
This past week, Ishraq Awashra represented the Purdue Center for Community and Environmental Design (Thompson’s Lab) and the Diverse Corn Belt Project (#DCB) at the Council for Educators in Landscape Architecture conference that was held in Cincinnati, Ohio. Ishraq’s presentation, titled “ The Forgotten 40%: Agriculture Needs More Attention” presented some initial findings on why agricultural landscapes must become central to landscape architecture, based on interviews with landscape architects and researchers working within agricultural landscapes in 15 states across the US. The presentation revealed opportunities, barriers, and urgent need for educational transformation within the field of landscape architecture.