Love all Ages
I finished my landscape architecture undergraduate degree in lockdown, a few months into the pandemic. After graduation, I worked for two landscape architecture studios, splitting my Monday to Friday between them. However, I also started another job. In the evenings and weekends, I worked as a care worker, caring for local elderly folk in their homes. I took this third job to respond to a crisis that left me, like many others, feeling a bit useless and very lonely. I never expected to learn anything about landscape architecture in this other job. Still, to my surprise (and as everyone who knows me is bored of me saying), "I learned more about landscape architecture as a care worker than I did as a landscape architect."
While that statement isn't strictly true (the talented landscape architects and architects I worked with that year taught me well), I did learn many things about landscape architecture and urban design through care work that I believe to be as valuable as any ordinary or formal design training. For instance, I learned that for my 90-year-old client Jill*, the difference between a maintained sidewalk and an uneven one was enough to affect her ability to leave her house on her own accord.
Surely the fact that landscape architecture deals with spaces that are (in theory) accessed by nearly everyone should make it a profession of inclusivity. But that isn't what I witnessed as I walked through my home city of Brighton, U.K., with my clients. Designed spaces in my city instead seem to advantage Brighton's average resident - a young and non-disabled man - while excluding the city's more vulnerable residents. Skate parks, cycle lanes, and improved traffic flow schemes all have their place, right? Well, no, not if you're a 90-year-old woman with bad knees and dementia.
Of course, these projects aren't all bad, and I have little against improving green space and increasing cycle lanes that will be well-used by many Brighton residents, myself included. And sure, if more people are cycling and not sitting in congested traffic, older adults will benefit too. But this is like trickle-down economics for urban designers. 12% of Brighton's population is over 65. They shouldn't just be second or third-hand beneficiaries of a design project; they should be on the brief as legitimate and welcome users of all public spaces.
The omittance of older adults from landscape architecture and other design briefs is, of course, standard. The Highline, for example, claims to be accessible because it has multiple elevator access points and wheelchair-friendly restrooms. Andrea Lipps and Ellen Lupton's book, The Senses, points out how being able to get into a space does not guarantee you an equitable experience of that space once in it,
'Museums have long used ramps and elevators to ensure that visitors with disabilities can enter the building, but museums often fail to offer these visitors a rich experience once they get inside.' (Lipps and Lupton, The Senses, p. 14)
Like exclusive museums, the Highline offers little for older adults once "inside." Its offerings are not designed for everyone, with a program of artist performances, dance parties, art installations, festivals, stalls, and partnerships with local businesses. I counted more than 50 photos on the Highline's website and couldn't find one person who appeared to be older than 65. MVV's Brooklyn Bridge Park tells a similar story through the 'Things to Do' listed on their website: basketball, biking, birding, bocce, bouldering, fishing, kayaking, ping pong, roller skating, running, soccer and volleyball. Again, the park is accessible but only offers "things to do" for certain visitors.
The city that works so well for one group of people can be an alienating and hostile place for others. It occurs to me that I have learned most about this by spending time with older adults, walking our public spaces with them, and not just listening to them but witnessing their experiences firsthand. The challenge is how to do that effectively when as landscape architects, we spend our time in studios rather than care homes. The World Health Organization says that by 2050 the proportion of the population over 60 will nearly double from 12% to 22%. Adaptations will need to be made, and more significant resources will need to be allocated to the health and social care sectors. However, these adjustments also need to be applied to landscape architecture design briefs and the design of our streets and public spaces.
Lipps, Andrea, and Lupton, Ellen. The Senses: Design Beyond Vision. Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum and Princeton Architectural Press, 2018 (8 - 19)
*Not real name
