Tag Archives: land use

Landscape Journal Welcomes New Editor James LaGro Jr.

UW Press is pleased to welcome James LaGro Jr. as the new editor of Landscape Journal: Design, Planning, and Management of the Land. LaGro began his editorial tenure in June of 2021, succeeding former interim editor Katherine Melcher.

James LaGro Jr. is a professor in the Department of Planning and Landscape Architecture at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He received his MLA and PhD from Cornell University, and he has also worked in private practice as a professional land planner. Prior to joining the faculty of UW–Madison, he served as a 2008-09 AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellow with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s National Center for Environmental Assessment – Global Change Research Program. His 2008 book, Site Analysis: A Contextual Approach to Sustainable Site Planning and Design, was selected by Planetizen as one of the top planning books of that year.

The following interview with LaGro was conducted by Jennifer Tse of the Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture (CELA) and published on the CELA website, and we are republishing it here with their permission. In it, LaGro details some of his exciting plans for the future of the journal.

ARE THERE ANY SEMINAL MOMENTS IN YOUR EDUCATION OR PROFESSIONAL CAREER THAT INFLUENCED YOUR PATH?

Yes, I certainly have had moments where I knew it was time to close one chapter of my career and move on to the next.

For example, my undergraduate degree is in urban horticulture, so I studied plant ecology and plant physiology, and soils and pathology, and all the things that contribute to healthy plants. I started a business in my senior year—a landscape contracting and gardening business—but within about a year I became much more interested in the design and construction aspects. So that led me to go back to school for my Master’s in Landscape Architecture.

I then worked for five years in private practice. When I was in South Florida with EDSA, I began to see the connections between public policy and land use change and impacts on the environment. And that got me interested in going back to school yet again for my PhD in Natural Resources Policy and Planning with a focus on urbanizing landscapes. Each step was a progression up in scale, looking at increasingly bigger issues.

I have also had good mentors along the way—in universities and in private practice. They influenced my career path by helping me visualize what my next steps could be.

IT SEEMS LIKE YOU’RE COMING INTO THIS POSITION AT THE PERFECT TIME.

I hope so. My experiences as a researcher, educator, and practitioner all help to broaden my perspective on land planning, design, policy, and management. I’ve planted trees and built patios with my own hands. But I’ve also worked on teams that planned new communities on sites as large as 5,000 acres.

AND YOU ALSO WORKED IN SWITZERLAND.

Yes, I did. I learned a lot about green roofs in Switzerland. The Swiss are fantastic in horticulture and in using space very efficiently. So that was fun because I spent time up on rooftops—sometimes five, six, eight stories up, overseeing the construction and planting. Because it was a design-build firm, I would be in the field about half of the time, supervising crews that were always international. These skilled workers came from several European countries.

WHAT INTERESTED YOU IN BECOMING EDITOR-IN-CHIEF OF LANDSCAPE JOURNAL?

One of the reasons is that I love to write. I am continuously trying to improve my craft. I enjoy the writing process. I enjoy editing. And I enjoy helping other people write well. I often review graduate student writing, but I also peer-review journal and book manuscripts. So, this opportunity really appealed to me—a leadership position focusing on writing for publication. Frankly, I was impressed by the position description because it was clear to me that there had been considerable thought given to where the journal has been, where the journal is currently, and where it could go in the future. That came through very clearly. I was impressed by the level of analysis, but also by the visionary aspect—that the task force envisioned a new model for editorial oversight and leadership. It was also clear that this wasn’t just a caretaker role, but an opportunity to provide innovative leadership. So that attracted me very much.

AS EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, ARE THERE ANY TYPES OF SCHOLARSHIP, GENRES, OR TOPICS THAT YOU ARE MOST INTERESTED IN EXPANDING OR EMPHASIZING IN THE FUTURE?

Yes, definitely. I would like to encourage scholarship from a broad range of authors. Original research articles, obviously. Those are the mainstays of an academic journal. But I also would like to find ways to encourage review papers that synthesize the literature and articulate the state-of-the-art on important issues for the profession and discipline. Different practice types, educational pedagogies, and research methods could be examined. I would also like to encourage reflective and speculative essays, to encourage more practitioners to write for Landscape Journal.

I also think there’s a role for advocacy scholarship in landscape architecture. Public policy plays a huge role in shaping the built and the natural environment. So, public policy briefs that are evidence-based and analytical could be published in the journal. These policy briefs might look at two or three policy scenarios: compare the pros and cons, and then make recommendations for policy reforms. These could focus on federal, state, or local-level policies. Landscape architecture, as a profession, could play a more assertive role in public policy conversations in this country and across the world.

HAVE YOU SEEN A LOT OF LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTS ADVOCATING FOR THIS AS WELL?

