2003 Belinda Foster

Belinda Foster has had a varied career, working in small and large practices, and in government departments. Throughout she has been guided by her core values, providing an enduring purpose, to create a sense of belonging though the celebration of place. At the time of this interview, Belinda Foster was a Senior Landscape Architect at the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions. She is now Principal Landscape Architect at Botanic Gardens and Parks Authority.

Belinda graduated from the Bachelor of Landscape Architecture at UWA in 2003.
She was interviewed by Christine Howe-Piening, as part of LACH4421: Australian Landscapes.

Christine Howe-Piening – What made you interested in studying landscape architecture?
Belinda Foster – Let’s be brutally honest, I picked landscape architecture because it had no math prerequisite! When I got there and actually understood what landscape architecture was about and the contribution we can make to people’s well-being, improving and reversing some really bad decisions we make in urban landscapes and the urban environment, that’s really what captured my interest.

CHP – What was your most memorable class from your time at UWA?
BF – First year architecture studio with Charlie Mann, for two reasons. Firstly, because Charlie Mann himself was definitely a character. I would sit in his office typing his emails for him while he stabbed at the screen, because he would not touch a computer! Secondly, being with all the architecture students and having a realisation, that actually design is about your response to place and space and the human experience; studying architecture just gives you a different set of tools to respond to the same thing.

CHP – Who has been a person of influence in developing your approach to landscape architecture?
BF – Marion Fredriksson. She’s a practicing urban designer, I worked with her quite extensively when she was at Urbis. Marion always approached design from a people first perspective, and always questioned the brief from day one, those underlying assumptions, ‘Is this actually the right thing for this place?’ I definitely picked up on that and have taken it forward.

CHP – What’s one resource from your time at UWA that you return to, or that you feel has been most influential on your as a landscape architect?
BF – This one is easy. Reading the Remote: Landscape Characters of Western Australia by Angela Stuart-Street. I can’t think of any time in my profession where I haven’t used it. It’s a publication that came out in 1994, and it categorises all the landscape types of Western Australia, into regions and sub regions, and then identifies the valued characteristics of each of those forms from a visual perspective. For example, as a society we generally value rolling topography, big trees, or expansive spinifex grasslands with broad horizons. Identifying what are those aspects that we really want to celebrate in how we respond spatially to this space.

CHP – How has your definition and understanding of landscape architecture changed throughout your career?
BF – The beautiful merging of ecology and environmental systems, with art and innovation, has stayed true. Layered upon this, has been really understanding how people experience space. Some things transcend all cultures, we all seek the sun on a cold day and seek the shade on a hot day. How do you bring that into a space to help people appreciate the natural environment, using and working with local, being innovative and celebrating place.

CHP – What is one issue that you feel landscape architects have a role in addressing?
BF – Our urban environments are becoming increasingly dissociated from the natural environment that they exist within. As a species we’re really good at making decisions and creating environments that are really bad for us. One of the key issues as landscape architects is how to reconnect people with the natural environment in a way that builds both our appreciation and intrinsic valuing. How do we do that in both an urban form and for me in my current practice, how do we connect people with nature in the National Park system, so that when they come back, they question the environments they’re living in.

CHP – In your career, what have you found that design can do?
BF – Lots! it’s a solution to complex issues. As an example, I’m working on the Burrup Peninsula / Murujuga with the Murujuga Aboriginal Corporation. It is such a sensitive site, and the Traditional Owners requested that we weren’t to disturb more than the top 100mm of the soil, and we weren’t to relocate any of the rocks. Through design solutions and creativity, we were able to meet that criteria and deliver something that the elders love. They are now able to access an area they previously couldn’t, share their stories, run tours, and generate an income from it. To me that is the value of design, you can have a very complex issue, but you can use that as a lens to apply innovation. It’s not about fixing the problem it’s about delivering an outcome.

CHP – What is a moment that stands out for you, in your career so far?
BF – I’m doing a Recreation Master Plan for the Dampier Archipelago, working with the Murujuga Aboriginal Corporation. We went out on Country with a couple of the Elders, and these Elders had never had the opportunity to go to some of these locations. The emotion the Elders experienced and their gratitude of having the opportunity, for me as an entitled white affluent person, I realised those barriers are really huge for a lot of people, and to have a role in facilitating that reconnection was really powerful. A lot of the joint management work is really hard, because I represent government, an institution that has inflicted trauma. This is the other side of it, it gives you hope for the work that you are doing, that there is some benefit, it’s not all just perpetuating mistakes of the past with a different lens.

CHP – Do you have any advice for current landscape architecture students at the School of Design?
BF – Firstly, every project you do regardless of how tedious or boring it might appear at the start is an opportunity to learn and to innovate. I would encourage all students to embrace every opportunity with an open mind.

When I started at Urbis the first project I was given was the Perth to Bunbury Highway, 240 hectares of revegetation work. It had been sitting in the office and nobody wanted to do it. I learnt so much about native species, and how to establish a successful landscape with disturbed soils – no irrigation, no water, and very limited plant species to select from. It influenced a lot of the work I did afterwards.

Secondly, find an employer whose values align with your own because there’s nothing more soul destroying to your motivation as a landscape architect to be working for an employer who doesn’t share your values. There are plenty of firms out there that try to do the right thing so don’t feel like you’re constrained in your choices.

This interview was undertaken in 2022. It has been edited for clarity and cohesion.

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Image: The Burrup Peninsula / Murujuga, Western Australia (courtesy of Rosie Halsmith)