We are living in a very polarized time in the world where bright lines are being drawn across a number of areas in our society. How can landscape architects and the work they do help heal or bridge those divides?

SuLin Kotowicz, FASLA

“Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much.” ~ Helen Keller

Landscape architects are trained to solve problems and think outside the box. Working in private practice or for public agencies, we don’t have a choice about dealing with difficult issues or listening to stakeholders and taxpayers with passionate stories to tell. In order to fulfill contracts or promote agency transparency, get acceptance and a sense of ownership from clients and communities and end up with creative and lasting solutions in design or policies, we are required to have what may be hard conversations and listen to all points of view. By stepping out of what, for some of us, is our comfort zone, we bridge divides using our professional skills and training.

Practicing landscape architecture, I’ve experienced this in myriad ways. We’ve worked on projects where we’ve gone to the stakeholders, meeting them where they are, respecting their perspectives, life experiences and culture. The most valuable step of the process was hearing their stories. The people who know the community best are always going to be those living there. We’ve approached projects without preconceived notions and allowed the process of hearing their views to guide our designs. We’ve understood the end product is not for ourselves but for the community and deliberately stepped back from our own biases and preferences. We know words matter, and work to build a shared vocabulary. We’ve earned trust by building relationships. We’ve explored multiple ideas while getting feedback along the way, ensuring our solutions met our shared goals. We’ve incorporated collaboration, compromise and problem solving into all parts of our practice.

I believe licensure of our profession bridges divides by protecting the public’s health, safety and welfare . Landscape architects are crafting public policies which reflect community goals, serve everyone equally and eliminate barriers. ASLA is doing the same for our membership. Holistic thinking through policies or projects allows us to intentionally address civic and socioeconomic challenges and preserve our planet for this and future generations. As a respected colleague recently said, it is our civic duty as landscape architects to make the places we live better. Our goal is to connect people to the land; enabling connections to one another in the spaces we design.

How do we go beyond bridging to healing? We acknowledge the myriad divisions we face in our lives and have a genuine curiosity to learn about others’ views. This will bring us closer together. We can use our professional skills in all parts of our lives, leading by example to see the problem as the enemy, not people. By ultimately creating a paradigm shift of respect and curiosity, I believe all of us have the capacity to bridge and heal divides but we must step out of our comfort zones and address the elephant in the room. We’re well-equipped and trained to impact lives and design a united and equitable world through landscape architecture.