LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE: A TERMINAL CASE?

Author(s): Heidi Hohmann, Joern Langhorst, Gary Hilderbrand, Peter Jacobs, Elizabeth
Meyer, Patrick A. Miller, James Palmer, Steven Velegrinis, Peter Walker and Jane
Gillette
Source: Landscape Architecture Magazine , APRIL 2005, Vol. 95, No. 4 (APRIL 2005), pp.
26, 28-34, 36, 38, 40-45
Published by: American Society of Landscape Architects

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 EIIĪOI'S CIUCI

LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE: A TERMINAL CASE?

Late last year, two faculty members at Iowa State University circulated
a manifesto to other departments of landscape architecture, charging that the field
has outlived its historic purpose. Read excerpts from the manifesto below, then read
what Gary Hilderbrand, FASLA; Peter Jacobs, FASLA; Elizabeth Meyer, FASLA;
Patrick A. Miller, FASLA; James Palmer, FASLA; Steven Velegrinis; and
Peter Walker, FASLA, and Jane Gillette had to say in response.

An Apocalyptic ademics and its profes ional practitioners.

In universities across the nation, researchers
1. Landscape architecture has
lost its roots in intellectual

Manifesto* poach methodologies from other, more
vibrant disciplines. Meanwhile, in profes-
By Heidi Hohmann, ASLA, sional offices, designers yoked to the bot-
tom line crank out pedestrian design.
and Joern Langhorst
We believe these problems are pervasive
and chronic. They indicate that landscape
century, landscape architecture is a architecture is not just troubled, but sick.
troubled profes ion, more distin- The condition of the patient is critical, re-
guished by what it lacks than the quiring immediate at ention.
AT guished qualities century,qualtitrieoubls thaetditTHEactualSyTARTpossesleasn. dsIt cape by that profes ion, what it of actual y the it architecture lacks more twenty-first posses es. than distin- is the It a
thought, culture, and literature.
Landscape architecture hardly resembles
its former incarnations. This loss of iden-
tity has occurred mainly because of its loss
of vital connections to other fields. His-
torically, landscape architecture main-
tained integral and dynamic relationships
to a variety of pursuits, from painting to
sewerage. In eighteenth-century England,
s
o
o

has no historiography, no formal theory, Six Symptoms for example, landscape architecture was, in
Cfì
ul
O
<

and no definition, direction, or focus. A concert

Proof of landscape architecture's decline can with painting and poetry, one of 2

vast schism currently exists betwe n its ac- the three graces, which together influenced
be found in the following six symptoms: Z
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ir
sc
z

cc
u.

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 EDITOR'S CHOICE

broader artistic ideas. In the nineteenth

century, landscape architecture was tied
to literary ideas and transcendentalism;
practitioners like Olmsted and Cleveland ture today no longer creates new ideas; itBrown, Repton, Price, and Knight were
worked alongside Emerson, Longfellow, simply interprets those of other disciplinessupported by the political power of
and Thoreau, extrapolating literature and in the media of turf and trees, earth, andwealthy landowners; Gilmore Clarke and
philosophy into built form. concrete pavers. Horace Albright linked their aspirations
Landscape architecture today has no to the careers and public policies of
such reciprocal connections to current 2. Landscape architecture no longer Harold Ickes, Franklin Delano Roosevelt,
music, literature, or even popular culture. has connections to power and
and Robert Moses. In contrast, landscape
politics that historically defined its
Landscape architects today are relegated to architects today hide from politics and re-
periods of greatest production,
the sidelines. Architects still largely view fuse to engage openly in the broader
innovation, and prestige.
landscape architects as mere helpmates, to world of public policy.
be ignored and abandoned when the econ- Historically, periods of professional visi- Nor does the profession register on the
omy is tight. bility and strength have also been charac-radar screens of the powerful. In 1804,
The relationship of landscape architec- terized by strong connections to politicalThomas Jefferson, then president of the
ture to its allied professions is today para-
regimes or to sources of power, money,United States, was well versed in landscape
sitic rather than mutual: It takes more and influence. André Le Nôtre designed gardening and clearly, based on his 1782
than it gives. Landscape architecture hasfor the Sun Kings just as Alphand andland survey act, understood the impor-
replaced original and inventive thought Hausmann created public open spaces un-tance of land and landscape on the future
with shameless, superficial borrowingder the dictatorship of Napoleon III. Thedevelopment of the United States. In
from other disciplines. Landscape architec-English Landscape Gardening School and 2004, however, does George Bush know

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 what landscape architecture is and under- Is the postmodern condition
stand its potential value? Or, more to the of landscape architecture its
point, perhaps, does Bill Gates? Who, be- extinction?

sides landscape architects, really cares

about landscape architecture?

Q
3. Landscape architecture has not
Q
replaced the loss of intellectual
2 roots and political leverage with any
2
new or important context or
support.
5

S
1 In particular, landscape architecture is not
è
à
important, more durable, and more visi-Landscape architecture today is overly con-
tied into popular culture in any meaning-
<

o
w
ble public work.
ful way. It has ignored the power inherent cerned with conservation. By this, we do
This is part of a continuing pattern. Fornot only mean that it seeks to conserve
UJ

ž in popular culture and popular ideas.

