States. Though it is impossible to prescribe a comprehensive solution to the problem of place in America, it is possible to describe some elements that must be included in any solution. Urban sociologists say interstitial spaces are filled with people, “the streets and sidewalk, parks and squares, parkways and boulevards are being used by people sitting, standing, and walking” (Oldenburg, 1989, 14). It is much more diverse than wealthy and middle class crowding in shopping malls.
As we move into a new millennium of technology, space is redefined and reshaped (Fitzpatrick et al., 2011). Space - free space - is a luxury in this capitalist society, where design becomes more influenced by consumerism and not wellbeing. Despite these evolutions in technologies where it is easy to make a “there” into a “here,” residents continue to have consequences in their health and wellbeing because of these advances (Fitzpatrick et al., 2011).
We can fix this.
As designers we can take the initiative to help combat the lack of uncommidified places of leisure. The best ways in which we can create informed, effective and humane designs that assist the community is through community engagement. Understand where they go and what they want to achieve. Design input from a non-designer can often be more harmful than good. So instead, focus the engagement around who they are, rather than what they would want to see in your design. Designing where people already are and embodying is also important. People never come just because you built it, especially in our profession.
Programming is important as it is the driver of third spaces. Having multiple, simultaneous programs overlapping is a core attraction for third places and is what drives the
conversations that make people stay. A good example of this is from “Celebrating the Third Place” in an essay about Crossroads, a mall in Lake Forest Washington. This mall was abandoned and had high crime around the area. But, it was revitalized into the community’s heart through tremendous efforts. This location has a plethora of partnerships with the city and nonprofits to house events. They also have a multiuse area that thrives with a game area, cafe, books, plenty of seating, and plenty of locals conversing and enjoying all this one space has to offer. Programming and partnerships will help bring people to your site and create community within it.
A park can be an excellent community third space. It becomes a third space of “meaning creation through the praxis of walking and talking” (Moles, 2017). Parks are the third place we have the most influence on. These places can have the potential to expand people’s scope of their geographical imaginations about the spatiality of life (Moles, 2017). Through movement, walking, and programming. We can theoretically transport a person from being in the middle of a city to being surrounded by nature, enjoyable conversation and people.
One in which anyone can do, even if you do not continue in Landscape Architecture, is becoming well-informed on the laws and policies that generate the landscape. There are many things which are always changing and some that need to be changed. Knowing the law and the history and intention behind it can help you more deeply understand your site and why some things are the way they are. Through understanding we can fight against unjust laws turning our cities into exclusive, consumerist enclaves without humankind in mind.
We are the future of third spaces.
I want to leave you with some book recommendations if you are interested in researching more into third spaces and how we can design them. First, the book that started the third place conversations “The Great Good Place” by Ray Oldenburg. Then, the book written later by him and the people he met around the U.S. that run third spaces, “Celebrating the Third Place,” which has a lot of notable examples to take inspiration from. “Palaces for the People” written by Eric Klinenberg expands off Oldenburg’s ideas and dives deeper, this is the next book I plan to invest my time in about this topic. “Bowling Alone” by Robert D Putnam talks about how the U.S. has become increasingly disconnected and how we may reconnect.
Brown, J. 2017. Curating the “Third Place”? Coworking and the Mediation of Creativity. Geoforum. Fitzpatrick, K., Fitzpatrick, K. M., & La Gory, M. 2011. Unhealthy Cities: Poverty, Race, and Place in America. Routledge. Harris, C. 2007. Libraries with Lattes: The New Third Place. Australasian Public Libraries and Information Services. Moles, K. 2017. A Walk in Thirdspace: Place, Methods and Walking. Sage Journals. Oldenburg, R. 1989. The Great Good Place: Cafés, Coffee Shops, Community Centers, Beauty Parlors, General Stores, Bars, Hangouts, and How They Get You Through the Day. Paragon House. Oldenburg, R. 2001. Celebrating the Third Place: Inspiring Stories About the Great Good Places at the Heart of Our Communities. Hachette Books. Oldenburg, R., & Brissett, D. 1982. Qualitative Sociology. Veblen, T. 1918. The Theory of the Leisure Class. Penguin Group USA, Incorporated.
Fig. 4: The donut shop where the author starts his day.[print] The Great Good PlaceWhat are you striving for in a workplace? Ex: Hands on experience then getting a job designing. Working towards an internship - or already have one - and going straight for the design position. If unsure, what would you want to strive for?
- I plan on aiming for an internship within either urban planning and landscape design
- I have some internship experience and would like to go straight to work as a designer if possible.
- Build up experiences in different kind of firms and figure out exactly what I want to do
- Going straight for the design position but also will take what is being offered just for the experience.
-I’m striving for a workplace that builds communicating and leadership skills. I would love hands-on work with plenty of site visits.
-Im looking for hands on experience in the field as a whole. I want to be able to do as many aspects of this profession as possible and not get stuck doing only one thing (ex: not only construction details/ renderings).
-I strive to work in an environment that allows me to help give back to my community and see how people can benefit it as much as they can. Either working for the city to even small local firms that benefit and prioritize these cities,, that is something I’d strive to do in the field.
-I am not necessarily looking for a design position, but I will take whatever is well-paying and at least a little bit aligned with my values. I am ready to work knowing that I will find my “dream job” along the way. I personally look at all “open doors”, if that makes sense
-Working towards an internship.
-Get hands on experience through internships or work opportunities that can help me boost my design skills and career.
-Getting a job after graduate
-I’m striving for a place where I can get hands on experience and I get to see my designs built. Being able to go out to the field and see everything come together.
