Interview III: Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT)

The Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) landscape architecture program aims to teach landscape architects to engage small- and large-scale landscapes of urbanization through a rigorous training in geographic, ecological, and landscape infrastructural systems. Attention is given both to regenerative landscape design at a planetary level and to shaping urban landscapes that support ecological, infrastructural, and human health functions. This chapter presents the interview conducted by Jonathon R. Anderson and Daniel H. Ortega. Landscape architects have always thought that the primary fundamental unit of the city is public open space that is ecologically organized. The damage that has been brought on by the designed fabric of cities is taking over. The great innovations that are happening in landscape architecture right now involve the remediation of the entire environment that has been subjected to a type of holistic urban annihilation. Innovation in landscape architecture is nothing new to the discipline.