<
2
o Landscape architecture is too familiar,example: Landscape architects, pioneers of physical, natural, and cultural resources,
>- too seemingly simple: To build a house modem parkways in the 1930s, relinquished but that it also seeks to conserve econom-
<

o
a.
is complicated, but everybody can plant road
a ic, emotional, spiritual, and intellectual re-
design to engineers in the 1950s, rele-
tree and mow a lawn. Landscape archi- gating themselves to highway planting de-sources. Landscapes today are constructed
<
z
<

LU
cc
tects have allowed others - Martha Stew- sign. In a similar way, urban planning has to preclude consequences: to avoid contro-
D

O
art, cable TV - to promote gardening as largely
a become the domain of architects, versy, to prevent cost overruns, and to avert
ü
ī
CC
consumer activity. Such professional transportation engineers, and developers. liability. The resulting landscapes of prac-
<
UJ
CL lethargy is in marked contrast to Garrett tice are uniform, built to CLARB standards
<

Eckbo and Larry Halprin's use of Sunset4. Landscape architecture, as of imagination.

O
w
o
z
<
magazine to popularize their work and currently practiced, is a deeply In other words, the fearful field of land-
s

then leverage this popularity into moreconservative activity. scape architecture takes few risks and
o
oc

iJBHj
w^œuntr^^®cûiïïN
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EDITOR'S CHOICE
resists change. Philip Johnson said that de-
signers limit themselves by leaning on
standard practices. These "crutches" (as he
called them) still seem relevant to land-
scape architecture:
• the crutch of history (doing what's
been done before);
• the crutch of the pretty drawing (so,
today's is digital);
• the crutch of utility (landscape archi-
tecture is nothing if not a useful profes-
sion);
• the crutch of comfort (both the de-
signer's and the client's);
• the crutch of cheapness (no comment);
and
• the crutch of structure (if there's or-
der, it's okay).
As long as the field is supported by
these crutches, we question landscape ar-
chitecture's ability to reinvent itself in the
face of social and environmental change.
5. Landscape architecture today has
no central or core defining values.
This lamentable situation is new. Histori-
cally, periods of professional dynamism
and strength in landscape architecture are
correlated with strong social agendas. In
the early 1800s, the profession's gestation
period, landscape architecture existed for a
particularly compelling reason: the ame-
lioration of social conditions caused by in-
dustrialization. It is no coincidence that
landscape architecture gained prominence
through the success of the Olmsteds in the
late nineteenth and early twentieth cen-
turies in the United States, where a dem-
ocratic political system, combined with a
huge influx of immigrants, accelerated so-
cial reform in the face of modernization.
Such professional strength, through a
connection to social reform, also character-
ized the 1930s, when landscape architects
created new typologies such as parkways
and residential subdivisions, while imple-
menting the quasi-socialist vision of the
Roosevelt administration. The 1950s and
1960s were another period of professional
vigor, fueled by the social ideals of Modem
architecture as transformed and translated
into landscape by the likes of Garret Eck-
bo, James Rose, Hideo Sasaki, M. Paul
Friedberg, and Larry Halprin.
In contrast, landscape architecture to-
day lacks a compelling and unifying social
agenda. Instead, it is scattered among
ever-increasing and increasingly disparate
types of practice, ranging from garden de-
sign to GIS applications. But these prac-
tice types define activities, and activities
do not provide a professional raison d'etre.
As a result, no one, not even landscape ar-
chitects, knows what landscape architec-
ture really is.
6. If landscape architecture
cannot define a current direction,
neither can it cope with its status
as an undefined and undefinable
profession.
In 1981, Stephen Krog 's article "Is It Art?"
unleashed a brief firestorm of vitriolic de-
bate on the nature of landscape architec-

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ture. Is landscape architecture art? Is it ap-
plied art, or is it science? The debate has
Landscape architecture today is
distinctly anticontroversy, and as
intermittently continued over the past 20-
odd years, begging the question of whether
the profession could actually be all of them
simultaneously.
a result the field doesn't know how
Considering that none of the allied pro-
fessions of art, architecture, and engineer- to critically evaluate work or what
ing seem to have such existential angst,
the major result of such debate seems to to do with criticism when it gets it.
be the revelation that landscape architec-
ture is hamstrung by its own ambiguous
nature. Anything landscape architecture sion." Such cures vary from reforming 1. The development of a critical
does - whether it's site engineering, site education to "designing with nature," "ex- discourse will reenergize landscape
ecology, environmental art, site design, panding the field," "recovering landscape," architecture's moribund nature.
planting plans, sustainable design, cultur- and "(de)forming, in(form)ing, and reform-
al criticism - another field can do it, and ing) landscape." Critical dialogue isn't a solution to land-
do it better. Despite their catchy slogans, these ther- scape architecture's problems in part be-
apies have done little to heal the patient. It cause the field has never sustained a critical
is There a Cure? seems to us that its time to more closely ex- dialogue. Landscape architecture has nev-
If there is consensus that landscapeamine
archi-
the many proposals to reinvigorate er had a major critical voice, preferring
tecture is an ailing profession, then there architecture. In the following sec- commentators or observers like Grady
landscape
has also been no shortage of proposed ther-
tion, we dissect five of the most blatantly Clay, J. B. Jackson, and John Dixon Hunt
apies. Well-meaning members of the pro- and most frequently presented over "real" architectural critics like Ada
optimistic
fession regularly offer up panaceascures
in the
to determine what, if any, promise Louise Huxtable, Herbert Muschamp, and
exciting guise of "redefining the profes-
they hold for reviving the patient. Robert Campbell. Landscape architecture

