Social Challanges for Landscape Architects in the 21st Century
Joanne M. Westphal, ASLA, AOA addresses the social and
community benefits of landscape architecture and the direction and responsibility
of the profession in carrying forward an important legacy of providing places where
communities and individuals thrive.
"If we can educate the public as to the value of landscape
architecture in the creation or maintenance of environments with the capacity to
restore, maintain, and/or promote public health (while we educate ourselves), then
many of the social challenges that we face today as a profession will dissipate.
and a second century of unprecedented public good will become the legacy of this
profession.
As landscape architects, we need to be comfortable promoting
the value of the land to human health; we also need to take public stands on the
importance of land stewardship in promoting public safety and well-being. Reconnecting
urban America to the natural processes that mark rural landscapes is one of the
activities that landscape architects are well-suited to do."
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