PRAIRIEFORM

06/19/2020

Next in the video series, this one on bees and the landscape. Happy viewing.

Tips and tricks for making your landscape a haven for both you and the bees. As always, plucky delivery, choice landscape and wildlife shots, and bee-related...

06/09/2020

First of the new landscape videos I've been making. A project I had been wanting to tackle for ages. Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkwKljB4Gao&t=80s

10/24/2019

So, it's been 10 years of Prairieform already. Just like that. And here we are, still trucking and making work that we hope engages and provokes curiosity and discovery.

If you'd like to see what we've been up to of late, below is a link (forgive the overlap if you received the email yesterday):

For those who don't know, back in 2008 the plan was to go back to grad school and get a second master's, this time in landscape architecture. However, what was going to amount to a $100,000+ price tag and three more years of schooling ultimately led me to the - perhaps less-than-prudent - conclusion...

07/16/2019

From our recent collaborative work with the City of Palo Alto, Place It!, and Alta Planning on rethinking shared bike/ped spaces:

Collaborative, sensory-based community engagement for a more equitable bike/pedestrian environment By John Kamp and James Rojas, July 5, 2019 When Palo Alto’s California Avenue bicycle and pedestrian underpass was built more than 50 years ago beneath the Caltrain tracks, it was intended to solve o...

06/18/2019

Good news for bumble bees - and yards - in Minnesota, at least:

The state of Minnesota will be offering a generous pot of money to homeowners statewide to convert portions of their lawn into foraging habitat for bumble bees. As ground-dwelling critters, bumble bees are particularly susceptible to paving, lawns, and, yes, even mulch. Thus, in addition to providin...

05/10/2019

New project. Hope this inspires, engages, and makes people feel like they can participate in meaningful change:
http://prairieform.com/adoptmediterranean

04/24/2019

From the Rethinking the Front Yard event on Saturday. Great turnout, engaged participants, and lots of amazing ideas, stories, and possibilities.

04/08/2019

Come one, come all! We will be co-leading a workshop on rethinking the American Front Yard on April 20 in Berkeley.

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/rethinking-the-american-front-yard-a-hands-on-workshop-tickets-59872026844

Co-led by James Rojas / Place It!
Trena Noval and Ann Wettrich / Fieldworks Collaborative
Carol Mancke / machinaloci

Through this hands-on and interactive workshop, we will be exploring the spatial and cultural history of the American front yard and how it is changing because of culture, immigration, and climate. By way of a series of sensory and model-building activities, we will explore new possibilities for thi...

03/11/2019

Article JamesRojas and I co-wrote on how our urban landscapes and infrastructure does not necessarily reflect our values, and how different forms of community engagement can change that.

Participation-based planning and meaningful engagement on walkability and transportation

03/06/2019

Will be speaking on our work on irrigation-free landscapes at this year's PG&E Water Conservation Showcase in SF on March 21.

The annual Water Conservation Showcase is the flagship event in California, addresing the most pressing water issues facing the Golden State today.

02/01/2019

Weekend viewing:

A short clip from last year's RHS Chatsworth featuring the Garden for a Changing Climate, designed by Andy Clayden and Dr. Ross Cameron. It's no longer business as usual for the plants in our landscapes, but this need not be a reason to lament.

01/24/2019

Blog post on the walking tour last Saturday:

There's no better way to intimately familiarize oneself with an environment than through walking. You notice so many more details - both physical, such as the width of a sidewalk, and sensory, such as volumes and kinds of sounds.