Women in Landscape Architecture

Beatrix Farrand. Martha Brookes Hutcheson. Gertrude Jekyll. Ellen Biddle Shipman. Florence Yoch. Lucille Council. Kate Sessions.
All were historically significant women in landscape architecture.

Historically, women in landscape architecture were few and far between. But stand-outs like Farrand and Hutcheson helped pave the way for a growing number of women practicing landscape architecture today (UNLV has a great reading list as a start for learning about some of these pioneeers). The ASLA has had multiple female presidents and women now account for 34% of practicing professionals (which, might be better than it sounds if you remember that the class of 1969 is probably still practicing as a nearly all male cohort, thus limiting the speed with which any change can occur). To continue addressing the problems and create a network of support, the ASLA has established the WILA network.

That doesn't mean that there isn't still prevalent attitude in many quarters that keeps women from prominent positions and creates a pay gap in the profession. And the supposedly enlightened sphere of Academia is no exception. Even though some have risen to positions as Deans, CELA presidents, editors of Journal, etc., only 24% of academics in the field are women. Could that be right? Are universities really less responsive than, say, design/build firms and contractors?

Well, the most prominent LA program in the country is under some serious scrutiny for its failue to hire women. Just over week ago Martha Scwartz, arguably the most prominent female landscape architect in the country, quit her adjunct position at Harvard because of the LA program's hiring practices in regards to women. As she pointed out to the interim president and the Harvard Crimson, the program hasn't hired a woman in a tenured position in over 100 years. “The world of architecture is still a major, major boys’ club, major, it’s an uphill battle still for women,” said Schwartz.

When you read the Higher Ed piece, make sure you get down to the comments at then end. They apear to be uncensored and, thus, provide some diverse and dissenting comments.

Photo: Princeton Campus. Princeton hired pioneering woman landscape architect Beatrix Farrand to design their campus, but didn't admit women as students until 1969.

Very serious

China has demonstrated that they can knock out a satellite with a missile. While this has some pretty ominous implications for the escalation of the weaponization of space, it also says something about things here on Earth.

First, if China can do it now, will Afghanistan (or Microsoft) be able to do it in another 20 or 30 years? Since it doesn't directly hurt people and since there are no news cameras and since the rules of space wars are pretty unclear, is it really an act of war or vandalism to blow up someone else's bird?

Imagine a difficult time, with oil scarce and economies struggling, when one nation would knock out a couple GPS satellites just to send us a message. IT is hard to fathom how a major city like LA would even function now wothout GPS. Planes, deliveries, emergency services and surveyors all rely on it. With time, they'd all adjust. But the immediate financial impact would be significant.

Now get serious, if Taiwan ever gets hot, how long does it take before something happens up there? Can our military even mobilize without GPS?

This news story is very serious.

Da Vinci Code for map lovers?

A new book is out that I guess I'll have to read soon: Barbara Parker's The Perfect Fake.

It's an thriller that wraps the action around a meticulously forged 500 year old map. Last winter I got to visit the map vault in the basement of the Library of Congress and see some maps that were about that same age. The maps were so vivid and so significant (we also got to see George Washington's personal handdrawn survey of his farm) that I'll never forget the experience.

The reviews describe the writing and the way the author details things like the paper used and the techniques for the forging. It sound like quite the education in historic maps. And it sounds like a decent novel for a flight or a train ride.

Celebration as a start

As the semester starts and we talk about different examples of planning and design applications, here's one to spend some time looking at. Celebration, Florida is a new town built by Disney near Walt Disney World. Slate constructed a slide show about it. Witold Rybczynski, who wrote the Slate essay, also spoke with NPR about Celebration. We will talk about it later this semester, but the slides and audio might help you begin to ask some questions about what we are trying to accomplish when we plan communities from scratch.

Mapping the Homeless

Mapping out homeless is tricky, especially if you want it to be communicative. The Downtown Holess Map is an example of a creative solution that has a serious purpose. The animation showing the change is especially interesting. One of the rare times when I wish
I had a better sense for the geography of downtown LA.

Very expensive atlases

Forbes Magazine reports that of the 10 most expensive books sold in 2006, 5 were atlases. Part of the value comes from museums taking some off the market permanently, thus increasing the rarity.

Gary Hilderbrand: 3 Landscapes

3 favorite examples of landscape architecture...

