Landscape Architecture Resource

It seems there are always ongoing discussions about the public awareness (or lack of it) of our profession.

With all due respect, let's play devils advocate for a moment.

Every time I ask someone what they do for a living I rarely get more of an explanation than a job title which I've never heard of before. I have to ask, 'what do you actually do each day' to get some understanding of what their position means. Everyone is keen to talk about their job if you are really interested in learning about it, but no one ever seems upset that I don't already know about their profession, trade, or title.

Do purchasing officers complain that no one really knows what they do? What about osteopaths, clinical immunologists, venture capitalists, agronomists, or operations managers? Do you hear CFO's lamenting that the general population doesn't even know that they exist, much less what their title's acronym stands for?

My cousin has his PhD in a branch of electronics engineering that he can't even explain in layman's terms. But that never seems to bother him, despite the fact that the science he's working on could revolutionize the way we use electricity.

How many times have you seen a group of politically-charged computer programmers up in arms about the fact that the average person just doesn't understand the differences between Java and C++, even though our lives are surrounded and supported by computers at every turn?

And then we compare ourselves to architects and wonder why there are so few famous landscape architects. Sure, many people can name one or two 'rock-star architects' or designers, but 99.9% of architects toil in obscurity. Why should landscape architects (or interior designers, or animators) be any different? What makes landscape architects special that we expect, hope, or demand that everyone else knows the details and importance of our job?

Let's be honest. Maybe people don't really care about landscape architecture. Maybe 99% of the population never notices the joints in a sidewalk, or which way the paving pattern goes in a patio. Does the average person think consciously about micro climate? Probably not. The concept would never occur to them, they just move to where they are comfortable: walk on the sunny side of the street in winter and the shady side in summer.

Don't you remember noticing all of these things for the first time when you started studying landscape architecture?

Don't you remember the first time you realized that hydro poles extend below the surface of the earth. I remember thinking "I've never noticed that before. Never thought of it." Honestly, when does it ever come up in the normal course of life that there are utilities or tree roots below the street? Not until your basement floods, but even then it's someone else's problem to solve. I was 25 years old before I'd ever even heard of landscape architecture. And this was after years of searching out something useful I could do with my biology and philosophy degrees.

I bet that to the vast majority of people there are only 5 different species of plants: grass, weeds, bushes, Christmas trees, and leafy trees. They are all green, and they all grow, and that's the extent of their significance. In most people's minds, the design and construction process starts the day that the construction crew arrives and starts digging, not 3 years ago in the conceptual design phase, not 15 years ago in master planning.

Every job, profession, or career has it's concerns. And they are all important. Financial advisers don't have time to care about storm water management because they are focused on the economy, world markets, and interest rates. Dentists don't spend time thinking about turf because they are busy with imaging technology, patient care, pharmaceuticals, and trying to get people to floss. If the whole world stopped and started studying landscape architecture, everything would fall apart, wouldn't it?

What makes us so special? What is it that we really want when we talk about the public's awareness of landscape architecture?

Do we feel under-appreciated or mis-understood?
Do we see the profession of landscape architecture as under-valued?
Do we think that the world would be a better place if everyone had a better understanding of the physical spaces they inhabit and how those spaces work, were designed, and came to be?

What are our expectations?