Interview: Dean Gregory, Municipal Landscape Architect, Building Operations
Dean Gregory, Municipal Landscape Architect at Building Operations, speaks to the challenges faced by campus expansion and what gets him excited about his work. A resource for UBC Faculty to identify a co-lead for their project, or to identify who to contact for approvals.
What is the operational role of your unit on campus, and what is your role specifically?
Municipal Services supports learning, research, and campus life by maintaining inspiring spaces, advancing the use of sustainable materials and practices, and providing critical services across the campus. As a landscape architect in Municipal Services, I provide subject matter expertise to all UBC staff who plan, maintain, and operate the campus gardens, plazas, water features, trees, site furnishings, sidewalks, and roads.
What are your most urgent and pressing challenges?
Ongoing expansion and densification of the campus has resulted in a bigger and more complex landscape than existed in the past when more campus open space was devoted to roads, parking, and open lawns. The most urgent and pressing challenge I’m engaged in now is strengthening our team’s capacity to maintain and operate a diverse campus landscape that supports environmental sustainability, climate change issues, resiliency, human well-being, and Indigenous relations.
What potential research opportunities excite you the most, with regard to your role or your unit’s function?
Every project reveals a new challenge. Every project has a different site, different program, and different user groups. I get excited about research that points to opportunities and ways of doing things that will elevate the landscape’s ecological and social function.
What are your operational constraints in incubating on-the-ground research?
I’m a keen supporter of on-the-ground research and assist students and academics where I can by fine-tuning research ideas, and identifying considerations or limitations and potential physical locations.
Are there any examples of past research-operational collaborations that you’d like to highlight?
One of the best collaborations to date resulted in the creation of an application checklist for people who want to create food growing gardens on campus. This has been so useful!