Villa Lante
Courances
City of Rome

For background, go here: http://hahawall.rutgers.edu/tulloch/Candidates.html

The Sitka Spruce lives!

The Klootchy Creek Sitka Spruce (the world champion) is going to be kept alive (for now). It took a public meeting for it to happen.

Free geographic explorer

NASA's World Wind is now an established and well tested digital exploration software. It works like Google Earth but is less proprietary. For those of you interested in an alternative to the big boys, this is definitely worth a try. Download it here for free.

LAF money for students

Landscape Architecture Foundation

The sponsor provides two $4,000 scholarships to undergraduate students who are third-, fourth-, or fifth-year undergraduates at Landscape Architecture Accreditation Board (LAAB) accredited programs of landscape architecture. This scholarship was established to: aid outstanding students who would not otherwise have an opportunity to continue a professional degree program due to unmet financial need; increase the interest and participation of economically disadvantaged and under-represented populations in the study of landscape architecture; and enrich the profession of landscape architecture through a more diverse population. http://www.lafoundation.org/Scholarships.htm

Highlands lawsuits

Now that the Highlands Council has tried to create some real policy, it is going through the processes required to make it work. This includes public hearings and legal tests.

Keeping up their end of the deal, the homebuilders are suing to get better access to douments and work products used in formulating the plan.

A conservative "farmers" group has filed a lawsuit that questions the basis of the plan. I have commented previously on the name of this organization which sounds like a pro-environment conservation group but is really helping landowners preserve their equity.

And an Allentown TV station has tried to capture the full conflict in under 3 minutes. Not a bad try.

Capitol Visitors Center

When I am in DC in a few weeks I will just miss my chance to see the new visitors center. The latest photos and details certianly make it sound interesting, if not extravagent. This will definitely be a stop on the 2007 Fall Field Trip.

Soccer photos

As we slowly become better and better soccer fans, these great photos of lower tier football venues have a special appeal. There is one in Sweden that appears to be cut right out of some rock. Some others show games being payed in the shadows of historic churches or villas or hilltowns. And, still, no matter what the landscape is, the soccer seems to be all that matters to the players.
(The stadium in the photo is Barcelona's Olympic Stadium where RCD Espanyol currently plays - not meant as nearly so low a tier as the ones in the photoset)

Take a cruise to 18

Even as the Route 18 project is sealing off the River from New Brunswick, the County is spending millions on a project on the other side of the highway.

MLK

As you ponder the meaning of MLK Day, you might visit the website for the MLK Memorial that is due to be completed in 2008. The site includes a look at how it will appear when completed.

Stanford has a nice collection of his speeches online.

Olympic Sculpture Park

If you saw the MoMA Groundswell exhibit, then you probably remember the then unbuilt Olympic Sculpture Park from Seattle. Well, now it is open and you can take a virtual tour or look at a slide show. The Seattle Times thinks it could redefine the waterfront.

I believe it is located at: 47.616297, -122.355921.

Aerotropolis

Apparently, the term Aerotropolis has really come of age. While we are worried about the retrofitting of the Newark aerotropolis, Hong Kong and Singapore are building giant airport cities from scratch. The link takes you to a great introductory article from Fast Company magazine.

New transit

Since Rutgers College Ave vision includes some

Eugene, Oregon is pursuing a carbon neutral existence with a very high-tech mass transit system that opens this weekend.

Here is a visualization that includes some nice video. The Anti-Planner thinks it will be a big failure.

It certainly sounds like it will quickly become antiquated when compared with other emerging ideas. The Germans are considering a driverless taxi-train. The idea is that the transportation will change to fit the needs of the individuals (or small groups) as opposed to people changing their schedule and travel destinations based on the transportation system.

Interfaith Power and Light

Treehugger has a Weather Channel video exploring the role of faith in addressing global warming. This is part of a much larger conversation about the intersection of stewardship and faith that I'll have to save for another day. Just watch the video and think about how much difference this could make in local planning board meetings and national elections in 2008.

A fairly famous LA

One of the most familiar names in landscape architecture is a relatively new one. Eddie George, ASLA is better known for his Heisman Trophy and was visible this week as an on-air personailty during the BCS Championship Game but is now leading his firm called The EDGE Group. h/t to The Dirt.