School of Planning, Design and Construction

The past few months have been a fantastic opportunity to reacquaint myself with, and deepen my understanding of, the Landscape Architecture (LA) discipline. I first discovered LA as a member of the Minnesota Design Team, a volunteer group that conducts charrettes to help small communities in the state. Later, I partnered first with the LA program at West Virginia University and then at Michigan State University to offer similar programs in collaboration with Extension.

New energy is coming to the LA program at the School of Planning, Design and Construction in several ways. First, LA is a home discipline for our incoming director, Ming-Han Li. Second, SPDC is now host to the National Charrette Institute, and I’m expecting many fruitful collaborations between NCI and the LA program given the latter’s frequent use of the design charrette process. Finally, we have two new faculty on board, and I note many positive exchanges between them and the alumni.

Jun-Hyun Kim is an associate professor and program leader of the Landscape Architecture Program. The overarching goal of Kim’s research is to assess the influence of the natural and built environment on promoting ecological and human health outcomes. He has been involved in several research projects assessing the influence of the natural and built environment on enhancing community value and promoting public health. Kim is teaching a wide spectrum of core LA courses, including introductory and advanced landscape design studios and construction courses.

Professor Yang Mi Kim is an instructor in the LA program. She is currently teaching introductory landscape architecture design studios and digital design communication courses.

While I plan to return to my home unit on December 31, I have immensely enjoyed my interactions with the faculty, students, and alumni from the program. I look forward to future collaborations.