Is it Our Time?

60 years ago, the air in cities was so dirty that my IBM colleagues in Pittsburgh told stories of how IBMers went through three white shirts a day. Rivers were open sewers, and Lake Erie was declared dead. Rachel Carson’s book “Silent Spring” ignited the modern environmental movement by highlighting the interconnectedness of human actions and environmental health, and the Santa Barbara oil spill and the Cuyahoga River fires in 1969 illustrated the severe consequences of industrial pollution. 

The environmental crisis of the 1960s also moved a number of concerned landscape architects to take action and establish the Landscape Architecture Foundation (LAF) in 1966 with the mission to “multiply the effectiveness of a limited number of landscape architects” to make their “vital contribution” “toward solving the environmental crisis”.  Their urgency was based on the theory of change that landscape architects are uniquely trained to design for natural and cultural systems and have an important, integral, and essential role to play in environmental solutions, and it was time to increase and assert their influence as the crisis could not be solved without them. The call to action led by Ian McHarg and colleagues in a Declaration of Concern called for a four-point program to bridge the gap between knowledge and practice: (1) recruitment, (2) education, (3) research, and (4) a nationwide system for communicating the results of research, examples, and good practice. 

Fast forward 50 years. The four-point program has largely been realized, but the environmental crisis of the 1960s grew into the climate and biodiversity crises of the 21st century. 

In response, LAF convened a summit for its 50th Anniversary in 2016, for the discipline to update its vision for the future and put forth its 21st-century call to action. “If there was the Age of Engineering, and the Age of Architecture, then this is the Age of Landscape Architecture to help solve the defining issues of our time” (Richard Weller). The natural and cultural systems of the 20th century were collapsing and who best to help put them back together than landscape architects. 

The summit and resultant New Landscape Declaration affirmed that it is “Our Time” again to make our vital contribution. The Declaration recognized climate change, biodiversity and inequity as the defining issues of our time and called on using the unique training and skills of landscape architects to take action and reach our full potential. The New Landscape Declaration was signed by thousands of landscape architects around the world who committed to creating places that serve the higher purpose of social and ecological justice for all peoples and all species, nourish our deepest needs for communion with the natural world and with one another, and serve the health and well-being of all communities.

Much progress has been made over the last 10 years since then (and over the prior decades), but in 2026, our values and priorities are especially under attack from the current administration, Congress, and supporting network. The backlash since the 1980s to the extraordinary federal environmental protection legislation from the early 1970s is in full view and power, all while the threats of the biodiversity and climate crises are accelerating. In addition, environmental systems are not the only ones collapsing. Changing societal norms, mistrust of information, science, institutions, and education are vilifying public service and polarizing our society. Public lands, monuments, environmental protections, communities, and higher education are being gutted.

So, is it Our Time?

Yes! It is our time to come together again and know we are part of a larger whole that has an important role to play and is making a difference.

To help reach our potential as a discipline, please join us for the Future Now summit in Detroit, June 4-6, in conjunction with LAF’s 60-year anniversary. Take a time-out, connect with your landscape architecture community, and be nourished and inspired to determine how to best use your skills and abilities to make your unique, vital contribution. Know that you are not alone.

I do not think things will return to the way they were, and nor do I necessarily think we should in all areas. Things are extremely messy and difficult right now. Our society is angry, exhausted, and polarized, but we will form new pathways and outlast this moment to support a profound shift to advance our vision with our values to create a future where people and planet thrive together by design. Much like 60 years ago, we have the opportunity to come out on the other side of this stronger than ever.

Thank you for your commitment and good work toward taking action. We hope to see you in Detroit for this historic event in our profession’s arc.