A bit about me 

 

I have studied and practiced landscape architecture; I love the field, but I don’t only want to be a landscape architect. I have studied and practiced urban planning; I love the role of planning, but don’t necessarily want to be a planner. The same goes for economic development and urban design.

 

If I am passionate about them all, what do they have in common that attracts me?

 

The common thread is their effect on ‘place’.

 

Looking back, I can

 see that ‘place’ had long been important to me. Prior to leaving for holidays as a child (and long before Google Earth), I would study maps of our destinations and imagine what the neighborhoods we’d be visiting would look like. As I grew older I progressed from maps to building Lego cities on the dining room table, drawing freeway interchanges on dry-erase boards and ending with one of the most prolific computer game of my generation: Sim City. In that game, I didn’t try to build the biggest cities, but rather  places I would want to visit and live myself. Every body of water was lined with parks, enabling public access. Parisian-styled boulevards stretched through the city, creating mixed-use districts, purposefully contrasting my homogeneous suburban upbringing. 

 

I didn’t understand then what the difference was between places that felt good or felt bland, and what may have made them feel that way. With the uniqueness of each place, I am continually inspired by this.

 

When visiting new places I inevitably find myself questioning how it feels, and why. The inimitability of each place offers a distinctive feel, requiring individualized strategies when approaching design and regeneration. What is missing, what does it need? And what does it already have? Professional experience has taught me that answers are rarely singular or straightforward. 

 

The complexity and layers involved when interrogating the depths of urban issues, and their effect on the built surface, are what inspire me professionally. All of this shows itself when experiencing an area’s ‘sense of place’, allowing me to combine my professional background and interests to a single cause: 

 

placemaking