Landscape Architecture and the Future of Cities: A Conversation with Max Lazen

The Lower Raritan Watershed Partnership (LRWP) is an organization based in New Jersey that is concerned with the mismanagement of stormwater, and how this affects communities in and around New Brunswick. The human intrusion into the natural world has created a problem that will take a new, more considerate kind of innovation to solve. Included on a list of their “Top 10” concerns is an indictment on what was once seen as a wonder of expansion. It reads “Centuries of burying and culverting streams has ‘disappeared’ many waterways, compromising the ability of our landscape to adequately capture and store rain and stormwater runoff.”

This problem might’ve started in colonial times, but now, a fully industrialized New Brunswick is paying the price. Low-income housing and significant areas of Route 18 were submerged during the time of Hurricane Sandy, leaving people without power for days on end. There’s also the issue of NJ Transit risking damage with flooded train cars. NJ Transit has recently been planning an inspection and storage facility in New Brunswick, after losing around $120 million in damages during Sandy.

Still, building more facilities inland will not solve the problem for those living in exposed areas. For that problem, we need ingenuity, namely in the field of landscape architecture. Landscape architecture with an environmental focus is one of the most important aspects of any restorative justice, whether at the local, state or federal level.

Max Lazen is a junior at Rutgers University who is studying Landscape Architecture, and he joined me for a discussion about the ecological and economic specifics about the field he is hoping to join. What was most striking was learning how attempts at sustainability can be constrained by the market, or more specifically, the demands of the client.

Jordan Levy: What does that (Landscape Architecture) mean for the type of course work you have? You’ve drawing plots and all that?

Max Lazen: Well, yeah. It’s actually exactly what you think it would be. Landscape architecture is far more design studio courses, it’s much more focused on artistic vision than Environmental Planning is.

JL: You’re really studio-based, and it’s more artistic?

ML: A studio course focuses heavily on sight analysis, the way that space is used. But at the end of the day, you’re learning drawing skills, you’re learning how to render a planned view and a sectioned view. Something that an engineer or a construction company can look at and know what you’re trying to express. It’s about creating spaces that fit a particular program. For instance, you have a client who wants certain things.

Have the space be practical for human use, but also sustainable. It’s also about realizing a vision. As young people, it’s hard to think big picture like, so it’s good practice in a lot of ways.

JL: To get really specific, do you guys think about stormwater management a lot when you’re designing these spaces?

ML: Yeah, of course. So, say for example we’re designing a plaza space. It’s one thing to just take a piece of paper and draw a bunch of shapes on it and then say what those shapes represent in the landscape. Then draw a section that’s like “this sweeping curve is a ramp” or whatever.

You have to know how to draw a topographical map of what that space looks like. You can’t draw a topographical map that draws all the water to the center of the space just because that’s what you feel like doing, and because it looks cool. That’s dumb, you know. You can be the greatest designer in the world, the greatest artist in the world, but you’re not a landscape architect unless you can make that space work practically.

JL: Do you focus on environmental restoration in your work as well?

ML: Sure, it really depends on the vision of the designer or the program.

JL: How much of the insistence on sustainability is dictated by what the client wants, versus what’s standard for making a space?

ML: Well, if you’re a landscape architect, your firm is hired to do a job.

JL: So, no matter what you’re doing …

ML: It really depends on how strict the guidelines your client gives you are. Generally speaking, a client will not tell you NOT to do something that’s not sustainable. That’s not a kind of red tape that you’ll encounter. What you might encounter is a client requesting a particular material which is no sustainably sourced. That’s a much more common thing. Y’know “I want this imported stone,” for whatever reason.

Depending on the mission of the firm you work for or your personal morals or ideals, you may try to convince your client otherwise. But in most cases, I think there will be more than enough leeway for the designer to make sustainable choices. Those are skills that you definitely learn in the department.

JL: Would you say that the average landscape architecture student is an environmentalist or sorts? Like they (environmentalists) trend toward that major?

ML: That’s a good question. Just like any major at Rutgers, you have a fair amount of people who just kind of ended up there, and decided that they think it’s cool and it’s just as simple as that. There’s a lot of value in that. Just being able to pick a thing. There are definitely a bunch of kids that like plants a lot. Aside from that group that I just described, there are three main groups that I’ve noticed.

There’s the hardcore environmentalist people, your run of the mill vegans who know their trees, and that’s cool. There’s a substantial population of kids who went to an architecture focused high school who decided “you know, I wanna do something that’s architecture, but I don’t want to design buildings. I want to do something technical, but I want to focus more on design and I care about the environment, so I want to do something like that.” And then you’ve got people that are really great artists and graphic designers that like the medium, they like parks. That’s what they want to design, that’s their medium.

JL: So in a city like New Brunswick, there’s tons of urban planning. So how do those two (fields) interact?

ML: I’m not an expert, well at least not yet. But I will say that urban planning and environmental planning are becoming increasingly synonymous, as we as a planet draw closer and closer to our doom [laughs] …

JL: That’s one way to put it …

ML: Yeah, it’s just like … urban planning and environmental planning — we cannot be living in a world where we’re designing non-sustainable cities. It’s really the environmental planners that are experts in soils and air quality that are gonna be in high demand when the sh*t hits the fan.

JL: Hopefully, it won’t hit too hard … it’s already hit it hard as hell, nevermind.

ML: Oh nah, we’re there with it, we’re like here [imitates tossing up a tennis ball], and Serena (Williams) is about to come down. You know what I’m saying?

JL: Oh boy, that’s a powerful swing.

Interview edited for length and clarity.