It’s All About Communication!

Long-term maintenance is essential to the success of any public landscape, yet it’s often treated as an afterthought. Landscape Architects have an opportunity – and a responsibility—to shit that narrative. By integrating community stewardship into the scope of public projects from the onset, we can design not just beautiful spaces, but resilient systems of care that support them for years to come. Future maintenance should be apart of the design process early and often, with clear strategies for how to care for the space and how that care should evolve over time.

Beyond typical community design participation, landscape architects can help identify, mobilize, and support volunteer stewards—residents who will have an impact on the landscape long after the design process is complete. This is especially urgent as public budgets for park maintenance have declined. This type of community involvement creates a deeper bond to the space, encourages environmental responsibility, and contributes to long-term sustainability. But to make it happen, we need to rethink our methods and treat stewardship as a core design deliverable.

So how do we find interested volunteers? Effective outreach must meet people where they are—whether in dense cities or dispersed rural communities. This could mean creating simple, approachable flyers distributed via mail, handed out in-person, or posted at the site itself and in high traffic areas like town halls, community centers, libraries and grocery stores. Establishing a mailing list early in the design process allows us to stay in touch and communicate updates as stewardship opportunities take shape. By embedding these strategies into our design process, we can help make sure our projects not only thrive but are supported by the communities they serve.