_SCAPE

Established in 2003, _SCAPE magazine is a regionally recognized publication produced by the American Society of Landscape Architects, Minnesota Chapter (ASLA-MN). Since its launch, _SCAPE has evolved to become a valuable publication made available to ASLA-MN members in print and to the general public through an electronic version. _SCAPE serves as the chapters’ primary tool for communicating the nature and value of landscape architecture to broader audiences such as affiliated professionals, municipal administrators, policy makers and educators.

Content is based on two primary objectives: 1) serving ASLA-MN members and, 2) promoting the landscape architecture profession through education and information. As a core element of the landscape architecture profession, design is a prominent focus of both the articles and essays and their graphical presentation. Vendor advertisements fund the publication. Standing features have included coverage of the ASLA-MN design awards, annual membership directory, and letter from the chapter president. Dynamic features include articles and essays addressing trends in the profession at-large and coverage of local developments and activities. Authors have also varied, and have included both practitioners and non-practitioners.

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Current Issue

2025 Issue 2

A Note From the _SCAPE Editors

As cities evolve, so too must the role of landscape architecture. Have you ever found yourself as the sole designer at the table, defending ideas that felt like yours alone to carry? Have you shifted from designing strictly through drawings to "designing" through community engagement and policy-making? Have emerging technologies or data-driven insights redefined your workflow? Or perhaps collaborations with adjacent disciplines have opened your eyes to entirely new ways of thinking?

Today, rapid technological shifts, environmental urgency, and evolving cultural values continually challenge the tools and scales we once took for granted. These forces are not simply disruptions-they are invitations to rethink how we practice, who we serve, and what impact we strive to achieve. Our latest theme, "Disrupting the Usual," showcases projects, research, and reflections that push beyond convention and expand what landscape architecture can be and do.

Whether through design experimentation, technological integration, or advocacy-driven work, we are interested in stories where innovation has taken root-sometimes quietly, sometimes boldly-to move our discipline forward. These narratives remind us that meaningful change often emerges at the intersections: between disciplines, between communities, and between imagination and implementation.

This issue features four articles exploring how we can disrupt the status quo across scales and geographies: from new design approaches to healing landscapes for Minneapolis communities, to tactical urbanism models revitalizing American downtowns; from small-scale installations in Rochester, MN, that poetically merge art with nature, to an eco-development case study in Indonesia. Together, these works demonstrate that transformation is not bound by size or location, but by the willingness to question, test, and evolve.

These pages mark only the beginning of a broader dialogue. As the conversation extends onto our forthcoming LinkedIn platform, we invite you to join in sharing ideas, challenging assumptions, and collectively redefining the evolving boundaries of practice. In doing so, we can better position landscape architecture not only as a responsive discipline, but as a proactive force shaping more equitable, resilient, and inspiring futures.

Enjoy,

Aus Perez + Magic Sun

Editors of _SCAPE Magazine

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