Jody Beck, PhD

Director

Areas of Expertise

My central interest is in the political nature of landscapes. The vast majority of my work focuses on landscapes as they relate to food, agriculture, and/or utopian thought.

Awards

AWARDS AND RECOGNITIONS

2010, Merit Award for art.landscape.performance.life, Ellerslie Garden Show, Christchurch, New Zealand

2006, Special Initiatives Volunteer Award, Community Design Collaborative Philadelphia

RECENT GRANTS

April 2014; Pilot study: Inventory of the Urban Agricultural Potential for the Denver Metropolitan Area; University of Colorado Denver, Office of Research Services

Research

My primary research at the moment is a book titled Landscape and Utopia which examines the role of landscape as the foundational political medium for Ebenezer Howard’s Garden City, Le Corbusier’s Radiant City, and Frank Lloyd Wright’s Broadacre city proposals. I expect that it will be in print by early 2022.

Landscape and Utopia (in progress), “Utopia Landscape Food Utopia”.
Concluding chapter in edited book Handbook of Landscape and Food; Routledge, 2018., Beck, J. “Food and Form-of-Life: A Philosophical Argument for Urban and Peri-Urban Agriculture”.
Food Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal, Volume 7, Issue 1, pp. 1-13., published on-line January 9, 2017

Publications and Presentations

SELECTED PRESENTATIONS

2014, “Landscape and Utopia,” paper presentation, Fifth International Conference on the Constructed Environment, Philadelphia

2014, “This is not a Site,” poster session, Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture annual conference, Baltimore

2014, ”Research as Service Learning: Food on the Front Range,” paper presentation, Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture annual conference, Baltimore

2013, “Food, Philosophy and Landscape,” paper presentation, Third Annual Conference on Food Studies, Austin

2013, “Oil and the Modern Social Imaginary,” paper presentation, American Association of Geographers annual conference, Los Angeles

2010, “Local Food Networks: A Source of Place-Based Community,” paper presentation, 48th Annual Making Cities Liveable Conference, Charlotte

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

“Lifeblood; Oil, Freedom and the Forces of Capital.” book review for Economic Geography, Vol. 90, No. 3 (July 2014) pp: 349-350

John Nolen and the Metropolitan Landscape (Taylor & Frances 2013)

“When the Wells Run Dry,” Landscape Architecture New Zealand, (Autumn 2011); n.9: p.10-12

“Landscape and Sustainability,” Topos: The International Review of Landscape Architecture and Urban Design. 70 (2010):104-105

Tools

Resources

Schools & Colleges

Campus Affiliates

Alert: The Plaza Building will remain closed through Jan. 1, 2025.

Faculty and staff may retrieve items and use copy machines in preparation for finals week with Campus ID badges through the door on the Southwest side across from King Center. Additionally, the Auraria Health Center (link: https://healthcenter1.com) is continuing to operate at a reduced capacity.

Learn More

University Technical Assistance Program

College of Architecture and Planning