Moura Quayle is a landscape architect, professor, writer, and critic. She serves as Commissioner of the Pacific Coast Collaborative Commission of the Government of British Columbia, Canada. Her work is centered on urban landscape, including the public realm, urban ecology, greenways, public ways, and streets. With a Bachelor of Landscape Architecture from the University of Guelph (1974) and a Master of Landscape Architecture from the University of California, Berkeley (1983), Quayle is the author of numerous academic, technical, and professional reports ranging from design education to community and public landscapes. She has lectured nationally and internationally and has been frequently called upon in an advisory capacity at the local, provincial, national, and international levels.
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Moura Quayle — Commencement Address
May 21, 2009

Interim Dean Davis, Incoming Dean Wolch, Colleagues, Honoured Guests, Friends and Graduates. It is a great honour to receive this recognition from my alma mater, the University of California, Berkeley.

A favourite picture of my husband’s is of me sitting in my father’s rowboat. I am about three years old, and my small hands are just resting on the oars. I am ignoring my dad’s quiet amusement, as I am staring into the camera, looking very serious. I was about to go on a great journey.

The honour I am receiving today, and who I am today, is in no small way a reflection of my family, but also my wonderful and formative time here at Berkeley with the people who are a part of this learning environment.

It is impossible to stand here in front of you today without remembering my first experiences at Berkeley. It was 1981. I was a landscape architect finishing work with a large design firm in Montreal. The space shuttle Columbia passed its first test flight in 1981. The spirit of change of the 1970s was still in the air. I was looking to re-ignite my passion for design and thinking more about the why, not just the how of professional practice.

Almost thirty years later I am still learning. At Berkeley I thought about why we do what we do, and it seemed to be about making the places we collectively call “home” a bit better for those who follow. So now I am back to thinking about the how — how to move ahead in a way consistent with core values. I have three key messages for you today: It’s a civil society. Design is about transformation and change. And, we are designers for life.

IT’S A CIVIL SOCIETY.
The first message is about the big picture. Our society. Our civil society. The most important words I know anchor our civil society: learning and respect. Education is that amazing process which teaches us both humility and respect. Humility for how we fit into a wonderfully dynamic and active world. Respect for points of view. Respect for other people. Berkeley’s melting pot of east and west was decades ahead of the global village of digital portals and visuals of smiling faces from hundreds of cultures speaking dozens of languages. There is no more “common sense” — and understanding respect itself is a hard lesson to learn. By the way, you don’t have to earn my respect — I will give it to you, as everyone has something I can respect, good or bad.

Respect for the environment. The environmental movement in North America in its best radical sense started not too far from here, yet Berkeley also showed the way for acting locally, collectively, with good science, good will and individual effort for the public good. I enjoy design and planning problems because there are no “right” answers, rather just as the old saw goes, only intelligent choices. In the creative act, we live with ambiguity and even chaos — and think of it as positive. Not a bad foundation for the wiki world. Design itself is a due diligence process, always questioning (sometimes at three in the morning in a less than productive way), but always about learning — asking “what if’s” and “why’s” and “how’s”. Which brings us back to the concept of civil society. Reminded me a lot of what I understood design to be, here at Berkeley.

DESIGN IS TRANSFORMATION AND CHANGE.
Design is how we transform and change. Making something different. Every time we make a decision, something will change. Ideally we create flexible, adaptable places and rich experiences that fit “us” into the future. Berkeley taught me both about the design process, and that every design product is one of change, and that every change only occurs within the context of people. So where do we fit?

We are Design Thinkers — By our hard work and good teachers and facilitators we have learned to turn problems into systems, with premises and parameters, with boundaries to be moved and defined in different ways.

We are Innovators and Leaders — Will the design changes we wrought be good ones? According to whom? And what is a design approach to social innovation? We are blessed with learning about the skills and care to make sustainable decisions. Do we just share it among ourselves? Among the converted? Or do we go outside the ramparts, with open eyes and ears? Can we speak of strategic oversight, power and self-interests, risk-management, conflict resolution, public interest and earnings ratios? We definitely have the skills and the responsibility to be environmental stewards and sustainability leaders.

Sometimes I think of myself as an MBA — a Master Beauty Advocate. So we need to speak business and politics, but what about our core? Beauty is a word and concept that I am not sure we talk about enough. Or even act upon. How does the ‘beautiful’ shape our well-being. What we do and what we facilitate is beautiful — at the physical and social level. And can we take it to the next level — the elegant which is the solution which takes complex parameters, including beauty, and presents itself as a simple-looking, balanced solution.

Speaking of balance, We are Cradle to Cradle/Life Cycle Designers — We have to think much more about the whole cycle. Design retrofitting. Zero Waste. Being leaders in the new low carbon economy. Being part of the new energy vision for the world. Really thinking through the concept of cradle-to-cradle and making the concept tacit — part of our everyday thinking and doing.

We are Leaders/Visionaries/Global Connectors — A couple of times recently I have come across the phrase “colouring outside the lines”. I think that is what designers do — it’s also what leaders do. They step outside their comfort zone. We like to think we can talk with anyone — young, old, new world, old world — but one thing Berkeley helped me remember is that we also need to consciously work to overcome a tendency to think that what we think is correct. We need to always be open to learning, to connecting, to thinking over the long-term.

And my third point is that…

WE ARE DESIGNERS FOR LIFE.
People used to ask: What is a landscape architect doing as the dean of a science faculty? Then as an associate vice president of a billion-dollar-a-year institution? Then as Deputy Minister of Advanced Education and Technology?

I have been blessed with a good family, good education and good luck. I was seen as someone with the interdisciplinary skills to manage change and transformation. I worked to diversify my literacy into fields of business and politics, first institutional then regional.

Rachel Abrams of Turnstone Consulting in New York writes: In the end, CEOs are only temporary heads of institutions; designers are designers for life.

I have never stopped using the design skills that now are a part of me.

When I talk about ideas, to me they are like bubble-diagrams and jottings on a piece of tracing paper (or a computer screen) — options to be considered, ideas to be pondered. Yet to my colleagues in science, or business, or politics, frequently I did not explain my thinking process clearly enough to help them manage their expectations away from the “obvious” black and white solutions. I needed to learn more about their learning styles and experiences, and help them understand mine.

Reading Cultures
And now – the rower from Vancouver Island and Berkeley design grad is trying to design a way to make our stewardship of Pacific Coast region come together. The opportunity is huge. The vision is that the Pacific Coast States from Alaska to California and the Province of British Columbia share so much. There is a coastline and an ocean, rivers and geology, but also a strong regional economy and core values. We are all trading partners. The idea is that the Governors and the Premier will get together annually to share best practices and work together on clean energy, regional transportation, research and innovation, emergency preparedness and sustainable regional economy. What about implementation? Again — it is a design teaching and learning role.

But, in the end, it’s up to you. Get out there! Take a risk! Each of you has the courage to do it, or you wouldn’t be here. Preparation is important; and yes the long term plan is important. But, always consider the “uniqueness” factor of a potential experience. Is this a one-time offer? Will you pass this way again? And, of course, without our support networks — it is tough to accomplish much. Remember to hug your parents, partners and friends.

And here’s to all of you. To your energy and hard work, good questions, vision for the future and a sense of humour and compassion.

Go for it!