Thread by @kzhill

Finally had a minute to read this. Lots of thoughts. First, I agree with most of it, and have been saying the same thing for years - that big splashy design firms exaggerate the value of their work re #climate, a lot. Thread.
placesjournal.org/article/design… via @PlacesJournal @joobilly

But the tone is so busy being snarky about that, and about @joobilly's idea that no landscape architects understand movement politics, that it erases an enormous amount of good work and writing by others in the field - as if we don't exist. 2/n

I said the same thing about Waldheim's version of landscape urbanism. This is turning into a theme. Are you a white guy who wants to criticize landscape architecture for not being more relevant? Try looking at the work of women in this field! HELLOOOOOOOO out there! 3/n

Let's start with Anne Spirn, for example. Her work on The Woodlands actually showed that 'natural drainage' could be used to manage stormwater instead of engineered pipe systems. Infrastructure by landscape architects. And it's now called "green infrastructure," everywhere. 4/n

How about Joan Nassauer? Her early work on re-introducing habitat areas into farm communities was linked to movements and to Federal programs. It was excellent, based in real life, and pioneered the use of Photoshop for research. 5/n

More recently, how about Jane Wolff at UToronto? She's worked with communities in NOLA on drainage system ideas for longer than the Dutch. Before that, on the CA Delta and how it could adapt to env change. Based on how people actually live, + sophisticated design ideas. 6/n

How about Peg Staeheli and Peggy Gaynor in Seattle? Together, from different roles, they made a citywide 'natural drainage' program succeed worth millions, linked to movements and politics. Both landscape architects. Heard of them? Why not? 7/n

I could promote my own work on climate projects in Seattle (some were built), or here in the Bay Area (fingers crossed), but my point here is that the ppl who do the work @joobilly is looking for don't get spreads in mags. They're harder to find. They're (gasp) often women. 8/n

So before the next white guy w a platform says "the profession" needs to change - maybe he should take a look at what women have been doing at the grass roots/public agency levels in the field? maybe mention it, while calling for more?

I'm done with getting erased. 9/n

Don't read the splashy media looking for real on-the-ground design work that benefits the public and responds to the crisis of climate change. Don't look at @ASLA - they don't want to rock the boat. Look at @lafoundation 's landscape performance cases. Lots of women there. 10/n

Look at Seattle Public Utilities' natural drainage projects. Women-led, citywide. Look at writing by Joan Nassauer, Jane Wolff, and Elizabeth Meyer. FFS, look at what I've written! But NO MORE erasure, no more pretending it's not already out there. No more calls to reinvent. 11/n

Instead of erasure, let's actually listen to the people in landsc arch who've been doing movement-linked, on-the-ground, Federal-agency-connected, effective work, and writing about it. Is it not sexy enough for you? You're the problem. Are you unaware of it? Read. (full stop)