Landscape architecture is more people than plants, says UC Berkeley professor [Video]

It might sound surprising, but landscape designer Walter Hood didn’t get into his field because he loves plants or trees. As he explains in this video about his work for UC Berkeley News, it was people — and their stories about how they have used, shaped and been changed by the land — that spurred his career.

“I wanted to engage with people who come from different walks of life,” he says. “Here at Berkeley, we really focus on the public realm. And the public realm as a public university is a landscape in which we all share.”

Hood serves as the Chair of the Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning Department at UC Berkeley and is the creative director and founder of Hood Design Studio in Oakland. He has been recognized with numerous accolades, including a MacArthur fellowship, for his elegant and community-centered designs, which examine and reflect the many uses of a space over time.

For example, take his work …