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Outdoor Planning Critical

“European cities are trying to make themselves livable, attractive, ecologically friendly and sustainable. All of a sudden, design becomes a very important ingredient, not just the cherry on the cake. In the U.S., we build whole new communities instead of rebuilding our cities. I think my particular interest is in cities and city building. The ultimate sustainable strategy is collectivizing. Nothing can replace cities because they collectivise wealth and culture. It will be a while before the U.S. is forced to reconsider their sprawl strategy. I consider that the new urbanism is just a re-tooled way of doing sprawl, but its still sprawl. Having serial new urbanist communities is still a suburban form. It’s not as though you can collectivise these smart suburbs and still come up with a city. You need libraries, theaters, universities and public transportation systems. Those things make it lively and relevant.“Part of the issue is that the amount of energy required to maintain that kind of suburban development isn’t sustainable. In Europe, there are tougher criteria: You’re using too much energy if you still have to drive. I think sprawl is a real negative. We don’t have any solid motivation to stop ourselves. We don’t have review systems in place to start advocacy for the landscape, ways to keep it intact. All the strict developments, big box landscapes and new urbanist communities keep spreading out further and further. That’s not good for us environmentally, culturally or spiritually. It is therefore imperative that we go into the cities and teach them how to retool.“Because climate change is going to raise a new series of issues, living in cities is much more sane. We are now an information society and a service culture, cities want to attract people who are well educated. People are living all over the place and working together across time zones and countries. Those people have choice and people who have choice require another level of infrastructure. We aren’t reinvesting in our infrastructure or making any headway in terms of city planning with a bigger environmental agenda. America needs to invest in its infrastructure. Our cities neglect the cultures that are already there. Our lack of foresight, our short-term thinking and our greed are getting the better of us. There’s all this deferred maintenance and sadly, we have a very short timeline in which to catch up. We mustn’t aim at the lowest common denominator. Our job as landscape architects is to create the future. We can bring something new into the world.

“Environmental Ethos”

“In Europe there is a very strong environmental ethos and it is imposed on the planners who take it very seriously. People need to understand that places that are beautiful with a compelling visual quality are places where people will want to live. In Europe’s marketplace that doesn’t go unnoticed. People need places that are functional, safe and attractive.“The whole field is just starting to crack open in a major way. I don’t get out of bed without consulting with a good environmental engineer, without someone who knows the most specific technologies that are up to date. You can end up making something really great with workable systems, air, drainage—you name it. All of it gives you something new to work with. Of course, it’s complicated, but it’s thrilling to work in teams. Furthermore, it’s not just about landscape. It’s about how people live, live together, make new communities and what people do when they’re old or young or new to the country.

Playing Public Role

“Landscape Architects have to be thinking about more than just making landscapes. We’re thinking about making lives for people. The environment is big, but the biggest aspect of sustainability is culture. If you make places people value, which help support community, that’s when it truly becomes sustainable because they’ll want to keep it and maintain it. If you don’t engage people, no matter what you’ve done, it won’t last. Part of the sustainability is rooted in people’s value for a landscape. Landscape Architects have to create something that will actually create its own advocacy group. Someone has to stand up and say, ‘We have to save this thing.’