Kenilworth landscape architect Josephine Dalburg, 25, is on a quest for green solutions to urban issues.
In November last year, she not only graduated with her Masters in Landscape Architecture at UCT but also won the prestigious Corobrik’s Most Innovative Final Year Landscape Architecture Award at the annual exhibition of the Masters student’s thesis projects. The award came with R8000 prize money.
Her thesis, “A River Remembered: Reconnecting to landscape, memory and resource through water routes”, examines the need to address spatial inequality in rural communities and give everyone equal access to resources.
“My thesis proposes rerouting an existing freshwater channel in Clanwilliam to shift it from one that supplies a few private gardens in the town centre to a channelled water network that serves a broader community, including a low-income area on the periphery of the town,” she said.
Ms Dalburg first became interested in landscape architecture as a matric pupil at Westerford High School. She was excited by its potential to transform cities.
“I grew up in a family that spent a lot of time outdoors both in wilderness areas as well as open public space in the city, so I came to appreciate the value of green spaces at quite a young age,” she said.
Ms Dalburg believes landscape architecture is important because it designs for human needs while also addressing environmental issues.
“Given the current global environmental crisis, the potential for the profession to foster meaningful connections between communities and natural systems makes it an increasingly valuable and deeply necessary industry,” she said.
Ms Dalburg started working at Tarna Klitzner Landscape Architects (TKLA) in Claremont on Monday January 13.