Hello! My name is Dayle. I am a South African landscape architect, with a passion for design, and a fascination with theoretical and conceptual investigation within the realm of landscape architecture. I lecture at the University of Pretoria, in the Earth Studies stream, and run a variety of studios - including the current 'City Wild Studio', which focuses on designing with, and for animals in an urban context. My research activities are focused on issues of environmental justice, and urban nature spaces. I am particularly interested in human-nature relationships, and the stories people tell about nature.

 

I graduated my PhD in 2023. The dissertation for my PhD was titled 'Nature-based park making: interpreting nearby nature narratives to promote environmental justice in City of Tshwane parks'. The research project included macro-scaled geovisualisation at the city-wide scale, and local qualitative interviews at the scale of local community parks in the city. I also interviewed landscape architects and local government employees to try and get a full picture of environmental justice related to local community parks in the city. As a means to promote environmental justice, I identified several local nature-based benefits that parks provide to urban residents, including an 'extension of the home'.

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In 2015 I became a Registered Professional Landscape Architect with the South African Council for the Landscape Architectural Profession after passing the required SACLAP examinations. After completing my undergraduate studies in Landscape Architecture in 2008, I worked for 8 years in both full-time and part-time positions gaining invaluable work experience at various firms. I began working at EcoScapes / Local Biodiversity Solutions where I gained experience in environmental design and implementation. I have also worked both full-time and part-time for Newtown Landscape Architects and V&L Landscape Architects, where I gained experience in both design-focused and environmentally-orientated projects.

 

In 2012 I submitted my Masters dissertation, titled “The Steenovenspruit Agrarian Conservancy” for which I received my MLArch (Prof) degree Cum Laude, under the supervision of Johan-Nel Prinsloo at the University of Pretoria. The dissertation focused on urban agriculture and the significance of place in an urban wasteland – an investigation into the potential relationship between sustainable city farming and wasted urban place and their combined possibilities for addressing the needs of urban societies in the future. For this, I received the Bapela Cave Klapwijk prize for designing the most ecologically responsive project in the landscape program, as well as the shared ILASA prize for the best student in design.

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I like to spend my free time outdoors – appreciating both the vast South African landscape, and the urban fabric of any city I spend time in. I have been privileged to travel to a number of European countries and cities, as well as other countries on the African continent, including Kenya and Mozambique.