The Cactus Hunters: Desire and Extinction in the Illicit Succulent Trade
By Jared D. Margulies; Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2023; 392 pages, $24.95.
Reviewed by Anjulie Rao
Some years ago, a friend handed me a potted cactus. I wasn’t aware of the genus or species, only that it looked like a quintessential cactus: seven inches tall and deep forest green, its ribs dotted with malicious, symmetrical spikes. Though he had cared for it over the years, he no longer wanted this particular cactus. Looking around his home, I noticed, perhaps for the first time, that it was filled with succulents of many varieties, shapes, and conditions of health. It seemed that his minor obsession was similar to one that had overtaken my thirtysomething peers’ homes. There were succulents everywhere: Senecio rowleyanus, or string of pearls, hanging from macramé-covered pots in the bay windows of Chicago two-flats; aeoniums in vibrant pinks and greens; pincushions tucked into windowsills, looking soft and dangerous. Continue reading Prickly Desires →
A new podcast aims to demystify the Green New Deal and its implications for the profession.
By Anjulie Rao
José Alfredo Ramírez.
Since Senator Edward J. Markey and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez introduced the Green New Deal (GND) house resolution to Congress in 2019, architecture and landscape architecture educators have been teaching emerging designers to grapple with the possibilities of a carbon-neutral future outside the formal landscape practice (see “The Year of the Superstudio,”LAM, April 2022). Faculty are educating students on the interconnected systems related to economic policy, social movements, and the built environment, effectively blurring boundaries between areas of expertise.Continue reading Listen To Reasons→
UN JARDÍN CONMEMORATIVO PARA UNA VÍCTIMA DE 12 AÑOS DE UNA VIOLENCIA POLICIAL, SE CONVIERTE EN UN PUNTO DE PARTIDA PARA ATENDER A GENERACIONES DE NIÑOS.
POR ANJULIE RAO / FOTOGRAFÍA DE SAHAR COSTON-HARDY, AFILIADA A ASLA
Voluntarios y personal de la Fundación Tamir Rice saludan a los visitantes en la inauguración del jardín.
Llegué al patio de recreo de la Escuela Primaria Marion C. Seltzer alrededor de las 11 de la mañana, justo antes de que el calor del día alcanzara a su punto maximo. Era viernes y los alumnos hacían el corto trayecto entre el colegio y el centro de ocio Cudell, situado muy cerca al noroeste. Un grupo de niños pequeños se había reunido con sus maestras – probablemente de una guardería de preescolar, junto a un banco que bordeaba un jardín de mariposas. Continue reading EL EFECTO MARIPOSA→
A memorial garden for a 12-year-old victim of police violence becomes a springboard for serving generations of children.
By Anjulie Rao / Photography by Sahar Coston-Hardy, Affiliate ASLA
Volunteers and staff from the Tamir Rice Foundation greet visitors at the garden’s unveiling.
I arrived at the Marion C. Seltzer Elementary School playground around 11:00 a.m., just before the day’s heat peaked. It was a Friday, and students were making the short commute between the elementary school and the Cudell Recreation Center, located just a stone’s throw northwest. A group of toddlers had gathered with their teachers—likely a preschool daycare—along a bench that bordered a butterfly garden.Continue reading The Butterfly Effect→
Hood Design Studio incorporated bottle caps into the crows’ nests to explore the idea of humans as scavengers. Photo by Liz Ligon, courtesy Brooklyn Botanic Garden.
Crows—although they share a predilection for scavenging human food waste alongside other urban avian “pests” such as pigeons—carry a more mischievous reputation. The National Audubon Society cites their incredible intelligence and documented cases of the birds using tools, holding grudges, and performing funerals. Continue reading For Crows, By Humans→
A review of Natura Urbana: Ecological Constellations in Urban Space by Matthew Gandy.
By Anjulie Rao
There are more than 30,000 vacant lots in the city of Chicago—remnants of urban renewal’s disastrous execution and disinvestment. Where buildings once stood, acres of new life have emerged. Many of those empty lots have become overgrown—small prairies where remnants of building foundations peek out from plots of seeding grasses; thick, tender lamb’s-quarter; and purple flowering chicory. The lots are home to rats, skunks, raccoons, and the occasional possum. Chicago, like many postindustrial cities, grapples with how to develop these spaces, calling them wastelands. Continue reading Book Review: Gone Feral→
As part of an ongoing effort to make content more accessible,LAM will be making select stories available to readers in Spanish.
Backdropped by the COVID-19 pandemic, the shift of city dwellers to rural home buyers has been framed as a panacea to the health risks posed by dense urban environments. Continue reading Small Town, Heavy Load→
The Magazine of the American Society of Landscape Architects
