Divided City Initiative & Prison Education Project Partnership

The Divided City initiative is excited to announce that it partnered with the Prison Education Project during the 2019-2020 academic year. The Divided City supports the development and teaching of two interdisciplinary urban humanities courses offered at the Missouri Eastern Correctional Center, a medium security prison in Pacific, Missouri. The courses will be integrated into the broader curriculum of the Washington University Prison Education Project.

The first course, “Landscape Architecture: The Art and Science of Placemaking” will be taught in Fall 2019 by Carolyn Gaidis, a lecturer in the Masters of Urban Design, Architecture and Landscape Architecture departments, a registered Landscape Architect in the State of Missouri, and an ISA-Certified Arborist

In this course, the fundamentals of Landscape Architecture education encourage students to explore as many resources as possible on the topics of human and environmental ecosystems to inform design decisions. As we move into an ever changing global environmental and political climate, the designer must consider complex factors that can influence all project decisions. This course proposes a simple question: Should garden designs simply be for human “consumption” or are we serving a greater picture behind our insertions?

This course focuses on both the cultural, environmental, scientific and the technical aspects of ecological planting design. Students will gain a knowledge of plants in a biologic, ephemeral and purposeful manner from which to inform their designs for their own Pacific Prison grounds. This two-part course series will offer several guest lecturers and research projects/readings to allow students to explore various design typologies and theories, arts and sciences, mental and physical health benefits and the sustainable, best management practices of garden design.