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 landscape architecture knows what it is, preexisting disciplines. As a result, the
EDITOR'S CHOICE no one else will, either. profession's multiple areas of activity are
now spawning multiple theories, theories
3. The formulation of a body of the big thinkers of the profession would
theory will unify the disparate like to parlay into a unifying theory of de-
activities of landscape architecture
today is distinctly anticontroversy, and as sign. But is this really possible? Seeing
a result the field doesn't know how to crit- and provide a direction for the field.
landscape architecture as a unifying dis-
ically evaluate work or what to do with The lack of landscape architectural theory cipline, an incarnation of cross-, inter-,
criticism when it gets it. would appear to be a problem, at least to the- and transdisciplinarity, might be heart-
oretical thinkers. But is the development of warming but seems a little presumptuous
2. If landscape architecture could landscape architecture theory a viable solu- given the profession's current insularity.
learn to present its contributions
tion to the waning nature of the profession?
to human welfare in a more
Theory is an intellectual practice, and as 4. Ecology and sustainable design
convincing manner, it would be will breathe new life into landscape
a field emerging from the earth, landscape
understood and embraced by all. architecture, which will then become
architecture has always had a distinctly
the bastion of applied ecology and
This remedy proposes that landscape ar-anti-intellectual streak, which grows strong-
the protector of the Earth.
chitecture is merely a misunderstood pro-
er as a global market and service economy
fession, unknown to the public at large,are brought to bear on the profession. The- Though often presented as a new and rev-
and that its problems will be solved by ory will please academics but will do little olutionary concept, ecology was not ab-
better - and more - communication withto bridge the growing gulf between aca- sent at the roots of the profession, as seen
the public. demics and practice. in the work of designers as diverse as Rep-
However, the inability of the profession And what is landscape architectural ton, Olmsted, and Jensen. Their pictur-
to convey its value to the public is not so theory? Much of what's being proposed as esque/ pastoral landscape ideal - a highly
much a function of poor communication theory is appropriated from other fields - diverse landscape, a dense mosaic of differ-
as it is a result of the professions dis- probably necessary given that landscape ent habitats, well connected and rich in
comfort with its ambiguous nature. Until architecture evolved from a diverse set of ecotones - is the image that underlies,

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The inability of the profession to convey its value
to the public is not so much a function of poor
communication as it is a result of the profession's
discomfort WS WS BS «Ss» W with ™ ™ S® yftjWi its ™ WR ambiguous wJSW W ÄW w ww ^81P^ WSW SB nature. Ä wSWI VļpriHI flw WKpT IR
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formal and technical

implicitly or explicitly, most constraints
"ecological" culture determined by multivalent post-
and should be reinvented as such.
designs to this day. modern pluralism is necessary for experi-
In light of landscape
The question of whether architecture's
ecology mentation, and this does not sit well with
is dis-
just
connect
a green veneer for the from economic or
profession and political
whetherlandscape architecture's conservative base
landscape architecture becomes
power, this ecological
would seem a rather grandil-
values: its lack of risk taking and anticon-
oquent statement.
design is mostly semantics. TheYet despite
largerthe field's
issue
troversial attitudes. The landscape exper-
obvious lack of power
is that landscape architecture isand influence toiment is therefore undertaken by other
inextricably
implement its own creations, the hope disciplines.
caught in the nature-culture/art-science of di-
a "new"
alectic, and by trying toexperimental
be both landscape
art architec-
and sci-
ence and nature andture persists.
culture, DOES THE PATIEM HAVE
the profession
THE WILE 10 LIVE?
In fact, landscape architecture used to
does a good job at neither.
be an experimental field, aligning itself
It is also possible that no amount of medical
5. Landscape architecture
with and participatingis
in the big cultur-
heroics will save the ailing patient. What
uniquely situated to be an
al projects of enlightenment and mod-if, for instance, the failure of landscape ar-
experimental field less bound by
ernism. Today, however, participation inchitecture
a is contained in its genetics?

