A New Era of Landscape Architecture: William Shivers on the Most Podern Podcast

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What is the role of landscape in our built environment and how are spaces shaped for nature? Landscape architect William Shivers, who is a PhD in the Constructed Environment candidate at UVA's School of Architecture joins hosts Alex Yuen, Minkoo Kang, and Libo Li on a recent episode of their podcast, Most Podern, to discuss his journey into landscape architecture, the education process, and the role of landscape architects in urban design. 

The first landscape architect to be a guest on the podcast, the discussion began at the beginning — Shivers explained his unconventional entry into studying landscape architecture. Unlike many in the profession who come to the field later in life, often attending graduate school to study landscape architecture, Shivers knew very early on that this was a serious interest. "In many ways I'm kind of an odd case. I went into undergrad wanting to study landscape architecture...I was someone who was always fascinated with architecture. I was a Lego-minded kid [and] I loved building cities and buildings...but I always really liked being in nature. So I remember trying to find what [could be] the balance between architecture and nature and it popped up with landscape architecture."

Shivers followed that lead and went to Louisiana State University as an undergraduate student, receiving his professional Bachelor in Landscape Architecture degree, followed by a post-professional Master in Landscape Architecture from Harvard University's Graduate School of Design. After some time in practice, he joined the PhD in the Constructed Environment program at the University of Virginia, where he is pursuing research and teaching. 

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On the podcast, the discussion highlighted the evolving nature of landscape architecture, its economic implications, and the need for adaptive strategies in response to climate change and urbanization. When asked about what 'a new era of landscape architecture' might look like, Shivers shared a visually-rich description of the a landscape architect's role today, particularly in America. He said, "Landscape architecture has gotten kind of messy, dealing with the post-industrial." He used Kate Orff's firm, SCAPE, as one example describing their oyster project off the coast of Staten Island and its focus on improving habitat and water quality, restoring biodiversity to tidal marshes and encouraging new relationships between New Yorkers and their harbor. Associate Professor Brian Davis, Co-director of the Natural Infrastructure Lab at UVA, is another researcher whose work Shivers described as contending with the messiness of today's environment. Davis's longstanding work on breakwater design, working with mud and sand and silt, asks how sediment can be designed to move in ways to minimize coastal erosion. Shivers articulated,

"We've approached a moment in our profession where we are in our boots and our waders." 

Further, "We are kind of in the gunk and we are trying to deal with health safety and welfare," rather than being driven by aesthetics alone. He also emphasized that this kind of work is often expressed through a "post-industrial plant palette," working with plants that filter pollutants through phytoremediation. Understanding the job that nature can perform is key to this process, instead of focusing only on visual goals.

In response to the hosts' questions about how landscape architects approach their work and the challenges of working with living elements, through seasons and across lifecycles, Shivers turns to the full range of scales that a landscape architect considers: "Some of those scales could be that of an entire current of water, or how the monarch butterfly population might pass over [a designed site], and so we have to consider those types of inputs and outputs in dealing with our project boundaries."

Shivers also shared insights from his PhD research on American landscapes, particularly focusing on Hawaii's unique ecological and historical context. Currently titled The Tree at the Center: Reconstructing Landscape History and Analysis in the American Landscape's Periphery, Shivers's research focuses on culturally and ecologically significant tree species in Hawaii including ‘Ohi’a Lehua (Metrosideros polymorpha), a pioneer species after lava flows that dominates Hawaiian forests. Alongside other tree species, Shivers uses the perspective of the tree as a way to weave together and synthesize across history, culture, production, ecopolitics, the economics of agriculture, tourism, and more. "I'm looking at the machine that is the American landscape...Hawaii, especially after World War II...is seen as the gateway to the Pacific...it becomes a fantasy for a lot of people. Hawaii is quickly transformed into tourism dependency." Shivers expanded on the negative impacts of that tourism legacy and how today, there are active movements of resistance that provide new insights into Hawaii's future and its evolving identity. 

Shivers is also excited about how the future of landscape architecture practice, in North America, is finding anchors in smaller cities and towns in the interior, not just the typical cities on the east and west coasts. Highlighting contemporary practices such Studio Zewde, Merritt Chase, and Super Bloom Landscape Architecture, he shared his optimism about how these practices are bringing the expertise and skills of landscape architecture to places across the county — at a range of scales and budgets. 

Host Yuan asked Shivers "what makes a good landscape architect?", to which Shivers said,

"[A good landscape architect] is a mediator...We bring the knowledge of ecology [and] horticulture to the table, with science and art, and physics and [development]. A good landscape architect is someone who can work between the lines."

To hear more from William Shivers, watch the full episode of A New Era of Landscape Architecture on Most Podern, hosted on YouTube:

About Most Podern Podcast

Most Podern is a podcast about the stories and ideas behind our built environment. We all live in the built environment. Building buildings is an inherently collaborative experience. Too often, conversations are split between professional lines. Developers talking to developers, designers to designers, contractors to contractors.

Most Podern seeks to establish convening power around the built environment by bringing together disparate dialog. The hosts seek disagreement, difference, and dissent to find common ground through shared conversation. They bring listeners a more sensitive awareness of the built environment through the stories of those who build, and the systems, policy, spaces, and forces that shape our world.

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