-I would like to strive for an entry level position or internship.
-Personally after college I don’t want to work in an office job. I rather start off working a hands on labor jobs for the first few years after college and then after I might consider looking into a desk job/ internship.
-Hands on experience and Project management and contracting
-I Strive to go straight for a design position while simultaneously work on starting my masters and begin studying for L.A.R.E exam
-I am currently working at the City of Ontario for my internship in the Advance Planning Department under Historic Preservation. After about a year or so, I would love to get back into design and look into private and local firms.
-I would really love and find the most enjoyment in a hands on experience. I have a really hard time staying focused when glued to a computer monitor. Having the opportunity to do a combination of tasks would be amazing.
-Ideally I would like to begin working designing at a firm just because I believe I have a lot of hands on experience and not enough design experience, other than what I have worked on in school. I would eventually like to strive for working some days at an office and other days on site working physically outdoors.
-I am unsure what I want to strive for in the workplace. Right after graduating I’m going to travel and teach English in other countries. But after that the plan to get a masters or job is undecided.
How has the pandemic changed your mindset (if at all) about your school/work ethic?
- It made me more of an alone worker, when theres a bunch of noise around me i cannot focus
-It has opened up the possibility of including some work-from-home days to my schedule.
-Not much
- I feel like I missed out on a lot things during the first two years. There was a lot of teaching opportunities that we missed.
- I never want to work from home again. Just kidding. I do really enjoy working collaboratively or in a studio setting in-person.
-Hmmm, i wouldnt say it changed much. It took a little time to get used to the amount of online work/interaction. Its pretty easy to slack off in online classes so self motivation played a big part in being able to do well in the classes.
-For me the pandemic really changed the idea on how I would target issues but in some way it helped enhance ways to target these situations. As it has became difficult for some people to come out of their comfort zone I want to help establish opportunities on myself and others to create ways or reflect back on their old habits and see how it can adapt to today.
-I definitely think the WFH shift has been beneficial for many people, myself included. anything that releases people from hours of unpaid travel time and toxic work environments is a good thing. we need to take back our lives and take every opportunity to NOT live at work. honestly i think it makes work quality BETTER when people have a better life quality
-Definitely made me more online-oriented.
-The pandemic has made me consider how I manage my time and how we can work/collaborate with each other in ways we couldn’t before.
-It open more option, but there come a cost
-The pandemic hasn’t really changed my mindset about school/ work ethic. Going through school while working has just pushed me to work harder for what I want in life and no matter what happens things will eventually turn out for the better.
-The pandemic had an effect on teaching style which made me feel inadequate for any job position.
-With my entire 1st year of college being fully online due to the pandemic. Their was a large impact on my way of school work and overall mental health. From being stuck in my room each day attending online classes It made me feel trapped and overall overwhelmed with everything going on. It made me realize to appreciate more time
with my family and to be outside more. While it did make me more aware of my time and mental state. It also affected my work flow. While back in Highschool I would pull all nighter frequently doing homework, getting projects done while also being apart of programs and it was nothing. Now I can only do so much at a time without getting burnt out. I also started to get more lazy and procrastinate on my homework and wait to do it on the last week before its due etc. I have noticed these issues still occur with school sorta being back in-person feeling as if I’m behind compared to my other peers.
-No
-The Covid19 pandemic has definitely influenced my study habits and ability to work with others in a negative way. Although coming back from the pandemic has made it very hard to work in groups, the pandemic also taught me how to be a more independent and self-reliant student.
-Being strictly online during my first two years of college was very difficult especially in the major of Landscape Architecture. It was hard to get our projects reviewed behind a computer screen. What
was really frustrating was having to scan and upload projects as sometimes the scan came out a little blurry or distorted.
-It has changed my perception of the typical workplace that often needs you in the office everyday. So many times a commute, besides being draining, is a huge waste of time. That is time that can be used doing anything other than just staring at the bumper of a car. A hybrid system that allows people to work from home on some days has many benefits and that is something the pandemic changed in my mind.
-It made me angry to realize that I was being labeled as an “essential” worker when my labor had historically been labeled “unskilled”. The usage of terminology as a form of social control really made me mad. Realizing the oxymoron of being labeled “essential” while knowingly being susceptible to contracting the virus and spreading it amongst my loved ones actually made me feel very “disposable”.
-The pandemic has slowed me down tremendously. I feel like i am still a sophmore level in Landscape Architecture even though im a 4th year. The pandemic did help me realize spending time with people is also just as important as doing homework. So, I try to spend more time with people I love sense I feel that is just as important as school now.
One suggestion I think would help the underclassmen strive is to help push forth minor programs if they are heavily influenced in expanding their field of study. Another thing would given them opportunities to understand what part of landscape architecture really catches their idea.
I suppose I could say a thing or two. Do what you want, school is the time to find your design voice and the aspects of this profession which motivate you. If you’re going to do something that pushes the boundaries of an assignment, make sure you do it to the best of your ability. You should never “compete” with other people. The real competition is with yourself, strive to make your current project better than your last one, not better than someone else’s. Most importantly, ask questions and for help if you need it.
My suggestion would be to emphasize the importance of research. Research during the mapping process has always allowed me to dive down rabbit holes that inform my design process.
Try to do at least one small personal project in the weeks before each fall semester so you don’t need to relearn any software mid-project.
