Beth Diamond is a landscape theorist, designer and cultural instigator who believes in landscape architecture as an art form and a visionary medium for social change and evolution. Her interests stem from a fascination with the qualities and expressions of the built world as a mirror of human civilization and her work in landscape architecture focuses on strategies to transform societies in sustainable and culturally affirming ways.

Awards and Grants:
Honorable mention in the National Endowment for the Arts International Design Competition for Lexington, Kentucky's New Courthouse Square. Design for civic plaza celebrating African-American and Appalachian contributions to Kentucky culture.

Research Interests:
Research interests focus on landscape as a visionary medium, the intersection of theory and art in the built environment, strategies for multicultural expression as a catalyst for urban infrastructure and the role of public space in democratic society.

Current/Recent Research:
Current research explores Urban Design in Barcelona and the use of art, architecture and landscape to express regional identity and contrasts the 21st c. tourist city with the history grassroots collectivism in poor and working class neighborhoods. Also working with the Eastern Michigan Environmental Action Council to develop indoor / outdoor environmental classrooms in Detroit public K-8 schools serving low-income African American populations.

Teaching Interests:
Teaches courses on contemporary design theory and landscape history with an emphasis on alternative narratives of indigenous peoples, minority and working class populations and women and design studio.

Current/Recent Teaching:
In collaboration with Professor Joan Nassauer to integrate education in contemporary design theory and practices with scientifically-sound ecological strategies.

Selected Publications:

Awakening the Public Realm: Instigating Democratic Space Published in Landscape Journal 23:1-04 Article uncovering the conflictual tensions of multicultural democracy buried under the neutrality of public space and the potential role of education in encouraging future generations to design for an interactive public realm. 2004

Urban Fabric: Lexington's New Courthouse Plaza Article dealing with social and regional identity in the national design competition for Lexington's New Courthouse Plaza focusing on the absence and potential for cultural expression of the city's segregated African-American community. Co-authored with Krista Schneider. 2003

Revelatory Landscapes: Exploring New Territories Exhibit review of five site-specific environmental art installations in the SF Bay area by landscape architects. Landscape Journal, Volume 21, Number 1 2002

The Shattered Mirror: Teaching Today's Students to be Tomorrow's Visionaries Pedagogical strategies for pushing the boundaries in beginning design. Published in the proceedings for the CELA 2000 conference at the University of Guelph 2002