[Craig Coronato]

hang in there steve. you may have to move once or twice befre you settle in aplace to establish your career. there is plenty of work in china and the middle east if you are adventurous. LA is a great career – I’ve been doing it for 27 years and would do it all over again.

I moved to Denver in 1984 as a new grad in the middle of a recession (imagine that). I wasn’t laid off but saw the writing on the wall – I was working design and construction for a contractor and making about $4.50/hr with a BLA. I took my uncle up on a job offer in NY to help him run a military aircraft manufacturing shop. I enjoyed the responsilibity and the money but missed LA. When a LA job opened up nearby I jumped on it and built my experience in NY knowing I’d eventually want to get back to Colorado.

Finally moved back to Colorado – where my wife came from – in 1998, after 14 years – and am hopefully here to stay. Bad times effect everybody but provide opportunities if you are creative and flexible. Knowing things were slow at our office in Denver in 2007 I volunteered for a temp 8 month assignment to China last year. It was tough on the family but a great experience for me. When I returned to Denver and my own company was downsizing, I found another (better) job this past April.

My recommendation – stay active in professional groups, get a masters degree, stay visible in the design community, travel, learn as much as you can about your chosen profession, network – that’s what it all about right now. Most of all stay positive – good thngs will happen. good luck.

[Craig Coronato]

The Highlands neighborhood (just west snd north of downtown) is the best alternative to the Wash Park area – prices are (a little) lower and it is definitely hip. plenty of restaurants, cafes, shops, etc. A small town feel. No Light Rail but it is a short bicycle ride to downtown and there are plenty of buses. That’s where I would look first..

[Craig Coronato]

Like business, economies are only healthy when they are growing. Growth includes and maybe requires population. So we have the need to grow in order to be prosperous and we have finite resources on this little planet of ours.. How we reconcile these seemingly contradictory trajectories is the key to longevity.

So here I am working in China this year because they have the best capacity to support large scale design, planning and, yes, environmental projects. There is a phenomenal amount of growth that is contributing to rising demand of world resources and is also to foul water and air. Yet this is part of what has been hoped for China and other emerging nations (India, SE Asia, S America) by the rest of the industrialized world: education, peace, prsoperity, right? And they are doing many of the right things. I have seen more high density communities, non-motorized traffic, mass transit, energy saving devices, green roofs, porous pavers and constructed wetlands here in the last four months than in my career in the US.

So to tie the two rambling thoughts above together. Maybe we can learn from other parts of the world who perceive the US to be fat and wasteful, yet a desirable place to be. By looking at the experiences of other places one can see today the mistakes of the past (eg: weak environmental law) as well as the problems of the future (eg: dense urban population). Our place as landscape architects is to have and understand the tools, and to educate and give our Clients the options: pros and cons, of a smart way to make a little dent in the climate change problem. Because the cumulative effect of “little” solutions over time will be most effective against environmental degradation and climate change.

[Craig Coronato]

Tracey: without a license you will not be able to call yourself a landscape architect nor practice landscape architecture in most states. if this is your career choice I’d go with the accredited program.. Good luck.

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