Landscape Architecture is a difficult major I cannot lie, but it can also be very fun. You will spend a lot of days going to bed late, sometimes all nighters, but the satisfaction you get after completing your site plans and renders is worth it. Do not fall behind, do not procrastinate, and manage a good school to life balance. Often take time from your projects to go on a walk, look up at the sky, and touch grass. Most importantly have fun and rely on your peers around you!
Work hard for the grade that you want, don’t let anyone hold you back from the grade that you want. If someone is holding you back tell your professor, don’t settle for being held back. It may be more work for you but you’ll feel a weight lift off knowing that you don’t have to worry about them.
Stay true to your passions, no matter what they are. find a way to fit it into landscape architecture, don’t try to become what you think a landscape designer is or does. also don’t worry so much about your graphics, or models, or whatever your weakness is -- the most important thing is that you know what your vision is and you can communicate it in a way that works for you. authenticity is the most valuable feature anyone can have
Explore different classes outside the major that can help you. Irrigation minor is a good suggestion. Don’t just depend on what the major requires you to take. Outside classes can be petitioned. Explore your options.
Start practicing the programs that are necessary in the work force to get a head start. Look for internships or classmates that can help you build on top of what you know and can do better in your coming years.
Move towards your interests, this major is broad and celebrates those who are passionate about what they believe in. Keep a record of resources for each project, you never know when you’ll need a reference or case study. Clients love photos and visuals, shoot photos when you notice something interesting around you.
Try to find your style and keep evolving it. Also, learn or master CAD, Rhino, and Adobe suite early on.
Take lots of notes and keep them in a book. Also start a plant book, every plant you come cross write it down. Talk to your professors and classmates for help and ideas.
My biggest suggestion is quantity over quality. I know that might sound backwards for some people but the fact we have 4 years to dedicate time to learning something is a blessing. The best way to use that time wisely is to create as much as possible and not ponder over what you want to create. Instead, work through trial and error and trust me, you will learn and grow so much more than pondering ever will teach you.
From the 4th years that are still struggeling to get their life together ...
Find your concentration in the profession and build a skill kit towards that.
I’d say to try and always make time to study but also find a healthy way to unwind from it all. A good combination of both is what helped me keep my mental wellbeing through it all.
Never skip out on a given opportunity. Anything that can help you succeed in this major will help you out in the long one. Never be afraid to ask for help from either your peers or professors, they are here to help you throughout your time at Cal Poly and the more help/ advice you get the better you be when it is time for 4th year and ready for what will come after. Keep an open mind, everything about this profession is non-linear, research based, and abstract. Don’t be afraid to ask for help, my grades have suffered in the past as a result of being afraid of asking for assistance, the professors are more than willing to provide support to the best of their ability.
“We live in an era when ideals of human rights have moved centre stage both politically and ethically. A great deal of energy is expended in promoting their significance for the construction of a better world. But for the most part the concepts circulating do not fundamentally challenge hegemonic liberal and neoliberal market logics, or the dominant modes of legality and state action. We live, after all, in a world in which the rights of private property and the profit rate trump all other notions of rights. I here want to explore another type of human right, that of the right to the city.”
—David Harvey, The Right to the City, New Left Review
The built environment has always been at the center of political change, economic pressures, and social movements. It is shaped by multiple actors – those with different values, those with contested interests, and those with varying degrees of agency. Design can be a collective and inclusive process that addresses spatial injustices, empowering all those that the built environment serves, but more often this is short-circuited by ‘community engagement’ conducted at a superficial or ‘tokenistic’ level.1
The ongoing social, political, and economic tensions that shape neighborhoods prove that there is no singular solution to advocating for more equal development patterns. What we need are intersecting processes that begin to change the dialogue on what is possible. It is important to consider migrant communities in this equation because many of the spatial injustices we see take place in neighborhoods occupied by migrants, refugees, and ethnic populations. As stated in the ‘Towards Spatial Justice Report,’ “the housing crisis cannot be remedied without a robust sustainability vision; public spaces cannot truly celebrate neglected histories without addressing entrenched socio-economic inequities; post-pandemic, the city cannot nurture better health and wellbeing for its inhabitants without challenging deeprooted petroleum-fueled habits that dictate urban design.”2
The word ‘participation’ is a noun that means ‘the act of taking part in something’3. Its Latin origins enable someone a sense of co-ownership in completing a task, with the idea that tasks can be done together in collective fashion. Scholars have written about public participation across disciplines and decades, Paul Davidoff and Sherry Arnstein being two prominent voices on the roles of planners and designers in shaping the neighborhood. In the context of the United States, public participation had its beginnings between civil uprisings and rights movements dating back to the early 1960s. Paul Davidoff advocated for ‘community consciousness’ that gave low-income neighborhoods direct involvement with shaping the physical environment to meet their needs.4 There was also an increased sense of social responsibility when people found solidarity in advocating for their own independent rights. Paul Davidoff was instrumental in pushing design professionals to reject traditional practice to fight against the perils of urban redevelopment. Instead, this movement implored the federal government to implement programs such as the Community Action Program and the Model Cities Program, which encouraged citizen participation in neighborhood improvements.5 In his 1965 seminal article titled ‘Advocacy and Pluralism in Planning’, Paul Davidoff wrote about the need to provide flexible frameworks for citizens to engage in a design process.6
Practicing participation with ethics requires the designer to create a process to listen actively and deeply before making plans for an audience. Additionally, it demands a mindset that says - in order “to work towards spatial justice in the development context, is to acknowledge existing barriers, diadvantages and assymetrical power dynamics, – especially those between the local authority, developers, and the wider community – and redistribute power where appropriate and possible.”7 Sherry Arnstein’s ‘Ladder of Participation’(1969) provides a critical hierarchy by which participation can take place. The ladder effectively provides different levels of citizen engagement – the lowest rung as ‘manipulation’ (where engagement is non-existent), the highest rung as ‘citizen control’ (where engagement is fully controlled by the community). A project typically operates within multiple rungs of the ladder, depending on the phase of planning or design. In the U.S. and many other contexts, public participation usually falls in to the ‘placation, consultation, and informing’ rungs; whereas less emphasis is placed on ‘citizen control, delegation, and partnership.’ These two-way channels of idea generation, communication, and intensive dialogue are what hold a community together, and are what I believe should be the emphasis for making participation meaningful.
