Skip to main content

Main menu

  • Home
  • Content
    • Current
    • Archive
  • Info for
    • Authors
    • Subscribers
    • Institutions
    • Advertisers
  • About Us
    • About Us
    • Editorial Board
  • Connect
    • Feedback
    • Help
  • Alerts
  • ASLA Research Grant
  • Other Publications
    • UWP

User menu

  • Register
  • Subscribe
  • My alerts
  • Log in

Search

  • Advanced search
Landscape Journal
  • Other Publications
    • UWP
  • Register
  • Subscribe
  • My alerts
  • Log in
Landscape Journal

Advanced Search

  • Home
  • Content
    • Current
    • Archive
  • Info for
    • Authors
    • Subscribers
    • Institutions
    • Advertisers
  • About Us
    • About Us
    • Editorial Board
  • Connect
    • Feedback
    • Help
  • Alerts
  • ASLA Research Grant
  • Follow uwp on Twitter
  • Visit uwp on Facebook
Research ArticlePeer-Reviewed Articles

A Qualitative Study of Practitioner Perspectives on Landscape Architecture and Equity

Kristine F. Miller, Rachel McNamara and Amanda Smoot
Landscape Journal, January 2022, 41 (2) 93-107; DOI: https://doi.org/10.3368/lj.41.2.93
Kristine F. Miller
Kristine F. Miller is a professor of Landscape Architecture at UMN. She has published three books on design, public space, politics, and identity: (University of Minnesota Press, 2007); (University of Virginia Press, 2013); and (University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing, 2018). In 2005, Miller cofounded ReMix, a long-term community/university partnership with Juxtaposition Arts. She holds a BA from the University of Toronto, an MLA from Cornell University, and a PhD from the Edinburgh College of Art.
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Rachel McNamara
Rachel McNamara is a resource development associate with the AmeriCorps VISTA at the Minneapolis Promise Zone, where she provides support to community organizations to identify, apply for, and manage external grants. As a research assistant at the University of Minnesota from 2018 to 2020, McNamara cocreated and conducted research on the relationships between landscape architecture and equity. She copresented this work at the 2019 Council for Educators in Landscape Architecture conference. From 2018 to 2019, she worked as an assistant designer at APL Landscape Solutions. She holds a Bachelor of Environmental Design from the University of Minnesota.
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Amanda Smoot
Amanda Smoot is an administrator in the Department of Landscape Architecture at the College of Design, University of Minnesota. Amanda received her PhD from the Department of Design, Housing & Apparel, College of Design, University of Minnesota. Her dissertation research explored the relationships between aging, health, housing, and community among African American older adults. Prior to working for the university, Amanda was a community development manager responsible for the delivery of pre-purchase counseling and education; foreclosure prevention counseling; and local, state and federal housing rehabilitation loans and grants. She also served as a nonprofit program director responsible for state-wide homeownership education and counseling programs.
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • Article
  • Info & Metrics
  • References
  • PDF
Loading

Abstract

This paper describes an interpretive, exploratory qualitative study that sought to understand practitioner perspectives on challenges to and opportunities for advancing equity through landscape architecture. We defined equity broadly as “fair and just access to opportunities and resources.” A purposeful nonrandom sample of public practice designers aswell as designers in private and nonprofit practice who worked on public projects was followed by a snowball sample.We conducted 25interviews in total. As we planned for our member check in May 2020, George Floyd, an unarmed black man, was murdered by Minneapolis PoliceOfficerDerek Chauvin, prompting racial justice and police reform protests in the Twin Cities and around theworld.We used themember check survey as an opportunity to reviewthemesidentifiedin the interviews and to ask how participants thought their interview responses might have shifted as a result of experiencing these events.

Participants identified the lack of diversity in landscape architectural education and practice as a barrier. They observed that one’s professional power (e.g., status as a firmleader vs. junior staffmember)was significant to one’s ability to advocate for equity through practice. Public engagement and community planning processes were seen as opportunities for landscape architects to address the unequal distribution of positive and negative impacts of environmental design. Respondents suggested that there was a need to educate design decision-makers about what equity is and how equity-driven design projects might be implemented. Respondents noted the role that community organizations played in educating designers about equity issues. Our next steps are to create a survey based on our findings, to use that survey to hear froma broader range of practitioners in the State of Minnesota, and to share this research with ASLA-MN members who are organizing equity-advocacy networks.

KEYWORDS
  • Equity
  • justice
  • practice
  • © 2022 by the Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System

This article requires a subscription to view the full text. If you have a subscription you may use the login form below to view the article. Access to this article can also be purchased.

Log in using your username and password

Forgot your user name or password?

Log in through your institution

You may be able to gain access using your login credentials for your institution. Contact your library if you do not have a username and password.
If your organization uses OpenAthens, you can log in using your OpenAthens username and password. To check if your institution is supported, please see this list. Contact your library for more details.
PreviousNext
Back to top

In this issue

Landscape Journal: 41 (2)
Landscape Journal
Vol. 41, Issue 2
1 Jan 2022
  • Table of Contents
  • Table of Contents (PDF)
  • Index by author
  • Back Matter (PDF)
  • Front Matter (PDF)
Download PDF
Article Alerts
Sign In to Email Alerts with your Email Address
Email Article

Thank you for your interest in spreading the word on Landscape Journal.

NOTE: We only request your email address so that the person you are recommending the page to knows that you wanted them to see it, and that it is not junk mail. We do not capture any email address.

Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas.
A Qualitative Study of Practitioner Perspectives on Landscape Architecture and Equity
(Your Name) has sent you a message from Landscape Journal
(Your Name) thought you would like to see the Landscape Journal web site.
Citation Tools
A Qualitative Study of Practitioner Perspectives on Landscape Architecture and Equity
Kristine F. Miller, Rachel McNamara, Amanda Smoot
Landscape Journal Jan 2022, 41 (2) 93-107; DOI: 10.3368/lj.41.2.93

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero
Share
A Qualitative Study of Practitioner Perspectives on Landscape Architecture and Equity
Kristine F. Miller, Rachel McNamara, Amanda Smoot
Landscape Journal Jan 2022, 41 (2) 93-107; DOI: 10.3368/lj.41.2.93
Digg logo Reddit logo Twitter logo Facebook logo Mendeley logo
  • Tweet Widget
  • Facebook Like
  • Google Plus One
Bookmark this article

Jump to section

  • Article
  • Info & Metrics
  • References
  • PDF

Related Articles

  • No related articles found.
  • Google Scholar

Cited By...

  • No citing articles found.
  • Google Scholar

More in this TOC Section

  • The Olmsteds and the Land-Grant Universities
  • The Vanishing Landscape of the Southern West Virginia Coalfields
  • Protecting the Identity of Sheep-Farming Landscapes in the Outer Carpathians: A Typology, Delimitation, and Interpretation
Show more Peer-Reviewed Articles

Similar Articles

Keywords

  • equity
  • justice
  • practice
UWP

© 2023 Landscape Journal

Powered by HighWire