Praxis in Landscape Architecture

I say broadly! Several posts in this blog are directed at new graduates and job seekers (check the Recession Watch category to the right). This one follows in that vein. It is common for landscape architecture education to be narrowly tailored and made to conform to accreditation standards. This means that the end goal of landscape architecture education has been traditional design practice, even if that goal is unstated (there have always been alternative career paths). Curricula are developed to facilitate this outcome and maintain accreditation. What happens if the likely outcomes for graduates are something other than traditional design practice, as is happening now? What does that mean for the value of LA design education? If traditional LA practice were the only use for a LA education, we’d be doomed. As a pragmatic type, I’ve struggled with this question. But I’ve decided that a design education, and a landscape architecture design education in particular, is a tremendous opportunity for students these days – even if the slim job offerings say otherwise. Why would I say that?

To bolster my argument, I will cite Thomas Friedman of the New York Times again, not because I agree with everything he says (I do not), but because he is one of the few opinion writers consistently dealing with the question of future workforce needs. In today’s column, called “The Start-Up of You,” Friedman again tackles the issue of employment demand, now and in the future. He says that the people who are hiring now are “all looking for the same kind of people — people who not only have the critical thinking skills to do the value-adding jobs that technology can’t, but also people who can invent, adapt and reinvent their jobs every day, in a market that changes faster than ever.” The overall thrust of the article is daunting, I think, in that the picture he paints is that of a cutthroat world. But, design thinkers have an advantage in today’s and tomorrow’s ever-shifting market. Studio-based education, at its best, equips students to deal with uncertainty and think on their feet. The studio model has attracted the attention of educators in other disciplines too, as its value as problem-based learning is well recognized. With a design education, I think you would be better suited to meet challenges than those with degrees in non-design disciplines, and, with a landscape architecture design education, you also should have an understanding of the environment and all things “green,” which has broad relevance these days.

Friedman explores what recent graduates and confused mid-career professionals should be doing by relaying what Reid Garrett Hoffman, co-founder of LinkedIn, has to say:

“you should approach career strategy the same way an entrepreneur approaches starting a business.”

To begin with, Hoffman says, that means ditching a grand life plan. Entrepreneurs don’t write a 100-page business plan and execute it one time; they’re always experimenting and adapting based on what they learn.

It also means using your network to pull in information and intelligence about where the growth opportunities are — and then investing in yourself to build skills that will allow you to take advantage of those opportunities. Hoffman adds: “You can’t just say, ‘I have a college degree, I have a right to a job, now someone else should figure out how to hire and train me.’ ” You have to know which industries are working and what is happening inside them and then “find a way to add value in a way no one else can. For entrepreneurs it’s differentiate or die — that now goes for all of us.”

Finally, you have to strengthen the muscles of resilience. “You may have seen the news that [the] online radio service Pandora went public the other week,” Hoffman said. “What’s lesser known is that in the early days [the founder] pitched his idea more than 300 times to V.C.’s with no luck.”

Honing your creative talents through landscape architecture is a promising course of action, even if the twists and turns of your career lead you away from traditional practice.