At Cal Poly Pomona, we foster a learn-by-doing approach with the next generation of designers and planners. The approach means that we (faculty) teach theory through hands-on activities, collaboration, and creative discovery. While we do not always know what the outcomes will be, we know our students will grow through the experiments, conflicts, and trial-and-error methods of engagement. Not only does the learn-by-doing approach add meaning to education, but it also adds meaning to how designers participate with community members, professionals, stakeholders, and constituents to achieve a tangible outcome. Teaching participation in the classroom is to create games for students to piece together, resolve, or create.
During the Spring 2024 semester, a group of Capstone students practiced the ethics of participatory design with Arnstein’s Ladder of Participation. The students learned how public participation can be challenging, informative, rewarding, and enlightening. The group was given a real project in West Los Angeles, with real constraints and
real communities (with yimby and nimby personalities) to speak with. The studio received funding and support from the City of Los Angeles’ Neighborhood Purpose Grant, Bundy Triangle AdHoc Committee, and the CPP College of Environmental Design. The amount I learned as their instructor surpassed my expectations and goals, as it has truly opened my mind to the possibilities of teaching participation. The following section expands on the case study project, the site, the studio process, and the findings.
West Los Angeles is a culturally diverse area with a rich history dating back more than a century. It is home to the Bundy Triangle (a listed historic resource and rare piece of open space in west LA), the Japantown-Sawtelle neighborhood, and a growing Oaxacan diaspora. The Bundy Triangle was built in the early 1900s, next to the Red Car trolley that ran along Santa Monica Boulevard. Today, the neighborhood is growing in population, with new mixed-use projects densifying the area. This means that the pursuit of safe, open, and accessible public space is more prescient than ever before.
community as a cultural landscape, studio participants were tasked to find ways of occupying the Triangle through tactical design strategies and creative modes of engagement.
In the studio, we contended with three main concerns brought forth by the City of Los Angeles: infrastructure, public safety, and sanitation. Restoring the landscape is a priority for reopening the Triangle in the future.
In the studio, we asked questions like – “What does it mean to have access to safe public space?” “How does design play a role in revitalizing an abandoned public space?” “How can public histories, forgotten histories, and evolving community dynamics be foregrounded to enhance the experience at the Triangle?”
To fully grasp the complexities of the site, its immediate surroundings, and its constituents, the students developed games that invited participants to help choreograph design proposals. Some themes of the games included: bench graffiti, pop quiz, build-a-garden, drawing memories, and community places. Each team developed a question to spark interest in their activity, and each team provided incentives for participating and providing input. The studio engaged in two area activations to hold time and space for playing games.
The Triangle is currently fenced-in and although it is currently a hostile space and has been abandoned for many years, it has a busy bus stop, plaza, benches, and several mature trees. With great potential to serve the local
Fig. 2: Sherry Arnstein’s ‘Ladder of Participation’(1969)
The first event was a Community Party at the Bundy Triangle. It was the first time the public had been invited to an event at the location, inside the fence. It was a remarkable occurrence and a big step forward for all parties involved in restoring the landscape. The students labored for weeks to design and develop content for the games, thinking hard about how to engage diverse audiences into a process they were newly minted with. On the days leading up to the party, the AdHoc Committee communicated through some intense bureaucratic hurdles for holding such an event. Public safety was at the top of mind for many people, and there seemed to be a dichotomy with the perceptions of public participation between the City and the studio group. At the party, activity areas were set up across the grassy areas, a boombox and microphone at the center to provide ambient music and announcements, and light snacks and beverages to compliment the party.
What happened from beginning to end was a learning lesson for several of us; a listening session, typical of public processes across the City, took place for approximately one hour, followed by the games prepared by the students. The listening session was something new for me to witness. The loudest voices spoke at the microphone. The strongest voices spoke (more times
dots on the places they most frequently visited in Sawtelle; they painted and drew memories of Sawtelle onto a community bench and postcards; they answered a pop quiz.
The second event was held at the West LA Farmer’s Market on a Sunday morning. The essence of the event was remarkably different, and the type of input received varied considerably. Although the community presence was more positive, there were core learnings from both events that made the participation efforts meaningful. Following the outreach and public interview efforts, the students are currently working on final design proposals that consider cost, phasing, and partnerships alongside tangible design ideas.
The studio proves that the process is just beginning. The most meaningful aspects of teaching participation are revealed when students come back to class with retrospective learnings from the past weekend’s community party. I commend students for being sensitive, vulnerable, and open to learning in real-world environments.
than not) negative sentiments of the current conditions with the idea that nothing is solvable. If this is what we call public participation, I believe we have work to do.
What took me by surprise was the tone that was left in the outdoor space after the listening session ended. The essence of the party shifted from one of community to one of tense but passive voiceovers. The games were effective and engaging and proved to be less tokenistic than the listening session. Community members placed sticker
Fig. 4: Bundy Triangle Remix infrastructure timeline.
