Garden History & DesignLydia Olivier
2026 The Douglas Dockery Thomas Fellowship in Garden History and Design
Cultivating Care: School Gardens as Designed Civic Landscapes
The objective of this project is to examine primary school gardens as designed landscapes that shape environmental responsibility, civic engagement, and practices of care, while also reflecting racialized histories of land use and education. This project employs an auto-ethnographic methodology grounded in long-term participation in a primary school garden in Los Angeles, combined with historical research and close design analysis. As a researcher directly involved in garden work and educational activities, I document how garden design functions in daily practice and how it shapes inclusion, access, and belonging within a racially and culturally diverse urban context.
School: University of California Riverside
The Douglas Dockery Thomas Fellowship in Garden History and Design
To further the study of history and design in the American garden and to look to the future of gardens and their unique place in our environment.
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