A Qualitative Study of Practitioner Perspectives on Landscape Architecture and Equity

Kristine F. Miller is a professor of Landscape Architecture at UMN. She has published three books on design, public space, politics, and identity: Designs on the Public: The Private Lives of New York’s Public Spaces (University of Minnesota Press, 2007); Almost Home: The Public Landscapes of Gertrude Jekyll (University of Virginia Press, 2013); and Introduction to Design Equity (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.

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.

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.