Photo Credit: Amber Russel
We understand that cooperative design and public participation is not a one-size fits all, nor is it the only solution to creating inclusive environments. The Bundy Triangle case study is just one of numerous public-facing, community-led initiatives taking place in Los Angeles. The most important takeaways are the value of a public participation process. Knowing that initiatives like this have been put in place since the early 1960s, I believe designers and planners have what it takes to put in the work to lead advocacy efforts on the ground. I believe students have the power to gain the skillsets necessary to talk to diverse audiences. Through the studio project, we learned that clear communication and goals are necessary to engage an audience.
In the Bundy Triangle project, we will continue to guide public processes to ensure we hold public events. The Arnstein Ladder of Participation will stand as a cornerstone model for the various levels of participation we will need to undertake to create a successful project. In the classroom, I look forward to fostering levels of participation that push the boundaries of unlearning and relearning based on critical feedback loops.
1 “Towards Spatial Justice,” https://www.dsdha.co.uk/research/645503b69b0f42000c91b41e/Towards-Spatial-Justice.
2 Ibid.
3 “PARTICIPATION Definition | Cambridge English Dictionary,” accessed April 25, 2024, https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/participation.
4“Origins of Community Design – Planners Network,” https://www.plannersnetwork. org/2006/01/origins-of-community-design/.
5 Ibid.
6 Paul Davidoff, “Advocacy and Pluralism in Planning,” Journal of the American Institute of Planners 31, no. 4 (November 1965): 331–38, https://doi. org/10.1080/01944366508978187.
7 “Towards Spatial Justice,” https://www.dsdha.co.uk/research/645503b69b0f42000c91b41e/Towards-Spatial-Justice.
A BSLA graduate of 22’ who is the site lead at the Lyle Center — How would you describe labor in Landscape Architecture?
— So I know the pandemic probably hit you during your academic years, right?
I want to describe it as the secret backbone of Landscape Architecture. Because a lot of times when you’re designing something - you know you make your perspective and your renderings and everything - what you are doing is envisioning 20 years in the future. You know on planting day like the plants aren’t that big and they have a lot of growing to do. So, it’s really big on the labor to be able to have that dream fulfilled. They have to take care of the plants and guide them to whatever vision that the designers will have. So, I definitely think it’s an extremely vital part but also extremely ignored as well. Since there’s not many designers I know that are talking about, “Oh we work with our landscapers very indepthly.” A lot of times you’ll do your project and it ends with what’s accepted. You’ll design it - the client says they like it - they pay for it - the plants get in and that’s it you know. Having guidance I feel like it’s rare. But yeah, I would definitely say labor is a backbone of Landscape Architecture. Yes.
— So, how did your perspective of labor change after the pandemic?
Well, I would say it definitely showed how important it was with essential workers. It changed my perspective in the fact that people who had higher-up jobs, besides doctors, they just worked at home and the pandemic wasn’t a big deal. But, the people who are on the field, those are the ones who ended up getting labeled essential. I think it definitely shows the perspective that the people who are on the ground actually doing the work they’re extremely vital compared to those who are in the planning and managing side. They say that they’re important but when it came down to the nitty gritty, it was your everyday people who are on the ground getting their hands dirty who are important. So, I think it definitely showed the importance and how these jobs should be more valued in society. “Blue-collar” usually gets labeled as unskilled labor but it is definitely skilled labor. It’s extremely skilled. It’s so exhausting. Before the pandemic I hadn’t actually worked outside that much so when I came back after that’s what I started being in the field a lot more and I was like damn this s*** is backbreaking, I’m tired. This is the type of work that makes you go to bed at 7. I think Cal Poly, a school that prides itself on “learn-by-doing” should have more opportunities for students to get their hands dirty. Shoutout to Keiji and he had a construction class when I was going to school here. He had one semester where his class all they were doing was making the [Neutra] plaza. It was - I believe a second or third year
student - they took her design and said it’s good to go. The following year, she already graduated but Keiji ended up making a studio out of it and said, “You to be a part of my studio we’re going to build it ourselves.” They definitely had BrightView’s help but he had the students out there digging and doing it. So, I feel more opportunities like that should be more prevalent for sure.
— How has labor evolved from being a student in Landscape Architecture, and doing the behind the desk work, to doing the field work?
One, as a student in Landscape Architecture you’re always asking, “Who is interacting with the site?” You think of the client, you think of public users, you think about the animals and the ecology. I thought we were pushing it, to think, “Oh like it’s actually not the people it’s the animals who use the site the most.” But now that I worked in it, I’m like, oh the people who have the deepest connection and the most involvement with the landscape are the labor. The people who are actually taking care of the site and that’s what they do. Their 9-5 is being on site and making sure everything is good. I feel like it has changed my perspective as a designer. When I’m designing, I’m not just thinking of the people who are using it or like the animals being affected. But now I’m thinking about who has to take care of it and how can I as the designer make their lives easier. If my goal in 20 years is to have a beautiful forest, how can I set my maintenance crew up for success. And be able to help guide them to that goal. It has made me want to be more connected to my designs and not be like “I made a design here, now onto the next one” but to know they are each their own babies. I helped give birth to this one and you kind of have to grow up with it. It has some growing up to do and I think in Landscape Architecture designers should definitely be more involved and more knowledgeable in the process of taking it from year one to year 20 or year 50. Always checking up on it. I was taking notes and said put this plant here. But, in reality that’s the worst spot I could have put that plant because there’s a valve box or granite and like it’s so hard to maneuver. It has made me think a lot more and be a lot more aware. Who and what am I making?
