Jolie Kaytes
Associate Professor
Landscape Architecture
Washington State University

My food-system work has involved integrating food-systems issues into landscape architecture lecture courses and studio courses, and mentoring undergraduate and graduate students whose projects directly relate to food systems and design. Through the lens of “food-systems,” students are able to explore how design can shift values and offer meaningful solutions to living sustainably, where “living sustainably” requires ongoing, critical consideration of  how to live one’s day-to-day life such that it can positively contribute to environmental and social justice, and true democracy.

My scholarship has also emphasized food-systems, specifically how the practice of permaculture can enable hands-on understanding of where food comes from, and ultimately facilitate self-reliance, foster deep connections to place, and allow people to positively effect and interact with their local landscape.

Questions that have emerged through my teaching and scholarship activities include

-What are the qualities of the language–visual and verbal–that we use to describe our food and food systems? How has this language shaped the way we understand our roles as designers and global citizens? How has this language shaped the way we understand relationships between people and landscapes? What might characterize a new language?

-How might we rethink our social infrastructure so that it can support diverse food systems?