Jody Beck, PhD

Jody Beck’s teaching and research are organized around the intersection of politics and landscapes. His research spans the history of ideas to utopian proposals for reconstructing society based on the fact that landscapes are the foundational political medium. Beck has written two books, John Nolen and the Metropolitan Landscape and Landscape and Utopia, which approach this topic in different ways. 

Beck is also interested in the role of food production and agriculture in landscape form and the design of cities and has written several articles and one book chapter on this topic.  He is currently supporting a number of different community food initiatives with his research and creative work activities and has a $150,000 grant from the Colorado Water Conservation Board to study the use of reclaimed water in food production in the arid west.

Beck is also the director of the University Technical Assistance Program, building on the good work and solid foundation laid in that program by Chris Koziol, Lois Brink, and others.  This program has over 20 active projects across the state offering predesign services to local government units and hires approximately 20 CAP students each year. 
His favorite teaching activities are studios that engage actual clients, ranging from community groups to non-profit organizations to municipalities. 

Beck is Chair of the Department of Landscape Architecture where he directly engages with students, the profession, and communities.  He strongly believes in interdisciplinary work and hopes to be able to foster more collaboration across departments in the areas of curriculum as well as in research and creative  work.
Before pursuing a design and then an academic career, I grew up on a cattle ranch in rural Montana. He pursued his work across the spectrum from urban to rural areas.