A fourth year student with a summer internship at KDI
— What’s the first thing that pops in your mind when you think of labor in Landscape Architecture?
I guess working class people. Especially I guess, POC Mexican workers a lot. So it’s definitely, yeah, labor is racialized. As far as manual labor. I mean labor encompasses so much, but I guess that’s in terms of landscape. Landscaping is usually done by Mexican immigrants. So, there is some sense of racialization. But, with that also they do carry with them knowledge that either they brought with them or learned along the way. With labor there is also the passing down of knowledge of caretaking, taking care of plants, pruning, different techniques that they’ve probably learned in Mexico are now applied here, and specifically in landscaping here in LA, Southern California.
— So I see that you focus on the labor of the land. Why was that? Why is it the first thing you thought of compared to the labor behind the desk that we would do as designers or like the labor of community engagement that we’re doing now?
Yeah, no, that’s a good point. I guess because maintenance is such an important part. A design we do depends on maintenance to maintain the integrity of the design. And it’s usually the heavier work as far as physical labor. And for me, I guess that’s what I was more familiar with growing up. I’m Mexican American. So for me, Landscape Architecture was something I learned more academically later on in my early 20s, whereas landscaping is something that’s really visible in LA. It’s something you see, like I said, usually Mexican men in pickup trucks with the sticker saying, they have a permit for San Marino. This is something that’s more visible for me growing up in LA.
— So how has your idea of labor - and in this question I’m thinking more about the labor that we’ve done as students - changed since the pandemic?
I mean, it’s interesting that there was a whole new appreciation for essential workers. So that terminology is of the time of the pandemic, which kind of reframed certain work as, you know, necessary, not everybody had the privilege of working from home behind a desk. So, there was work that had to keep going on despite this global pandemic, obviously, in the healthcare field and in everything that we need as far as deliveries and mail people. So I think, for a short period of time, I would say, two years during the pandemic, there was more of an
appreciation of “essential workers.” But now, I think it has dissipated a bit. As far as people demanding pay, and organizing it was really visible during the pandemic. Those multiple strikes in multiple sectors. Another thing that it did at this moment was be a catalyst for a lot of people to express their dissatisfaction. We’re still required to work and produce, everything’s about producing and production. And our health is always kind of secondary to that. To at least the employers or the people who run the companies. So I think that disconnect became really hard to ignore during the pandemic. I don’t know how many strikes or people unionize, but it was visible when you saw it across sectors. There was a teachers strike, there was the school workers strike and LAUSD. Later on, the actors and screenwriters. So I think we all know the working class, we know that our work is valuable. But it did take some catastrophe type of event to put into perspective for other people.
— And personally in your own work ethic, how has the pandemic changed it?
I actually felt like I kind of allowed myself to prioritize my own care. It wasn’t just, produce produce produce, because that’s kind of what is expected of us as students. But I had some built in pushback. For example, I’m gonna go on a walk instead of being in class right now. I feel like it empowered me a bit to realize everything in this capitalist system is about production. And deadlines and you have to give, give, give, and oftentimes you don’t get what you deserve as far as either pay or compensation. And it allowed me to not just see myself as this cog and think I had to give 110% for my employer or for my professor. If I was happy with it, like for me, that was an achievement.
— Last question, how do you see yourself doing labor in Landscape Architecture in the future?
So I did, I did get an internship for the summer and I asked that question actually, is it all desk work or will I have an opportunity to be on the field? It is mostly desk work but the firm that I’m entering at, they did mention they do a lot of outreach events and site visits and things like that. So I feel I’m privileged to have that because I understand that usually you go straight to work as a “CAD monkey” work. But for myself I would love to connect with the land I would love to, especially work in areas that are in urban settings that have either brownfields or areas that have had some history of pollution contamination. How can we regenerate that? How can we help either through bioremediation and micro-remediation? Earth is my biggest teacher. I definitely feel like I want to be a land stewart. That, for me, is huge. How can I get back? I don’t want to build something and not think about the context of the place or the history of the land.
A fourth year student who is a horticulturalist at Armstrong Garden Centers
— What’s the first thing that pops into your mind when you think of labor in landscape architecture?
The labor in the landscape. I think just based on my unique work experience and background, I think about my co-workers, I think about the installers, the construction workers. Arguably the most underpaid people who are getting the least amount of recognition. That’s what I think of when I think of landscape architecture and labor.
— You reference the labor of the land. Why not the labor behind the desk? Or the labor of community engagement as well.
I think for me, it’s more of a personal thing. Because outside of school, when I’m not here, like that’s what I’m doing. I have a lot of reverence and respect for those kinds of workers because I think they have way shorter lifespans, they’re usually more socially economically disadvantaged. Not usually listened to or considered both in the design process and the install process. It’s really close to my heart and a lot of times when I have been in my internships, I have seen the laborer behind the desk, and that has a lot to do with it. Even during site visits I think there’s a lot of assumptions that the people doing installation, or the people working in nurseries don’t really know what they’re doing, and they’re not taken as seriously as professionals as the people who do have more white collar jobs behind the desk. But, they know everything, they might not know how to do AutoCAD but I guarantee you if we took the people behind the desk and put them in those jobs, they wouldn’t have a clue what to do.
—You see yourself in the future doing a desk job and I know a lot of students want to do something that kind of melds together, working with the land and behind the desk. So is there anything you would suggest to blend those two together?