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 EDITOR'S CHOICE
The existence of landscape architecture
as a concept, as coined by J. C. Loudon,
dates only to 1840, and its use as a profes-
sional title to 1862, when Olmsted and
Vaux described themselves as landscape
architects. The field coalesced from a di-
verse set of related pursuits - among
them agriculture, building, architecture,
gardening, and painting/representa-
tion - in response to a particular set of po-
litical and cultural conditions, including
increasing populations, urban growth, the
rise of individualism, and industrializa-
tion, in the late eighteenth and early nine-
teenth centuries.
However, the forces that held a dis-
parate set of activities together as the dis-
cipline of landscape architecture are no
longer functioning. Modern conditions
have given way to a set of new, postmod-
ern social and political conditions, includ-
ing multiculturalism and globalization.
Unfortunately, landscape architecture is
demonstrating an inability to accommo-
date these basic ideas of postmodernism,
especially the dissolution of the nature-
culture dichotomy.
We suspect that landscape architec-
tures critical condition indicates that the
profession is on its deathbed. But should
we continue to administer care? Should
we really desire to resuscitate the patient?
Might landscape architecture not be a
field whose time has come and has now
passed? Are landscape architects like
other defunct nineteenth-century profes-
sionals such as farriers, wheelwrights,
chimney sweeps, and bloodletters? Has
landscape architecture now become a
practice of nostalgia?
What if landscape architecture disin-
tegrated back into a set of related dis-
ciplines much as existed prior to its
creation? Is it time, we wonder, to just
pull the plug and put landscape architec-
ture out of its misery?
Heidi Hohmann, ASLA, and Joern Lang-
horst are assistant professors in the Landscape
Architecture Department at Iowa State
University.
34 J Landscape Architecture april 2005
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Responses to !
"An Apocalyptic Manifesto" ļ
t;
I'VEwas was
I'VE affirming
affirming andaaloaded
ALWAYS loaded
directed, likedeclaration
and declaration THOUGHT
the
Futur-
ist Marinetti s roaring race car, speeding
toward the new beauty without looking
back. The "Apocalyptic Manifesto" seems
flaccid and skeptical by comparison.
For the past six or seven years, I have
asked students in my graduate seminar
to write an opinion piece based on their
choice of given hypotheses. These were
general and probably too upbeat - "a
critical momentum is building" or
"landscape is becoming the site or the
subject in countless related fields" - but
they were directed at landscape architec-
ture's relevance in the wider culture -
something I firmly believe in.
This apocalyptic effort appeared to me
rather unprovocative, but it's a healthy
discussion. If this is what drives students
to be consumers and ultimately produc-
ers of critical thought, I am all for it. But
for me, the indeterminate nature of the
field is a positive attribute, not a weak-
ness. Why seek an autonomous, heroic
status for theory, as architects used to do
before they began apologizing for it?
Practice demonstrates that the substance
of landscape sites and projects is rich and
compelling, and I don't see this declin-
ing. It's getting better all the time, and
practitioners and scholars should face up
to it with leadership and conviction.
Students come to the field largely be-
cause they are naively attracted to beauti-
fication or genuinely drawn to the allure
of environmental correctives. It is up to
their teachers to help them see landscape
architecture as a transformative agent. If
This content downloaded from
directed, like of aof
intention,
the manifesto intention, Futur-
I
teachers can't discern the appreciable rise
of opportunities and imperatives for prac- A
tice today, and if they don't help their stu-
dents appropriate landscape terms across F
disciplinary and cultural boundaries, then
G
I'll agree we are in trouble.
Gary Hilderhrand, FASLA, is principal of
Reed Hilderhrand and adjunct associate pro-
fessor at Harvard Design School.
Hoiď That Eulogy!
PETER JACOBS, FASLA
Concern
Concern well-being
ture, well-being
ture, anxiety
anxiety about fortheof direction ofof thelandscape
about landscape the health directionarchitec-
architec- and of
current theory and practice, and dismay
over the repetition of design formulas
The manifesto is a cry
of concern that needs
to be heard, analyzed,
and attended to.
that no longer correspond to current and
future needs are all signs of a field and
profession in flux - aware of its limita-
tions and attempting to do something
about them. "An Apocalyptic Mani-
festo" is one such attempt.
The manifesto is a cry of concern that
needs to be heard, analyzed, and attend-
ed to. It is a legitimate complaint that the
field relies too heavily on past models of
practice and on outdated rhetoric. It sug-
gests that the field is critically ill and asks
if we should "just pull the plug and put
landscape architecture out of its misery."
The problem is that it neither affirms an
ideology nor provides a demonstration in
EDITOR'S CHOICE An Apocalyptic Manifesto" is neither a manifesto -
"a public declaration of motives and intentions" -
the form of a project. Hence, it should be
read as criticism and evaluated as such. nor apocalyptic- revelatory and disclosing. It is a
An ideology comprises principles that
are affirmed, without elaborate justifica- list of complaints and contradictory assertions.
tion, as self-evidently true. The field of
landscape architecture has a good record of Criticism that is rigorous, well refer-the whining of those who are not satisfied
innovative manifestos. Occasionally, these enced, and attuned to cultural context and with the profession but who are unen-
are organized as the Eckbo, Kiley, and that offers the reader a better understand-gaged in changing it. It is the yearning of
Rose articles were in the Architectural ing and appreciation of a project, process, those who desire theory in a design field to
Record( 1939/1940), affirming the need for
or program is essential to a healthy profes-share the predictive role of theory in the
a modern approach to landscape architec-sion. As a critique, however, "An Apoca-natural sciences.
ture. Later, Lawrence Halprin argued for alyptic Manifesto" is not very rigorous. If authors Hohmann and Langhorst
participatory approach to design in the While it is well referenced in the North think landscape architecture can be re-
RSVP Cycles (1970), while Ian McHargAmerican context, it assumes that the fieldduced to site engineering, site ecology, en-
initiated an ecological approach in Designis uniformly defined and practiced world- vironmental art, site design, planting
with Nature (1969). More recently, "Ourwide; and while it provides provocative plans, sustainable design, and cultural
prose, it offers little insight as to how thecriticism - all of which can be accom-
Common Future" (1987), the report of the
World Commission on Environment and "patient" might be healed. plished better by someone else - let them
Development chaired by Gro Harlem Few contemporary fields are as resolute-diagnose their landscape architecture pa-
Brundtland, introduced the idea of sus-ly attuned to the dynamics of culture and tient as terminal. The practice of land-
tainable development, which has informed of nature, to process and to product, asscape architecture I see is alive and has
a number of new approaches to shapinglandscape architecture. Even fewer havenever been better.
the contemporary landscape. All have con-the seemingly continuous ability to rein- I could argue with most of Hohmann
tributed constructive ideas and fueled vig-vent themselves. In so doing, landscape ar-and Langhorst s assertions, but they offer
orous debate. chitecture has acquired rich layers of ideasno evidence, so there's nothing to argue
Criticism evaluates the programmaticand of practice. Clearly, many componentsagainst. Rather, I would like to examine
and physical outcome of ideas and the prin-have withered and died, but this too pro-their thesis, as it is founded on a serious
ciples on which they are based. The critic isvides a necessary layer of humus for a field
case of mistaken identity due to "eyes that
an arbiter of form and of content whoseof study and of practice defined in largecannot see."
credibility rests on an extensive understand-measure by ideology, projects, and criti- Contrary to the manifesto s claim, the
ing of a particular subject matter, evaluatingcism. In any case, a eulogy for landscape
profession of landscape architecture is not
proposals, and providing insights into proj-architecture is very premature. the same as the field of landscape architec-
ects. The field of landscape architecture de- ture or the practice of designing and mak-
fines itself predominately in terms of itsPeter Jacobs, FASLA, is a professor of land-ing landscapes. Their manifesto includes a
ability to realize its ideas in projects. scape architecture at the Université de Mon-graphic that shows literature, painting,
Recently, a growing body of literaturetréal and past chair of the College of Seniorphysics, botany, engineering, philosophy,
and of criticism has begun to exert someFellows, Landscape and Garden Studies, and architecture being funnelled into land-
influence on theory and practice. The Land-
Dumbarton Oaks. His consulting practice fo-scape architecture around 1840. This chart
scape Series edited by John Dixon Huntcuses on urban design and regional landscapeimplies that the theory and practice of
(1998), the Spacemaker Press series (1997),development. landscape design and planning did not ex-
and more recently the first of a planned se- ist before 1840, which is not the case. This
ries of critical texts from the Contemporary is chronicled in dozens if not hundreds of
Collection at Dumbarton Oaks (2004), ed- articles and books on garden and landscape
ited by Michel Conan, are but a few exam- Eyes M Cannot See? history, despite Hohmann and Langhorst s
ples of this emerging body of literature. assertion that there is no historiography in
Professional and academic landscape jour-
Elizabeth Meyer, fasla
nals have begun to adopt a more critical((IN APOCALYPTIC Manifesto" is nei-
tone with respect to practice. Louisiana II ther a manifesto - "a public decla- As a critique, "An
State University School of Landscape Ar- n ration of motives and intentions" (as
chitectures "Critiques on Built Works" se-the authors claim) - nor apocalyptic - Apolcalyptic Manifesto"
ries, initiated in 1994, is not the lonelyrevelatory and disclosing. It is a list of
pioneer it once was. complaints and contradictory assertions - is not very rigorous.

