Jennifer Reut / Sahar Coston-HardyJennifer Reut has been promoted to editor in chief of Landscape Architecture Magazine (LAM), the award-winning monthly magazine of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA). She becomes only the third woman to head the magazine since its founding in 1910.
Reut has been with the magazine since 2013, first as associate editor and, most recently, as acting editor in chief.
“The appointment of Reut as our new editor in chief is a win, not only for the magazine, but for the entire landscape architecture profession,” said ASLA CEO Torey Carter-Conneen. “Thanks in large part to Reut’s editorial vision, the magazine today is more relevant, meaningful and newsworthy, with growing interest and appeal to those outside the profession itself.”
In an effort to broaden readership beyond its subscription base of 15,000, Reut is spearheading the magazine’s digital transformation, set to begin in 2022. “From the pandemic to the looming climate catastrophe, the work that landscape architects do has never been more essential or more relevant than it is today,” she says. “I intend to broaden the reach of the magazine and make landscape architecture as well-known as any design profession. There’s a focus on humanity as well as sophisticated design solutions that landscape architects can bring to these global problems.”
Reut brings a journalist’s sensitivity and perspective to the magazine, having written several feature articles and cover stories over the years, including “The River Beneath the River,” which won a 2019 EXCEL Award for feature writing.
“I want the magazine to continue its outstanding reporting on projects that directly affect the health and well-being of people and communities, including climate mitigation, revitalizing underserved urban areas and protecting the world’s coastal zones,” Reut says. “I also want students and young professionals to see themselves and their concerns in the magazine and the profession.”
That vision is evident in the recent November issue, which features articles on the student-driven Tennessee RiverLine project, the Arkansas Delta revitalization, and an account of how three landscape architects at an esteemed firm grappled with the effects of Hurricane Ida.
Reut, who holds a master’s and a doctorate in architectural history from the University of Virginia, is also a practicing architectural landscape historian. She is the founder of Mapping the Green Book, a project about the well-known guide for Black travelers in the Jim Crow era. Most recently, she served as historical consultant to the recent Ric Burns documentary Driving While Black.
Prior to joining ASLA, Reut was the associate editor for Perspectives on History, the magazine of the American Historical Association. Before that, she was a postdoctoral fellow at the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C.