I think, especially as we graduate, it’s important to kind of explore your options. I’m not too tied to still working just outside like I do now or behind the desk. I think like most people in our cohort, I’m trying to find a balance. I think a lot of times the people at the desks really have this idealized romanticized version of what it means to work with the land
and work outside and do those things. Where it’s really nice and there’s this benefit. It’s also really hard on you physically and emotionally. I don’t know, there’s just a lot to consider. I think both aspects in this career are really important. And I feel like everybody should have the opportunity to explore all the different sides of this field. And that’s how you make a well rounded designer.
— Why did you choose to work in horticulture?
I grew up with my mom and my grandma, who were always gardening and working outside and my great grandma was a botanist in France. So it’s kind of always like been in the background in my life. Especially someone who I think has always read the landscape and has noticed different typologies. Even when I was little I’ve always noticed myself being drawn outside looking at the systems and wanting to experience that. And then in community college, I just randomly took a horticulture class, like, “Oh, I like gardening, I like working outside.” I wasn’t too familiar with it. But about like two weeks into taking that class. I was like, Oh my gosh, this is what I want to do. I can’t picture myself doing anything else And after that, everything just fell into place. I really throw myself into whatever I’m doing. And I feel usually for me, that takes a lot of effort, but with horticulture it didn’t. I actually found myself wanting to go early to class and wanting to volunteer outside of it. It’s just something that just felt so natural to me.
— How has your experience helped you as a designer?
Oh, definitely just knowing plants is a bonus. I think about my experience at Saddleback, they were really horticulturally focused in their landscape design. Which I found to not be the case when I went to like other campuses and even here, I just I guess I thought it would be different. I thought there would be more of a focus on the horticultural and botanical systems in general. And well traditional design is really important. I feel like that’s something that we really lacked here or wasn’t so much of a focus on. So I feel really privileged and lucky to be able to come into this having that sort of knowledge. It’s definitely made me familiarized with not only the local ornamental kind of horticultural material that we have, but also with native landscapes and thinking more in terms of systems with ecology and plants. I feel like it gives me more of a unique vision in terms of design. I think there’s drawbacks of that too, because I always feel myself pulled towards the plants and ecology, but I feel really fortunate to be working and learning around different people who bring all sorts of different perspectives that we can learn from each other. So I think it’s really just the plants it’s made a huge difference. That and knowing about the labor process of the people working the land and always keeping them in mind.
A fourth year student who works as a Plant Service Merchandiser at Lowes everyday at 5 a.m.
— What’s the first thing that pops into your mind when you think of labor and Landscape Architecture?
The maintenance. Who is going to maintain the area of the space. Basically the labor that is going into it. Who is going to keep it watered, who is going to do the trimming, the gardening, the landscaping. All the hard work to keep the landscape in its prime.
— Why is the labor of the land the first thing you thought of? Why not the labor behind the desk that we do, the labor of community engagement to get outside opinion, and why not all three?
For me, it would be a mixture of the labor of the land and community engagement. I think I learned a lot of Cheryl’s class because who is going to maintain that space, are they going to get paid for it, who is really going to volunteer to do that. Yes, we do the labor behind the desk but that’s only short term. We only make the project because most of the projects when we ask about who is going to take care of it, that’s not our problem. That’s the first thing they say. So, it’s more so a mixture of community engagement and labor of the land. We design it, we put it together, and we’re done with it. They are the ones that are stuck with it, and if they are being paid proper positions. Because no one is going to work 2 hours a week to mow the lawn and that’s it.
— How has your idea of labor in general changed since the pandemic, both in the field and in school?
For me, labor, I just saw it as all forms of work anyone did. Now I see it as someone who works basically full time in a garden. When I think of labor, I think of people who hate their job. I think because it takes so much strength to go into a job you absolutely hate and do it again and again and again. It takes real f****** strength. Some people are just tired, I’m so tired. To continuously do that and deteriorate your health in that way is really brave. Yes you can do a job at a desk, but if you love that job, that’s not labor. You’re enjoying it, yes it is stressful at times and yes it is a bit of a workload. But, it’s not as harmful to you as someone who really hates what they’re doing.
— So, you think the work you do at Lowes right now is more labor then the work you are going to be doing as a Landscape Architect Designer?
Not nearly as intensive, at least physically. Mentally it is a bit more challenging. That’s the thing about a 9-5. You clock in, do your work, and then clock out and you’re done. You go work a labor intensive job. You go home and you are trying to rest your feet, your body because everything hurts. You want to sleep because you’re exhausted. It’s more long lasting compared to working a desk job.
— How has the pandemic changed your point of view on school?
It really taught me that you can really just get by with just a few words. At least for me personally, because high school was really hard for me. It was a really hard setting for me to sit down and try to focus because I have issues focusing. So, when everything became online and became really easy for me because I played class in the background and did something else while listening it gave me the ability to multitask and do a lot more things. For me, sitting in a classroom trying to just listen and actively listen doesn’t work for me.
— How do you see yourself doing labor in Landscape Architecture in the future?
I want to do a mixture of both labor with the land and work behind a desk. Yes, it would be pretty nice to do a desk job and just sit and do meetings and just go and talk to people and design. But, also to do that extra step to be outdoors and to be outside because I love to be outside. To take that extra step to work within the land and learning what it takes to take care of that land can also further influence my design. Something like, oh maybe I don’t want to plant that because that grows really crazy and that’s a lot of work to cut down and to keep it at that pretty little size they want. It gives me that second perspective that I wouldn’t get otherwise.
A fourth-year student with a design-build internship at SLA — What’s the first thing that pops in your mind when you think of labor and Landscape Architecture?