36 J Landscape Architecture april 2005

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EDITOR'S CHOICE While pronouncing the death of the
profession may seem extreme, the
the field. The linear nature of this
graphic ignores that garden and resulting debate is vital in shaping
landscape design has been located
at the theoretical and practical in- the future of landscape architecture
tersection of a number of fields for
centuries. In all likelihood, the
practice and theory of designing
landscapes will exist after what we call
landscape architecture has been trans-
formed into something else.
Why do I focus on the difference be-
tween landscape architecture as a profes-
sional practice and landscape architecture
as a cultural practice, a field, and a disci-
pline? Currently, there is broad interest in
site, landscape, ecology, process, and sus-
tainability within the design and planning
fields. If, as I do, you care about thinking
about and making landscapes, you don't
care where the interest comes from. I am
invigorated by the proliferation of theories
about and practices related to landscape.
What defines the boundaries of my work?
My interests? Or my profession? My in-
terests led me to take course work 30 years
ago in architecture, planning, urban de-
sign, landscape architecture, architectural
history, and historic preservation and to
read broadly across a range of other fields.
From my perspective, landscape architec-
ture is alive and robust, cross-pollinating
and morphing in unpredictable ways. Ex-
tinction? Only if you define landscape ar-
chitecture from a narrow perspective
where identity is tied to professional asso-
ciations and meetings.
The field and disciplines are different
from the profession. Professions, by defi-
nition, protect their boundaries. Fields do
not. They exploit boundaries and chal-
lenge conventions. My colleagues in other
professional schools such as law and med-
icine are not alarmed by the interdiscipli-
nary colonization of scholarly areas
such as law and family psychology,
law and economics, medicine and bio-
engineering. Why should landscape
architects worry about the intersection
of landscape architecture and urban
design (landscape urbanism), or land-
scape architecture and ecology (eco-
logical infrastructure), or architecture
38 J Landscape Architecture april 2005
103.113.156.89 on Mon, 04 Mar 2024 17:36:00 +00:00
in an increasingly complex world.
and ecology (sustainability)? This is an ex-
citing time, when more people are inter-
ested in landscape as a medium, a set of
practices, and a network of activities than
ever before in my lifetime.
I teach in a new department of archi-
tecture and landscape architecture, which
combined two strong but complementa-
ry departments in 2003. Some see this as
alarming, a loss of professional identity. I
see it as a powerful opportunity to reimag-
ine buildings, landscapes, and settle-
ments. While I understand the value of
accreditation and professional standards,
academia is not the arena to reinforce the
profession. We move it forward. Do we
want to eliminate the professions? No. Do
we want to change how they view the
scope and ambition of their internal the-
ories and practical relationships to one an-
other? Absolutely. We are not going to
get there by assuming the professions will
not change and trying to work within ex-
isting norms. For those practitioners who
have long assumed academia was either a
professional training ground or an enclave
for those wanting to escape the "real" world,
take note. We have a different role in mind.
We are serious about change. Fields and dis-
ciplines overlap with, but are not encapsu-
lated within, professions. The manifesto s
graphic should not be linear but a chronicle
of serial constellations of related, but not al-
ways consistent, disciplines.
I suspect that Hohmann and Langhorst
cannot find evidence of landscape architec-
If one thing ties our diverse
profession together, it is a set of
values about the environment
and the quality of human life.
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ture's pulse because they don't
know where to look. Have they
traveled recently? I have found mo-
ments of great joy over the past
decade experiencing the works of
numerous landscape architects.
Yes, the "masterworks" of genera-
tions before me, such as Le Nôtre,
Olmsted, Asplund and Lewerentz,
Gaudi, and Scarpa, but also Dan
Kiley, Rich Haag, Peter Walker,
Laurie Olin and Lawrence Halprin, Beth
Gali, Bet Figueras, Robert Murase, Mario
Schjetnan, Walter Hood, Claude Cormier,
Michael Van Valkenburgh, Pam Burton,
Andy Cao, Martha Schwartz, Ken Smith,
and George Hargreaves. And more recent-
ly, I have been told about or read about
works that I cannot wait to see because they
touch a chord or provoke me: works by
West 8, Dieter Kienast, Reed Hilderbrand,
Corner's Field Operations, Mathur,
Oslund, Nelson Byrd Woltz, Kim, Wenk
Associates, Desvigne and Dalnocky,
Gustafson, Corajoud, and Descombes.
No body of contemporary theory?
What have they read lately? There are a
half-dozen anthologies of accessible con-
temporary landscape architecture theory
that have been published in the past few
years, in addition to provocative writings
by Berrizbeitia and Pollak, Howett, Hunt,
Corner, Czerniak, Hill, Marot, Mathur,
Rosenberg, and Spirn.
What is the role of theory, and what is
its relationship to design practice? Like
most young academics in the 1980s, I on-
ly found my theoretical voice after trying
on the voices of others - cultural critics,
feminist theorists, geographers, ecocritics.
But the motivation for finding my voice,
the voice of a landscape architect ground-
ed in the physical and intellectual worlds,
and the inspiration to continue refining it
has always come from the revelation of be-
ing in a space that makes me feel more
alive, connected to the world, and intense-
ly animated. And that makes me want
to share that experience of revelation
with others. As M. H. Abrams wrote
more than 50 years ago, aesthetic the-
ory does not predict; it offers terms
and principles out of which we can
judge or interpret the designs of oth-
ers. It does not seek universais but the
particulars of a place shaped by human
 EDITOR'S CHOICE

