Orienting AI and Sense of Self through the Human Design Lens

'“ For me, AI represents not an end point but an enabling feature… allowing professionals to focus more deeply on stewardship, creativity, and systems-level thinking…”

“AI will change the infrastructure of how we design and deliver landscapes, but it won’t erase the human judgment. artistry, and ecological insight that define our field.”

“Instead, it opens the door for landscape architects to guide this transition responsibly and creatively.”

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is increasingly being used in Landscape Architecture. This study asks:

  1. What does it mean to be a LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT in the age of AI?

2. How do we currently SEE ourselves?

This is a particular subset in AI research focused on Professional Identity

Every time a new technology is introduced, both professionals and workflows evolve.

AI offsets all facets of Landscape Architecture

Professional identity can be threatened by technologize change

Our study surveyed 104 people on the landscape architecture field to measure the affects of AI on professional identity.

Survey respondents represented a wide range of professionals.

Results will be shared through publication

This is our moment to lead with imagination and courage.

AI will keep evolving, but how we shape it, through our ethics, creativity, and empathy, will define its impact.

We can choose to stay open, curious, and grounded in the values that make our work meaningful, alongside AI.

Orienting AI and Sense of Self through the Human Design Lens

As artificial intelligence reshapes creative fields, landscape architects must confront a shifting professional identity. Once defined by intuition, artistic vision, environmental stewardship, and problem-solving expertise, many designers now engage with AI, a tool that challenges conventional ideas of authorship, creativity, and proficiency. This session will explore how AI disrupts long-held perceptions of landscape architects as creators and master planners, pushing the profession toward expanded roles as curators, facilitators, and systems thinkers. Through historical perspectives and contemporary examples, this discussion will explore the evolving identity of landscape architects both as individuals and as a profession at the intersection of technology and design. Participants will develop a deeper understanding of AI’s influence on professional and personal identity and gain strategies for critically engaging with and adapting to shifting perceptions of AI in design. 

Team

Jessica Fernandez, Ph.D.

Benjamin George, Ph.D.

Phillip Fernberg, Ph.D.

Shirin Razaeimalek

Ruiqi Yang

Presentations

ASLA 2025, Conference of Landscape Architecture.

In Collaboration with

Utah State University