[Socorro Alatorre]

hi Robert! overall yes and not so yes. My brother is an urban planner and he focuses more on policies, financing, and planning as scheduling long term goals and legal plans, etc. Now, I have a friend who is an urban designer and she does more of the spatial planning, physical world per say, and like she tells me she is not a detail oriented as a landscape architect should be; so urban designers are more focused on the whole picture….

It is funny you mention the master planning since I believe that is one of the misconceptions most people have. A master plan can be a master plan for the urban planners, or a master plan for an urban designer or a master plan for a landscape architect and they will all be very different. If you think about it, a master plan is a compilation of the overall plan, and the plan can be a set of policies, a city structure or a neighborhood park. Thus the term master plan is not necessary set to a specific plan although in most cases it is expected to be and that’s where we see a bit of pollination between these professions.

In regards to the civil engineering, well, that’s a total different profession since as you mentioned is a technical view of things although you will find many engineers getting involved in landscape or urban design tasks. This is in most cases due to local requirements, such as the typical requirement of having a registered engineer stamping grading plans or sometimes any minor structure. There is in life an overlap of tasks and in major projects these are worked out as teams but it is to the discretion of the professional.

Hope this helps and also hope I got it all right, there is a large grey area between these professions, not a bad thing but it is what it is.

[Socorro Alatorre]

in brief: is not about the institution is about the student

in the article there is a mention that it doesn’t matter where you went to school is about how you perform and what are your skills, and also your enthusiasm… the weakness we see now a days is just a reflection on our own culture and how lazy and demanding the new generation has become – I guess due to the economic bubble we had – but hopefully with this new economic tight up we will start seeing more hardworking and creative people.

[Socorro Alatorre]

I would like to say that I am happy but then again I am also very frustrated. Yes the financial crisis has hit us hard and it will be a long and slow recovery and we are not there yet. I do agree with Jason’s comments in regards to the association’s response. I was hoping to get more out of them during this time but somehow they have failed to provide, I think. And most of all I feel a bit of ignorance from their part, lack of acceptance of where landscape architecture is… but then again, part of our frustration is finding someone to blame.
I do believe that the profession needs a stronger presence. A few years back we started to see more LA firms acting as the prime which was a big step – and challenge as well… but with all these we will continue to be subs to architects or planners and that will put us a bit behind. So I just hope that with time we get atop and start being the bosses on many jobs.

[Socorro Alatorre]

Good conversation going on. One thing that was not discussed is how many still employed la professional have taken a salary cut. I know of few firms that opted for this option rather than laying off people, some that went half time too. I believe that that was a good move unfortunately there hasn’t been any recovery and thus such firms have had to lay off people as well.
And yes, I know of firms that have closed the doors, at least on satellite offices. What is amazing, one of this firms was doing far better than others at the beginning of the recession and then it ended up closing! I am not familiar with the projects they were working on but I know many were from Asia and the Middle East which tent to be more conservative and have taken more drastic moves toward project development. Having said that, I also know few firms/people surviving out of international projects, again Asia and Middle East.

Of the unemployed people I know, me being one of them, getting a job has not been easy. You have the qualifications but may be too experience or maybe you don’t have the experience in the specific area they are looking for. One way or another, the truth is that there are many people looking and wiling to work for almost no pay – which I appreciate Nick’s comment about not working for free, this honestly hurts the profession even more.

[Socorro Alatorre]

Very nice, well organized and clean. I suggest adding a tab/line for up-to-day events such as conferences, competitions, etc.

[Socorro Alatorre]

Some good ideas there, are the walls built? because that limits you plenty, but if you are in the process of designing the wall you can add some texture (split face) on the vertical face of the wall and that stop them as well, you can integrate deeper notches or armrests (which have a bigger impact on the design). What I am having trouble now-a-days is with bikers, they jump over the deterrents very easy and create bigger damage to the walls. So think about bikers as well!

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