KINGSLEY-BATE ! intention, in the hopes of intensifying the

Elegant Outdoor Furniture in Solid Teak act of perceiving and receiving that work
and, yes, perhaps the conceiving of future
landscapes.
Landscape architecture for me is a cul-
tural practice, not just a professional prac-

^ I jią I qSÍ
tice. It is an act of revelation, disclosure,
uncovering, and discovery - the very def-
inition of apocalyptic. Practice is hard. So
is theory. All the more reason to revel in
those works that rise above the norm that
Hohmann and Langhorst can't see be-
The world's finest teakwood. Uncompromising craftsmanship. Fair
yond. Sight is a facility; seeing is an art
that requires practice and that must be re-
pricing. And, unbeatable service. These are the things that have
hearsed by each generation, on its own
terms. It's time to stop whining and start
made Kingsley~Bate America's leading manufacturer and distributor
practicing.

of superior teak outdoor furniture since ¡983. k'ingsley -Bate

Elizabeth Meyer, FASLA, is an associate pro-
fessor at the University of Virginia. She has
furniture , built for more than a lifetime - built for generations . been a registered landscape architect for 18
years. Her most recent theoretical ivriting i(Site
Citations " is published in Carol Burns and
Andrea Kahn1 s anthology, Site Matters
(Routledge, 2005).

The Patient Is Alive and Well

Patrick A. Miller, fasla

AAA N APOCALYPTIC Manifesto" is reál-
ii ly an obituary, not a manifesto. The
il authors have undertaken a post-
mortem, but unfortunately someone for-
got to check the patient's pulse - for this
patient is alive and well.
There are more landscape architects,
more students, more graduates, and more
ASLA members today than there have ever
been in the past. The profession is being
increasingly called upon to deal with crit-
ical problems facing our society: human
health (fighting the obesity epidemic
through design for active living), green in-
frastructure (the cleansing veins and ar-
teries of our cities), and safe and secure en-
vironments for our citizens.
7200 Gateway Court, Manassas, Virginia 20109
But I suspect the authors know this and
t 703-361-7000 f 703-361-7001 www.kingsleybate.com are baiting us. They are challenging us not
to take our existence for granted. While
CIRCLE 090 ON READER SERVICE CARD OR GOTO WWW.ASLA.ORG/FREEINFO.HTML their method - pronouncing the death of

40 J Landscape Architecture april 2005

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 This is an exciting time,
^KĒĒĒĒĒĒĒĒĒĒĒĒĒĒĒĒĒlĒltĒtĒĒĒtliĒĒĒĒĒĒĒĒĒĒĒĒĒI^^r
when more people are
interested in landscape
as a medium, a set of
How often should
practices, and a network you expect to replace
of activities than ever
clay pavers in a city
before in my lifetime. sidewalk?
the profession - may seem extreme, I be-
lieve the resulting debate is vital in shap- Paver sidewalks are typically serviceable
ing the future of landscape architecture in beyond 40 years - and in Boston's case -
as increasingly complex world. 200 years and counting. For all the technical ^
We know that the world is changing
paver information you need, go to our new website. |^YJk
very rapidly. We must carve out new roles A completely comprehensive resource when you 1|»){'Y7TTkI>lB
for the profession at home and abroad. In an
are specifying pavers. Or to talk to a human , HaAmQKJI
increasingly development-oriented world,
contact our paving engineer at 703-674- 1 540.
landscape architects must go beyond static
plans and help people visualize alternate fu- Real pavers
tures. We must mediate the contested www. gobrick. com/pa vers/landarch are made of brick.
ground between the natural world and hu-
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man needs while maintaining dignity for
all people. At no other time have landscape
architects been more needed than in the de-
veloping world today.
The authors of the manifesto claim that
the profession "lacks central or core defin-
ing values." I disagree. If one thing ties our
diverse profession together, it is a set of val-
ues about the environment and the quali-
ty of human life. I believe these values are Combination I
captured very well in the ASIA Declaration
Model 760 In-ground Swing Onte Operator ■
on Environment and Development.
The authors also lament the lack of a
theoretical base for the profession at a time
when academic practitioners are debating
whether "design" and "research" faculties
should be separated. I believe we should be
doing just the opposite. Theories are just PhoneLink Telephone Entry System ■
generalized rules that help us make deci-
sions. If current research isn't feeding the
profession, we need to broaden our defini-
tion of research to include other forms of
scholarship. I believe the Landscape Archi-
tecture Foundation is doing this with its
case study series. Nor should scholarship ■RHļļļļļļļH
be left to the academic practitioners. It is
the professional duty of all practitioners
to engage in thoughtful reflection about
their work. Research is critically important CIRCLE 050 ON READER SERVICE CARD OR GO TO WWW.ASLA.ORG/FREEINFO.HTML

april 2005 Landscape Architecture | 41

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 EDITOR'S CHOICE
« Vć" >.'

