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By John Koepke, head
 Department of Landscape Architecture students and faculty are
particularly excited about this year's sustainability theme. The concept is not
new for landscape architects: We like to say that sustainability is not an add-on.
From Fredrick Law Olmstead's early designs in New York and Boston, to H. W. S.
Cleveland's plans in Minneapolis and St. Paul, to the work of today's leading
professionals, the focus is on designing environments that sustain both humans
and the natural environment.
Our tripart curriculum focuses on art, ecology, and community. These aspects will enable students to develop a personal design philosophy that emphasizes artfully composed, yet environmentally sustainable, design solutions throughout their careers.
Over the years, our faculty have engaged in numerous projects dealing directly with sustainability in their studios, their research, and their scholarship. Past projects varied from managing storm-water quality and quantity to building more sustainable transportation systems and guiding development through smart growth regional design. Currently, Laura Mussachio and a multidisciplinary team are studying economically viable landscape alternatives, including opportunities for growing biofuels and native sustainable crops for Madelia and its surrounding agricultural region.
An exciting long-term project is the Laurentian Vision Partnership, which some describe as "turning pits and piles into lakes and landscape for a more sustainable future." Over the last 10 years, Professor David Pitt, senior research fellow M. Christine Carlson, and I have been working with stakeholders, state agencies, and mining companies on northern Minnesota's Mesabi Iron Range. We are studying how taconite can be mined, while at the same time leaving a more economically and environmentally sustainable postmining landscape.
Conferences near and far
I attended the American Society of Landscape Architecture (ASLA) conference in San Francisco in October, where one of our recent MLA graduates, Bret Wieseler, won a Student Honor award for "(In) Security: Access and Anxiety in the Wall Street Financial District." Wieseler's design project was artful, but also dealt with social and environmental sustainability issues. Since 2003 our MLA graduates have won four national ASLA Student Awards--one for research and three for design.
The ASLA conference theme, "Design with Nature: the Art of Balance," dealt with the critical issue of sustainability. It is my opinion that the educational sessions focusing on sustainability issues, such as storm-water management or ecosystem restoration, were the most popular.
In early November, the American Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA) and Council of Educators of Landscape Architecture (CELA) international conference was held in Minneapolis. Cochaired by Dean Tom Fisher and me, the conference, "Preparing for the Inconvenient Truth," addressed global, regional, and local issues associated with climate change.
This is a great opportunity for leaders in the design fields to discuss strategies for preparing America's infrastructure to accommodate the potentially massive change brought about by global warming. In conjunction with this conference, landscape architecture students, led by Kate Skelton, Zach Jorgenson, and Cynthia Lapp, put together a noon lecture series addressing climate change and the role of design professions in leading efforts to mitigate and adapt to global warming.
Sustainability has not only been the key focus of our past efforts in the department, but we also believe it is the key for all of us who share the planet's collective future.
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