The New Landscape Declaration addresses this issue and that’s one of the reasons why I’m excited to serve as Editor-in-Chief. So, I do think some of the aspirational aspects of what the LAF (Landscape Architecture Foundation) and the Landscape Declaration are saying are outcomes that I can help bring to fruition.

We also can learn from critiques of built works—projects that have been implemented. LAF’s landscape performance case studies, for example, assess the social, economic, and environmental benefits of selected built projects. These increase our collective knowledge base. And in the best traditions of design criticism (I’m thinking, here, of Ada Louise Huxtable), critiques of built works could offer interesting new perspectives and insights.

IS THAT AN AREA WHERE PRACTITIONERS WOULD COME IN?

They absolutely could. This is an area where both practitioners and educators can contribute—including students.

WHY DO YOU THINK THAT PRACTITIONERS HAVE BEEN LESS REPRESENTED IN THE JOURNAL?

I think it has to do with the traditional expectations for publishable scholarship. And this is one area where I can help. I plan to reach out to practitioners in the field and invite them to reflect upon and write from their experience. These would not be 8,000-word articles reporting on scientific research. But shorter pieces—1,000 or 1,500 words—reflective essays that encapsulate the views and insights that they’ve developed through practice. This scholarship can have benefits not only for students, but for academics who are teaching the next generation of practitioners. I’m hoping this is a mutually beneficial dialogue that helps to shape the field’s future research agenda.

DO YOU SEE THEM AS PLAYING A SPECIAL ROLE WHEN IT COMES TO PUBLIC POLICY DISCUSSIONS?

Practitioners confront public policies in terms of regulatory requirements and ensuring that their projects meet local permitting and approval standards. Practitioners also have an interest in understanding the performance of implemented projects. Research collaborations—between academics and practitioners—could generate useful new knowledge. That kind of information can be good for business and also influential in shaping policy reforms.

Ideally, we will have authors from the research community and the practitioner community writing from their experiences in different contexts. I’m interested in the perspectives of practitioners working in the private sector, but also in the public and non-profit sectors. This is an under-tapped resource. In the city of Madison, the community where I live, there are landscape architects who are or have been in influential positions within local government. They have a story to tell, too, that I think would be interesting and useful.

DO YOU THINK THAT THE GREATER PUBLIC WOULD BENEFIT FROM HEARING FROM PEOPLE SUCH AS YOURSELF AND THESE PRACTITIONERS?

Absolutely. I often tell my students that, as future professionals, they will have a responsibility to be civically engaged. When opportunities arise to serve on committees or advisory boards, they should take them because they have a unique lens for looking at community issues. They can contribute to the greater good if they use their knowledge and values to weigh in on local policy decisions.

IS THERE ANYTHING ELSE THAT YOU WOULD LIKE TO SHARE WITH THE MEMBERS OF CELA?

I’m excited about this new role. The plan is to increase the annual number of Landscape Journal’s issues from two to four. This will happen incrementally. So, all these changes will increase opportunities for publishing scholarship from CELA members, from practitioners, and from other disciplines. More information on the journal’s revised aims and scope and author guidelines will be forthcoming.

WHAT IS YOUR OVERALL GOAL FOR YOUR EDITORSHIP?

Increasing Landscape Journal’s impact factor is a key goal. As an international outlet for scholarship on land planning, design, and management, the journal should be a respected resource for scholars and practitioners, not just in landscape architecture but in other disciplines as well.

An image of the cover of Landscape Journal vol. 40 no. 1

Landscape Journal is the official journal of the Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture (CELA). Landscape Journal offers in-depth exploration of ideas and challenges that are central to contemporary design, planning, and teaching. Besides scholarly features, Landscape Journal includes editorial columns, creative work, and reviews of books, conferences, technology, and exhibitions. In publication since 1982, Landscape Journal continues to be a valuable resource for academics and practitioners.

Call for Papers: Native Plants Journal

The editors of Native Plants Journal seek papers on topics related to North American (Canada, Mexico, and US) native plants used for conservation, pollinator habitat, urban landscaping, restoration, reforestation, landscaping, populating highway corridors, and so on. Published papers are potentially useful to practitioners of native plant sciences. Contributions from both scientists (summarizing rigorous research projects) and workers in the field (describing practical processes and germplasm releases) are welcome.

See the journal’s submission guidelines for more information. Questions may be directed to Stephen Love, Editor-in-Chief, at slove@uidaho.edu.

About the journal: Native Plants Journal began in January 2000 as a cooperative effort of the USDA Forest Service and the University of Idaho, with assistance from the USDA Agricultural Research Service and the Natural Resources Conservation Service. The second issue of each year includes the Native Plant Materials Directory, which provides information about producers of native plant materials in the United States and Canada.