^ , fmmpmmmm^ * |&^j?VH *>* ¿K* <.*■> T '

■■KÉHkÉÉÉHÉiÉ^K^l^^..'5... .,,... ',: .... :

if landscape architecture is to evolve to

meet the challenges of a new and more
complex world.

Patrick A. Miller, FASLA, is a professor in the

Landscape Architecture Department at Virginia
Tech and the current president of AS LA. His ar-
ticle, "A Profession in Peril?" (Landscape Ar-
chitecture, August 1997) was cited in the
manifesto.

No Evidence Presented

of "Consensus That

Landscape Architecture

- _ Is an Ailing Profession"
James Palmer, fasla

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4t»T JlMiBSfc *«1% &4V* ^1

IDO "consensus that landscape architecture
è 4t»T JlMiBSfc *«1% &4V* Ì IDOfrom^1
is "consensus an NOTprofession."
is an ailing ailing SEE profession. " that EVIDENCE
It seems
the perspective of those in private
healthylandscape It presented seems architecture healthy of a

practice with whom I talk: They have nev-

E liiiriG
liiiriG$$8
$$8 i®i®W f&g£
W *»m¡
f&g£ *»m¡ sas ife&saaaaa« *% .: ^WSl^^B^BSWBfcv
sas ife&saaaaa« er been busier and are doing an increasing

_ Irrigation è Golf ¿ industrial .jJBSļ^^^^^^BĒļĒļĒ diversity of work. Certainly most of my

colleagues at the SUNY College of Envi-
ronmental Science and Forestry are en-
gaged in community design and planning
projects that individuals and communities
seem to think are important. The state of
New York (which has been antagonistic to
planning for a half century) thinks many of
these projects are important enough to
sponsor. So it seems that we may not even
have a consensus of what "ailing" means,
let alone that our profession is ailing.
I find it odd that the manifesto authors
ipii I«Kie»ÄMJ
I«Kie»ÄMJ expect that change will come from the

Landscape and Irrigation mainstream of landscape architecture

practice. Is the mainstream ever anything

Experts but conservative? Isn't the new and better

way always demonstrated by those on the
for all y0ur design specifications. fringe?
Water Features | Low Voltage Lighting | Drainage Pipe and Fittings What is landscape architecture? I be-
Central Control Systems | Irrigation Products and Tools | Turf and Horticulture Products lieve it is the activity of planning and de-
signing landscapes to help communities
and clients understand what is appropri-
CIRCLE 049 ON READER SERVICE CARD OR GO TO WWW.ASLA.ORG/FREEINFO.HTML ate and possible in their world. Landscape

42 J Landscape Architecture april 2005

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 architects must know about art, history,
natural science, social science, and the like
because such knowledge is useful in solv-
ing their planning and design problems. I

Herringbone,
agree with the manifesto authors that these
other fields are not what landscape archi-
tecture is, nor do they provide the theories
of landscape architecture; they simply pro- basketweave, stacked
vide useful information and theory that al-
low us to do what we do.
bond or running bond -
James Palmer, FASLA, is a professor of land-
scape architecture at SUNY ESF in Syracuse,
which pattern is best for
New York . His response originally appeared on vehicular traffic?
the LARCH-L Digest.

The herringbone pattern best resists

the forces of vehicular traffic. Forali
Any Creative Reíd Could Be the technical paver information you need, go to
our new website. A completely comprehensive Ir/YJk
Tarred with the Same Brush
resource when you are specifying pavers. Or to BpMfTTTplîiM
Steven velegrinis talk to a human, contact our paving engineer at

manifesto authors for caring enough to Real pavers

I prepareprepare
SUPPOSEa challenging
manifestoanda challenging
reasoned viewKUDOS authors should for and caring be reasoned given enough to view the to www. gobrick. com/pavers/landarch are made of brick.
of the supposed "crisis" facing landscape CIRCLE 026 ON READER SERVICE CARD OR GOTO WWW.ASLA.ORG/FREEINFO.HTML
architecture.
I see an equally arguable crisis in archi-
tecture, where 99 percent of buildings
lack any intellectual interest and suffer
from the same ailments that affect us poor
landscape architects. If we look at the
broad spectrum of the architecture of our
times, is there any central or unifying the-
ory to it? I think not. Architecture, just
like landscape architecture, is defined to-
day by plurality (and a great deal of pedes- HHHjjE
trian design). Ecology, art, and just about
any other creative field could be tarred
with the same brush. .... ...

