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susanna b. fraker 

What is landscape architecture?

In 2016 I was asked to present something inspiring to the architecture firm, Mithun, where I worked. Below is my presentation. 

Lately I have been thinking about the talk in the news about how divided our country is. How people live in cultural and socio-economic bubbles - the liberal elite bubble, the middle america bubble, the conservative right bubble, the bay area bubble.  I realise that in my own bubble, especially in my career practicing landscape architecture, I rarely talk with people outside of my design world about the work that I do.  I am usually shocked when people don’t know what landscape architecture is, or if they think that it’s just planting flowers in peoples backyards. I decided to reach out and see what people outside of my bubble had to say about landscape. I walked around a few parks in SF and asked people 3 questions. I also sent the questions around to friends and family to get some perspective outside of the bay area.

  • What is landscape architecture? I wanted to understand how people inside and outside of our profession think about landscape architecture. 
  • What is your favorite park or public space? I wanted to hear what it is about parks and public space that people value. 
  • Do you think your experience in parks or public space allow you to connect to people who are different from you? I know I believe that parks and public spaces are platforms for people coming to gether and cultural expression.. But do other people think about it that way too?

My biggest takeaway was how the process of engaging people with intention made me take a step back from my day to day work at my computer, and to appreciate the bigger picture of what it is we are all working towards. I saw a little bit of what it is that every day people value from our daily design decisions. I was Inspired by how everyone had a personal connection and experience with landscapes whether they realize it or not.

While it might feel like a divided time out there in the world, I found comfort in these responses, to hear how people can actually feel connected to their surroundings and to eachother.