News
2007
August 14, 2007 -
"Landscape Architecture News Digest" Interviews Robin Lee Gyorgyfalvy, ASLA
The Public Practice Advisory Committee (PPAC) of ASLA produces the “Policy Shapers” series to spotlight landscape architects who are active in shaping public policy. PPAC member Juanita Shearer-Swink, FASLA, interviewed Robin Lee Gyorgyfalvy, ASLA, for this article.
You have worked for the USDA Forest Service for 20 years; tell us about your journey into landscape architecture.
My first love was art in nature. I grew up in Hawaii, immersed in its cultural blend of Polynesian, Asian, and European influences. This shaped my most meaningful connections to the land and culture. We grew up surfing and hiking, exposed to native plants and water as well as the great outdoor sculptures and public art in Hawaii. I learned to respect and value the natural and cultural aspects of Hawaii through the stories that were told.
From Mt. Holyoke College in historic South Hadley, Massachusetts, where the climate and culture are vastly different from Hawaii, I received a bachelor’s degree in Studio Arts and Sculpture. The program included a year at Dartmouth in environmental studies and design, which led me to graduate studies in Architecture/Regional Planning and Urban Design at the University of Hawaii and then to EDAW.
Working for EDAW in Hawaii, I realized that I needed to pursue an advanced degree in landscape architecture in order to really sustain my commitment to natural resources through design. I chose the University of Oregon because of their excellent design program. I also discovered that the approach and regulatory structure of land use and planning in Hawaii was modeled after Oregon’s statewide comprehensive planning.
How would you describe your work as a landscape architect?
Landscape architecture has provided me with a more effective way of communicating the importance of cultural and natural resources and implementing resource conservation. Landscape architecture is a way to conserve both land and culture. I believe that if people have access to cultural and natural resources, they become better people: more respectful, happier, and better able to contribute in meaningful ways to their communities.
Early in my career I was the manager of land development planning for a large sugar corporation in Hawaii with 97,000 acres, much of which was being transitioned from traditional agricultural use to resorts and residential, commercial, and industrial uses. These transitions affect many people and places in many ways. In addition to planning new development projects for the corporation, my work included helping people to find common ground through a willingness to listen and understand.
Through partnerships with property owners, developers, public agencies, and organizations such as the Nature Conservancy, my goals were to protect habitats and establish conservation areas. I was also able to guide small communities in developing long-range plans that would enable them to transition from being exclusively farming communities toward a more diversified future. By building in the process of storytelling, people were able to develop a shared understanding of community values and a vision for their future. ASLA’s advocacy for legislation to support this type of community visioning and planning is really important to small towns that don’t have other resources.
My involvement with these small communities and the trust that was built through listening and being responsive also help me to communicate, build community consensus, and ultimately gain support for the redevelopment of major tracts of land owned by the corporation. This in turn encouraged the corporation to partner with communities to resolve problems such as invasive species of plants and animals and to preserve open spaces through collaborative land management.
Why did you leave private practice and join the USDA Forest Service?
I joined the Forest Service because of an attraction to their conservation mission and an opportunity to provide conservation education through excellence in environmental design. My career has allowed me to work with different resource specialists. We landscape architects are great generalists. I think of us as connectors, looking for the bigger picture and helping to bring people, along with their ideas and needs, together. Our focus is to integrate all of the separate parts together solving a design problem through a process, which can include storytelling as a way to capture the spirit or essence of people or a place.
Landscape architecture and storytelling are both strong threads in your work.
Much of what we do and believe in is shaped by our childhood experiences. To help children in Hawaii to grow up understanding and appreciating the beauty and preciousness of our natural resources and cultural heritage, I wrote two books. The first book is called Legends of the Hawaiian Forest (an ASLA award recipient), followed by Legends of the Hawaiian Waters. Both of them are used in the Hawaiian culture programs of Hawaii’s elementary schools, to teach young people about Hawaii’s resources and resource conservation. The information in both books is communicated through legends, which are based on the cultural traditions of Hawaii’s storytellers. In Hawaii, and many other countries and communities, places represent cultural heritage and the generations of people who have used these places in the past. This context helps young people to understand that what they see today is part of a linear progression to be treasured and conserved for the next generation.
As former Director of Interpretive Services for Deschutes National Forest you were in charge of conservation education programs and interpretative facilities for Newberry National Volcanic Monument. You also lead the Forest Service’s Scenic Byways program. How does that all fit together?
Scenic Byways is also an interpretive program. Both of these roles are about storytelling: promoting a message for preservation and sustainability, what is special about a place and worth protecting, and accomplishing this through community partnerships and grassroots efforts. Successful Scenic Byways grow from communications with communities, businesses, and visitors—it’s all about telling the stories of the journey and connecting people to the special places and communities along the way.