Without the pedestrian design that

3 acres including ten
typifies most design work, the jewels residential^ scaled
would be very hard to recognize. Do we 'Idea gardens" within the

actually think that Olmsted and Vaux, larger 50 acre botanical

garden operated by
Brown, and Repton were the only land-
S the City of Orlando.
scape designers of their time? When we
Look back at their remaining work, it
Stabilizer Solutions, Inc.
seems remarkable, but we don't see the
millions of other, less remarkable designs Pho^^rizwra 85034 USA NaWrally Binding Crushed Stone Trails, Driveways and Parking
that have long since vanished.
info@stabiiizersoiutions.com "We used Stabilizer in all of our paths,
At the end of the day, I feel comfortable
www.stabiiizersoiutions.com fl/jrf we are very happy with the results. "
that landscape architecture is not a dying Toll frpp tp|

profession. I still get great inspiration 800 • 336-2468 Robert Bowden-Director, Leu Gardens, Orlando FL
from people like James Corner, Richard
Weller, Bernard Lassus, and Peter Jacobs, CIRCLE 149 ON READER SERVICE CARD OR GOTO WWW.ASLA.ORG/FREEINFO.HTML

april 2005 Landscape Architecture | 43

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 EDITOR'S CHOICE

not to mention the countless other educa-

tors who push the landscape architecture
barrow every day. But once again, I wel-
come the manifesto's attempt to provoke
a response.

Steven Velegrinis is a senior landscape planner

and landscape architect at ICN Design Interna-
tional, Singapore. His response originally ap-
peared on the LARCH-L Digest.

Diese Warnings May Focus

J Cable net pła^iounds
m Steel and wood playgrounds Debate in an Overly Conserva-
^ -
BerfinerSeilfabrik Eriau amenities tive and Complacent Body
■ IH
HHH' thefineË piąganfekrtwitodilcfren Peter Walker, fasla,
and Jane Gillette

L 877.467. 4287 www.goric.com MI N APOCALYPTIC Manifesto" strikes

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Il a positive chord with us for several
fl reasons. First, like the Malthusian
warnings of the Club of Rome, the issues
that the manifesto raises can be engaged
Looking forward to the May issue of
and thereby perhaps avoided. Second, these
warnings may focus and enliven debate in

Landscape Architecture, which features

what is, perhaps, an overly conservative
and complacent professional body. Third,
LA FORUM: WILL THE ICON SURVIVE? the manifesto once again points out the
need for a suitably diverse forum that is not
Designers gather to debate the fate of Seattle's Freeway Park .
politically correct and is not in the busi-
THE GATES ness of protecting sacred cows.
Christo's temporary public art display The production of such a forum involves
in New York's Central Park is examined . two basic dilemmas. One is the small and
geographically separated number of inter-
MoMA
ested participants. Six years ago, we pro-
The sculpture garden at another New York landmark , sustainability of Land Forum on
jected the
the Museum of Modern Art, graces a new museum garden
attracting .10 percent of the roughly 30,000
American and Canadian landscape archi-
Aldu lu OA i -un
tects - say, 3,000 subscriber/participants.
Designing with brick sculpture ; the gardens
We were never able to exceed 1,500 regu-
lar subscribers.
of the late architect Philip Johnson; the second part of irrigationInterestingly, the European
journal
design for LEED credits; landscape architects in the TOPOSCorps;
Peace has had a similar experience.
and more ... Even though TOPOS is decidedly socialistic
and public in its orientation while Land
Forum leaned more toward capitalism and
WE WELCOME your ideas and thoughts for future issues. Please e-mail
privateBill Thompson,
practice, the results have been eeri-
editor, at bthompson@asla.org w Lisa Speckhardt at lspeckhardt@asla.otg.
ly similar. The second dilemma is a matter
of diversity. Land Forum was - and TOPOS

44 J Landscape Architecture april 20»s

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continues to be - fortunate in including
both academics and practitioners as readers
and writers. This was positive because one ^ÊÊ/tttÊÊKÊIÊÊÊÊtÊtKÍÍÊÊÍKÊ^ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊ^
cannot expect either healthy educational es-
tablishments or practices without a com-
mon focus of discussion. Yet it remains
remarkably difficult to attract both groups.
Related to the difficulties of establish-
What is the minimum
ing a suitable forum is a major issue that
bedevils both academics and practitioners:
recommended thickness
the false comparison between the era of the
founding fathers and ourselves. We are
simply not the same profession that we
of paving brick for
were in the late nineteenth and early twen- vehicular traffic?
tieth centuries. With the separation of
landscape design and planning in the late
1920s, we lost much of our public access
and overview, a loss that was not remedied 2?á". Light traffic pavers can handle
by the development of ecologically based all except the heaviest of traffic
planning, no matter how useful those loads. For all the technical paver information
techniques have proven to be. you need, go to our new website. A completely
To close on a note of hope: It is important comprehensive resource when you are specifying BpMYí M
to remember that today we are a large pro- pavers. Or to talk to a human, contact our paving
fession with an extensive academic estab- engineer at 703-674- 1 540.
lishment and a body of practitioners who
Real pavers
enjoy a substantial market. Some offices, www. gobrick. com/pavers/landarch are made of brick.
including ours, have developed positions of
CIRCLE 026 ON READER SERVICE CARD OR GO TO WWW.ASLA.ORG/FREEINFO.HTML
considerable public awareness with access
to the holders of political power, relation-

BQRGOT » MTtKK
ships with allied professions, and a body of
work that relies on expression and explo-
rative design. Although it takes a good deal
of hard work and intellectual determina- ^^^tte^^ďberials . Better processes. Better product.
tion, these offices demonstrate the existence
guaļ^ jproduct at competitive prices, Borgert representatives readily
of substantial opportunities for public serv- V mockups to demonstrate patterns and color consistency.
ice and for design excellence. It is interest- all of our questions and served as liaison
ing to note that most of these practices are
the ones that participate both in teaching
and in the intellectual life that exists with-
in the current professional boundaries.
We look forward to further discussion.

Peter Walker, FASLA, is partner in charge at Pe-

ter Walkerand Partners Landscape Architecture ;
Jane Gillette is the former executive editor ofL and
Forum magazine and Spacemaker Press.

""1,

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april 2005 Landscape Architecture | 45

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