Future Systems Lab: A Landscape Architectural Teaching Model to Enable the Development of Practices that Can Thrive in Times of Disruption

Landscape Architecture is a design discipline concerned with the transformation and stewardship of sites of various scales. As a creative practice, the profession of Landscape Architecture is generally thought to be largely resistant to some of the most pressing concerns around the future of work, such as automation. However, it is clear that the rapid changes of the future will require a reorientation within the profession. The challenges for Landscape Architects will be how to act in increasingly fraught environmental and social conditions, demanding the development of capabilities for negotiation to balance competing interests. An ability to demonstrate value and relevance will be crucial. In this context, there is a question of whether current modes of studio pedagogy are able to equip students for the potentials of this future. Traditional studio pedagogies establish a hierarchical learning environment to support analytic, synthetic, and evaluative modes of thinking through modes of production including drawing, conversing, model-making; all within a framework which privileges the ethos of the teacher. What other models are possible with the aim to develop graduating students with the ability to position themselves in the profession, develop adaptive models of practices (where they may need to commission work themselves) and how they understand their relations between their work, the community and potential stakeholders/funding bodies? What are teaching strategies that develop attributes of adaptability, resilience, independence and creativity, to provide a robust grounding for the challenges that may arise changing the nature of contemporary practice?