To learn more, subscribe to the journal, browse the latest table of contents, or sign up for new issue email alerts.

UW Press & John Muir: A long walk together

The National Park Service is 100 this year, and the University of Wisconsin Press is 80. John Muir has had a significant influence on both!

A son of Wisconsin pioneers, University of Wisconsin student, inventor, naturalist, and prolific writer—John Muir is one of the most fascinating figures in American history and the nation’s most celebrated advocate for land preservation and national parks. Muir’s writings convinced the U.S. government to create the first national parks at Yosemite, Sequoia, Grand Canyon, and Mt. Rainier. An NPS biographical note states, “Muir’s great contribution to wilderness preservation was to successfully promote the idea that wilderness had spiritual as well as economic value. This revolutionary idea was possible only because Muir was able to publish everything he wrote in the . . . principal monthly magazines read by the American middle class in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.”

UW Press editions of Muir’s “The Story of My Boyhood and Youth”

The University of Wisconsin Press has been publishing books by and about John Muir for at least 50 Muirsc1 years. In 1965, we reissued Muir’s autobiography, The Story of My Boyhood and Youth. (It was first published before he died in 1914.) Muir recounts in vivid detail his early life: his first eleven years in Scotland; the years 1849–1860 in the central Wisconsin wilderness; and two-and-a-half inventive years in Madison as a student at the recently established University of Wisconsin.

We have also published four different biographies of John Muir. Son of the Wilderness: The Life of John Muir by Linnie Marsh Wolfe won the 1946 Pulitzer Prize for biography. UWP obtained rights to it, issuing an edition in 1978 and an expanded edition in 2003. Based in large part on personal interviews with people who knew Muir, it follows Muir his life from Scotland through his teens in rural Marquette County, Wisconsin, to his history-making pilgrimage to California.

The Pathless Way: John Muir and American Wilderness, by scholar Michael P. Cohen, tracks the change in Muir’s aims from personal enlightenment to public advocacy, as he promoted the ecological education of the American public, governmental protection of natural resources, the establishment of the National Parks, and the encouragement of tourism.

The American Conservation Movement: John Muir and His Legacy by Stephen Fox is both a biography—the first to make unrestricted use of all of Muir’s manuscripts and personal papers—and a history of a century of environmental activism. Fox traces the conservation movement from Muir’s successful campaign to establish Yosemite National Park in 1890 to the 1980s concerns of nuclear waste and acid rain.

The Young John Muir: An Environmental Biography by Steven J. Holmes, published in 1999, offered a dramatically new interpretation of Muir’s formative years. Holmes uses rich archival material to show how the natural world confronted the young Muir with practical, emotional, and religious conflicts. Only with the help of his family, his religion, and the extraordinary power of nature itself could Muir in his late twenties find a welcoming vision of nature as home—a vision that would shape his lifelong environmental experience, most immediately in his transformative travels through the South and to the Yosemite Valley.

In the 1970s through the 1990s, UWP was very active in publishing both new collections and reissues of Muir’s writings about his wilderness travels. Some of these are now out of print, but his impassioned work of promotion, Our National Parks, remains a steady seller. Originally published in 1901, its goals were to entice people to visit the newly established parks and to encourage public support for conservation. The book treats Yellowstone, Sequoia, General Grant, and other national parks of the Western U.S., but especially Yosemite.

Articles that Muir wrote for the San Francisco Evening Bulletin in 1874 and 1875 comprise John Muir Summering in the Sierra, edited by Robert E. Engberg. In the course of the articles, Muir grows from a student of the wilderness to its professor and protector. Yosemite, Alaska

John of the Mountains: The Unpublished Journals of John Muir, first published by Knopf in 1938, was reissued by UWP in 1979. John Muir: To Yosemite and Beyond, collected writings from the period 1863 to 1875, was published in 1980. Muir’s book The Yosemite was reissued in 1987, and Letters from Alaska appeared in 1993. All are now out of print with UWP.

In 1998, UWP published Tom and Geraldine Vale’s retracing of Muir’s steps, Walking with Muir across Yosemite, based upon Muir’s journals from his first summer in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. From the foothills through Yosemite Valley and up to the Tuolumne Meadows, the Vales follow the present roads and trails that crossed Muir’s route, imagining his reaction to the landscape while reflecting on the natural world in both his time and our own.

We look forward to publishing a selection of Muir’s writing in A Driftless Area Reader edited by Curt Meine and Keefe Keeley, forthcoming sometime in 2017.

Subscribe to our blog (at right) to read more UWP history throughout the coming year.

Read past 80th anniversary blog posts here.