I love that question. I think of doing work, I think of people getting together and doing work that changes our environment. I think it’s oftentimes we think about labor and landscape architecture as separate things. Sitting in an office and the actual work of installing and maintaining the landscapes. Over the summer, I did a backyard project with a client that was interested in being part of the labor process and installation process, super low budget, but leading the way that the project was installed and leading everybody involved. I got so many takeaways. Ultimately, I think it’s a lot about relationships and care and knowledge. Knowledge of the landscape. One of the biggest takeaways from doing that project was how much information you get from working with land, whether you have that information or not, and whether you read it in a book or not. And that soil is really heavy. There’s always more soil, honestly, I felt like I was like little ants just using our bodies to change the landscape. It was really empowering the idea of using our physical bodies to change the landscape. In ways that would take like the wind or water or earthquakes a lot longer.
There’s so much information to be had. And I believe that people who work in land or work in landscaping, or work with the environment in a physical way, just get so much information that can be shared, beyond what we know. It informs so, so much. That experience has informed the way that I approached landscape design.
our design in the future. So, I do feel like working and observing work and participating, whether it’s on a community level or led by a team in the landscape is something everybody should experience design or alongside the design process.
— So, I noticed that you focused a lot on the labor of the land. Why did the labor behind the desk and the labor of community engagement take a backseat to the labor of the land?
I do feel like it’s all involved. The planning phase of design and the community engagement phase of people being involved in changes in their landscape is equally valuable. As is the knowledge that’s gained from installing and maintaining and working with the actual materials that are being put into the landscape. In the design process everything that’s being done, every line that’s being made is considering all of that, and that’s why design is such a mentally labor-intensive process. It’s a really creative thing that we get to do. What we do is really creative. I feel like each time that we get to observe the ways that landscape changes over time and maybe is successful over time, it will inform
— How has your idea of labor, in the context of schoolwork, changed since the pandemic?
I see the importance and necessity of labor as a collaboration. At first, I guess I thought that landscape design could be done in my bedroom, and we could create designs and implement them and grow as a designer, in an individual way. Thinking maybe it was something that I needed to do alone. But I’ve started working at a design-build internship recently and I’ve been learning a lot about how the work that one person on the team does influences everything. I guess that is a form of labor or involvement is just fully being present in a team and not actually taking on all of the roles and all of the hats but building that trust and being able to have the information to know what everybody’s capable of, but also creating nurturing spaces for us all to grow in a team.
I feel like the collaboration, it all goes back to relationships and working in the landscape. We’re so lucky to be working in a field that deals with living things. Because all living things depend on relationships with each other. It always goes back to the collaboration and the relationship aspect and with community engagement. I didn’t fully understand how community engagement had to relate to labor. In my internship, we started doing community engagements and we propose to do things like tree plantings. How do you share the knowledge of working in the land or share the ability to transform your landscape to the people who are living in the communities where the landscapes are? Ultimately, I feel like that’s what it is. I am learning more about the different ways that people’s ideas of what’s possible can be expanded based on what’s directly felt experiences, like physical experiences, working in spaces.
We started our Landscape Architecture career, all working in our bedrooms, and I think if we had had a more collaborative approach, it would have opened more doors for exploration in terms of what it means to work in a landscape. It all starts with teams. Everything is a team. I feel like the foundation of doing things as a team is something we all have to see for ourselves that’s necessary for things to go well and cultivate that.
— How do you see yourself doing labor in Landscape Architecture right after graduation? Do you see yourself doing work behind the desk? Would you rather work with the land? Would one maybe come before the other?
Yeah, I would love to do more. I would love to learn more about working the land and maybe exploring new ways to work with the land that aren’t using landscape standards or construction standards. I think a lot about different ways that we work in a land that can be from a caring perspective and how the impact of everything that we do from digging a hole to like taking a plant out of a pot shows how it can be done in a more intentional way. So something that I’m looking forward to learning more about is like long term management plans that take into consideration relationship building, between communities and ecosystems. Trying to learn a little bit more about what’s necessary to create a really clear framework that can be built upon and increases people’s interest in taking part in their landscapes. I feel like it’s so important that you can take control and landscape architecture students feel like they can change things around them. We’re all really important decision makers and we’re all really capable of having a say in these spaces that define our landscapes, whether that’s physical or through conversation, I feel like we can all be really changed through being involved in labor.
I think people want to see a lot of change. And one of the best ways to do that is all at once with everybody’s hands on deck. That does take a lot of change. I was having a conversation earlier about how we do need communities and sometimes it’s scary to say we all need to be in communities because we see the power struggles. Nothing is predictable when you’re working with a community of people, but that’s kind of the beauty. it becomes really specific and personal. I think that’s what we need. We need really specific and personal solutions to these larger issues.
Issue 2024.01. LABOR
Inspired by the African-American Diaspora’s cultural tradition, Subsurface CALL AND RESPONSE is an invitation to readers to participate in Subsurface discussions. We put out a CALL, and you submit a RESPONSE. CALL AND RESPONSE is a process of representing and sharing in the publication’s conversation on topics within in, adjacent to, and just outside of landscape architecture. Select responses will be published in the next issue of SUBSURFACE and/or our Instagram.
ISSUE 2024.01 CALL AND RESPONSE
CALL: What does climate change mean for you?
RESPONSE: Submit either a 50-word maximum written statement or poem or an original work of art BEFORE 11:59 PM PST SATURDAY 21 SEPTEMBER 2024 to subsurface.magazine08@gmail.com.