Through a unique partnership I developed between Lava Lands Visitor Center and the Museum at Warm Springs, a traveling exhibit from the Warm Springs Indian Reservation was allowed to come to the visitor center. The traveling exhibit revealed the untold story of the people and land as it was before the Lewis and Clark expedition happened. The visitor experience is enriched because a much larger picture of history was given than what was currently being taught. The combination is powerful—a history teacher told me that the way he teaches history to his classes will change dramatically after visiting the center and seeing this traveling exhibit.
I am looking forward to helping shape national policy on how Scenic Byways can enhance economic viability and perpetuate small town character and sense of community as a new appointee to the [America’s Byways Resource Center Advisory Committee (www.bywaysresourcecenter.org)] and now serving a second term on the Landscape and Environmental Design Committee of the Transportation Research Board of the National Academy of Science (www.trb.org).
How are you active in Oregon as well as your local community of Bend?
The town of Bend is at least three hours away from any large city. But in a small community, even one landscape architect can make a difference in civic life.
I also served on the Oregon State Board of Architects from 1997 to 2005. I wanted to be there as an advocate for the built and natural environment, and I felt that my perspective as a landscape architect would be a plus. I was serving as chair in 2000 when the landscape architecture practice act was proposed. Lots of the board members are leading members of AIA. I worked hard to garner their support for the legislation, which passed and was enacted. There is a lot to be said for being at the right place at the right time.
Recently, I chaired a 25-member team leading the Vision for Bend for the year 2030 (www.bend2030.org). I was selected in part because of the value of my skills as a landscape architect who can draw out, understand, and integrate the concerns and hopes of different groups. We led several months of events to involve community members through public forums, town hall meetings, and presentations, and in the end, the City Council unanimously endorsed the vision. Currently, I chair a 19-member nonprofit board whose purpose is to implement the community vision through the Bend 2030 Action Plan.
In addition to Hawaii and Oregon, where else has your work taken you?
In 1994, I was in Indonesia working with other Forest Service professionals to develop a Visitor Management Plan for community-based natural heritage tourism at Kelimutu National Volcanic Park on Flores Island, which is part of the Nusa Tenggara island group located east of Bali. In 1997, I led an international planning team under the auspices of the Nature Conservancy to successfully initiate the Nature Conservancy’s first project in China, which was to be a model in sustainability for conservation and development. Our charge was to develop a conceptual master plan for the Yunnan Great Rivers National Park. We began with the challenge of developing working relationships with scientists, diplomats, and officials.
On both projects, we used storytelling to identify shared values and expectations. This process also helped us as visitors to address challenges presented by cultural and social differences. In both instances the stories identified sacred places and spiritual beliefs that we were able to reflect appropriately in our plans. Cultural attributes and the importance of places are frequently kept in the hearts and minds of elders. In the absence of storytelling, resource conservation and cultural heritage projects run the risk of ignoring or damaging the treasures that need to be conserved. So much of this is reflective of what I learned growing up in Hawaii.
Have you been able to return to Hawaii wearing your Forest Service hat?
I have been part of the Institute of Pacific Islands Forestry (IPIF) in the role of Hawaii Tropical Forest Planner on two occasions, to plan and establish a research center and experimental forest facilities. Successfully planning and siting the project relied on relationship building with local communities as well as people from scientific, business, environmental, and educational interests. As the landscape architect, I was the facilitator, helping to make the connections that would ultimately lead to success in bringing people together in support of a common cause. It is certainly true that my understanding of Hawaii’s cultural heritage, the importance of place, and the land were very helpful in establishing trust with local communities.
Coming back home to apply your skills can lead to moments of serendipity. Pigs are one of Hawaii’s invasive species that create major problems including the destruction of native plants and the habitats of other animals. One of our efforts through the IPIF program is the management of pigs, which damage public lands. There I was leading a presentation at a confrontational meeting with the Pig Hunter’s Association, when its leader, a really rough and intimidating looking man, came up to me and unexpectedly said “I know you.” It turned out that our fathers were friends and he remembered being one of the guides for our family when we went pig hunting more than 20 years ago. In this case, trust and a successful outcome were built on empathy and shared adventures.
What guidance would you share with other landscape architects who are looking to bring positive change in the public realm?
I think that our best skills as landscape architects revolve around how we are able to relate and listen to, and seek to understand the concerns of, community groups. Places tell stories if we let them. Storytellers are the source of the history and culture of places and the people who have lived there. Through storytelling you can teach respect for the land. If we can instill in people a conservation of land ethic, they are much more likely to value our cultural and historic landscapes.