It Began This Summer

Currently working on my Masters of Advanced Studies in Landscape Architecture from the University of British Columbia, I am researching the power of design within the urban environment to foster a biophilic connection with the natural world. I believe design and land planning have the power to reconnect people to natural systems and subsequently help cities become more resilient in the face of growing climate uncertainty and resource scarcity.

This summer, I was chosen to be a Greenest City Scholar to work on the City’s eighth goal, known as “Clean Water”. The research I completed this summer galvanized my spirit and appropriately sharpened my focus. In turn, water has become the specific driver for me and the exploration into my assumptions about powers of design.

My first year at the University of British Columbia had me focused on coursework and reacquainting myself with life as a student and a sponge for knowledge. This, my second year, begins with two courses, Landscape Planning and Management and the first ever CityStudio, each of which require weekly reflections. Both will relate to my eventual thesis and will inevitably feed into each other.

This blog begins as a home for these reflections, the articulation of my conservation ethos, and the honing of my ideas.