Professional Practice Network Members Respond to Third Annual PPN Survey

For the past three years, ASLA has conducted an annual survey of members of its 17 Professional Practice Networks (PPNs.) The survey offers members a chance to describe recent projects, challenges, and accomplishments. Results are shared in a series of LAND Online articles.

This year the survey was conducted in a new user-friendly format, using Survey Monkey software. A presurvey notice went out to all PPN members, encouraging them to respond. And respond they did: 278 PPN members took the survey, as compared to 119 members in 2007!
In the coming weeks, we will focus on the activities of individuals within the different PPNs.

Today, we summarize the results of some of the new questions that were added to the survey this year:

How many years have you been in the profession?
Answers ranged from 58 years (a retired emeritus professor) to just a few months (an MLA graduate student intern.)

Would you describe your work as primarily private, public, academic, or other?
Private: 52 percent
Public: 32 percent
Academic: 10 percent
Other: 7 percent. Many in this category responded that they had a mix of public and private clients. Some other comments:

1. varies: private, public, academic
2. commercial, educational, spiritual, sports primarily
3. educational (different from academic)
4. higher education and health care
5. private in the past but transitioning more to public

Would you describe yourself primarily as a landscape architect, allied professional, vendor, teacher, student, other?
Landscape architect: 73 percent
Allied professional: 7 percent
Vendor: <1 percent
Student: 4 percent
Other: 15 percent
Responses in the “other” category were varied, with many respondents mentioning planning, landscape design, or unlicensed landscape architect. Some sample responses include:

1. planner with LA degree
2. a landscape architect in training; artist by nature
3. mixture of landscape designer, architect, and engineer
4. campus planner
5. both LA and physician
6. landscape designer, drafter
7. project manager with strong landscape architecture skills
8. landscape architect/urban designer
9. sometimes landscape architect/other times teacher
10. extension specialist for sustainable landscape architecture practices

Please rank the value of the organizations to which you belong, including ASLA [from a list provided]
ASLA membership, unsurprisingly, was by far the most highly valued. Interestingly, although membership in the U.S. Green Building Council, Urban Land Institute, and American Planning Association were valued, organizations in the “other” category received the highest average rating after ASLA. PPN members find value in their membership in diverse organizations, including:

1. SCUP (Society for College and University Planning)
2. Irrigation Association
3. American Horticultural Therapy Association
4. Alliance for Historic Landscape Preservation
5. Transportation Research Board
6. Rails-to-Trails Conservancy
7. American Horticultural Society
8. American Institute of Architects
9. National Home Builders Association
10. National Art Educators Association
11. American Society of Civil Engineers
12. Congress for the New Urbanism

In the next article in this series, we begin our look at some of the fascinating projects and challenges undertaken by members of the various PPNs. To all who took the time to respond to this survey, thank you! We value your input and will use it to try to enhance your ASLA experience.