Understand, then Plan

My internship has been instrumental in my growth and development as a future Landscape Architect. Landscape Architects are stewards of the land that connect natural systems to the human life. In order to create a perfect harmony between human and nature you have to understand what is happening in the landscape as well as the civic system. So far I have been working on an assessment of the Kentucky Trail Towns, these are towns scattered across the state of Kentucky that offer multi use trail systems to the public as recreation and entertainment. The towns are: Berea, Columbia, Cumberland Benham & Lynch, Dawson Springs, Elkhorn City, Jamestown, Livingston, London, Manchester, Morehead, Olive Hill, Royalton, Stearns, and McKee.

Myself and a team member ask a bike tourist about his experience.

My team and I have traveled to theses towns and documented the success and failures of the sidewalk systems, the effectiveness of signage and way-finding, the tourist experience (local restaurants, museums, parks, hotels, etc.) and most importantly how easy it is to get off the interstate, find the trail head, and safely leave your car and enjoy the day in these towns. Our findings have a wide range, which was expected considering how diverse all of the towns are in size, location, and culture. After we gather as much information as possible on location (like talking to a bike tourist in Berea about his experience on the cross Kentucky bike trail and what he would recommend to improve anything) we travel back to the office and examine the towns from a birds eye view. We create maps of these places using ArcGIS and data obtained from kygeo.net, then we can use trace paper to highlight: connections, historic areas, residential areas, food, proximity to services, and whatever else we need to analyze a town. The trace paper system of drawing, then overlaying with more paper to show something else is one of the oldest tools in a Landscape Architects toolbox.

A small town streetscape, 

Before you can design anything you have to understand as much as possible about how a town works and more importantly why it works that way. You don't want to suggest construction of a grocery store for a neighborhood on a lot without knowing why nothing has ever been built on that lot. Maybe it the farmers market, maybe its where neighborhood kids play kickball. You need to realte to the people of a place and understand their needs because ultimately they will be the ones living with whatever it is you decide.

So that's a little bit about my profession and how it relates to the extension program. We plan for communities based on evidence not efficiency.