during a capstone meeting today i was reminded of a goal i had when applying to schools: don't forget WHY i wanted to get my masters in landscape architecture in the first place. well, its quite interesting to look back at my original statement of purpose that was a piece of my graduate school applications. this final capstone projects scope feels like kismet.
the full version:
When I look at my hometown of Cleveland, Ohio, and beyond, I see the widespread dilemma across our nation; suburban sprawl and the strain it puts on urban city centers. I see potential. I see solutions that lie at community leaders’ fingertips. Landscape Architecture is the tool I hope to use to become a part of that solution. My long-term objective is to be recognized as a landscape architect who has created urban landscape designs that have transformed a community. Through such training I plan to turn the potential I see into the reality of the revitalization of urban environments.
When I realized there is a career path focused around using nature to make our cities better, I felt energized and empowered. Our job as a generation and as a culture is to think about how to make our cities better. How to overcome decay and neglect of our once great civic centers, to focus on restoring the remaining strong bones others may see as beyond repair before disinterest and economic despair dissolves what chance our cities have left. While researching ways to make my dream a reality, I found great passion for making cities more beautiful, for redefining what is good and beneficial to a city, for place-making rather than building for the sake of building. I understand how important it is to build from the community, out. To see ones place as your own, and understand how it works as a living, breathing organism.
Coming from a background of Journalism, I see the story behind a community. I look at what they need, the missing pieces highlighted through their struggles, and use that to find solutions to give that story a “happy ending.” I love seeing the change in a community with a simple addition of a park, or restoration of a community center. I do not want to use my journalism skills to write about a community changing, I want to grow on those skills and use my passions to physically change that community and let the story tell itself by means of a new attitude, new businesses, new jobs and new successes for that community’s residents.
I live my life trying to make each place I call home better than how I found it, and hopefully help one more person understand how to live less negatively in their environment. Presently I try to make a difference by volunteering with the Cleveland Metroparks and the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. Volunteering at the Metroparks has allowed me to get involved in a place that shaped who I am today and the way I feel about my surroundings. I currently work the most with a group nicknamed “IGO,” or the Institute of the Great Outdoors. I strongly believe in the groups mission which is “to provide recreational experiences and educational classes that connect people with nature.” We need as a culture to not lose the ability to have a connection with nature, and volunteering for IGO is a step I can take to make sure that connection stays strong. Volunteering at the Natural History Museum has allowed me to look back at what came before and understand how we live today better by understanding the past.
Through my passion, skills and desire to make a difference combined with an education in Landscape Architecture I will be able to make a difference in the urban centers of today and tomorrow. Urban sustainability, the architecture of cities, restoration of buildings and the addition and improvement of greenspaces is what excites me.
Many personal experiences of mine have reinforced in me the importance of green space in human lives. I have been gardening both for nourishment and decoration since I was a child. Successfully researching plant characteristics and choosing correct species for every location, then watching them thrive, is one of the most satisfying events that I have had the pleasure of experiencing. Landscape architecture used innovatively in an urban environment can bring that to people, young and old, who may not normally have gotten that chance. My gardens not only gave me a place that was my own responsibility to care for, but also a beautiful subject for another passion of mine, photography. Looking through my extensive portfolio of photography from throughout the years, an obvious theme appears. My love for the natural landscape is apparent as my favorite subject. I look forward to applying my art training and experience in landscape photography to the profession of landscape architecture. The spatial skills I have gained and strengthened through my photography and personal landscaping will provide a firm foundation to designing smart outdoor space. My knowledge and interest in plant husbandry will work in-sync with my spatial skills to give me the base I need to grow into a successful landscape architecture professional. I want to work to find new and creative ways to bring natural sustainable elements into areas where it no longer exists or has been so negatively impacted that nature struggles to survive. Sustainability isn’t just a word, it is a life style, and through Landscape Architecture I hope to awaken the caretaker in each of us.
Landscape Architecture is an ancient profession, and we as a nation need a group of focused, sustainability-minded, individuals to revive this important aspect of urban infrastructure. We need imaginative leaders, who understand how urbanization is putting a strain on our environment. We need people who will design places around three aspects; economic growth, community well being, and the natural environment, to make cities better. To make a place where people want to live, are living happy fulfilling existences, all while remaining actively vested in their communities. We need people like me.