CAP Fall Electives

Landscape As Archive: Amache National Historic City

Instructor: Louise Bordelon

Mondays from 9: 30 a.m. - 12:15 p.m.

Description:

Amache, near Grenada in Eastern Colorado, was the site of a Japanese-American Relocation Center during World War II. Japanese-Americans who lived on the West Coast were removed from their homes and communities and sent to live in camps like the one at Amache, based on the premise that their ties to Japan (based on race alone) were a threat to national security. Through a grant from the National Park Service (NPS), this elective will delve into how the people who were detained here shaped their landscape to create places of beauty, hope, and serenity in the landscape.

Students will learn about Japanese art, gardens, and reverence for nature akin to religion known as Shinto, as well as learning about the people and gardens at the relocation center. Planned field trips include Botanic Gardens, and a site field trip to Amache (fully funded, no out of pocket for students). Students will inventory pieces of the cultural landscape at Amache and produce narratives and graphics to accompany their findings.

Work done in the elective will contribute toward a Cultural Landscape Inventory (CLI) for the NPS. There may be opportunities for students to continue working on this project into the summer and the 2025/26 academic year. Cultural Landscape Inventories are often contracted to landscape architecture firms that focus on cultural landscapes. Your participation in this elective should equip you with skills directly transferable to the workplace.

LDAR 6686.002
Planing for Change
Instructor: Jody Beck
In-Person

Description:

Students in this class will have a deep exposure to three different planting methodologies that each promise significant change in the physical as well as the social landscape. Green roofs promise significantly lower energy consumption to reduce the environmental impacts of buildings. Food forests promise a more engaged use of urban space and food production that addresses food insecurity. Turf replacement, especially in the arid west, promises a more responsible way to use water and yet be surrounded by beauty. Each segment of this class will be presented primarily by experts in the field with support and parallel lectures by the professor. 

Students will analyze a particular space for each of the three elements and present the projected benefits and barriers to its production in a comprehensive manner. These analyses will be focused on social, environmental, and urban benefits and explore not only the barriers to producing them, but also project ways in which these barriers can be overcome. 

The ultimate focus of this course is on how to make real change through reflective practice and advocacy.