International Experience Enhances Noah Billig's Perspective on Landscape Architecture

Tara Ferkel

Noah Billig is associate professor of landscape architecture in the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design, where he's taught since 2011.

Editor's Note: As the U of A strives to become an employer of choice, the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design is highlighting the faculty and staff who help the school excel.

Noah Billig, associate professor of landscape architecture, has taught in the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design since 2011. From 2011 to 2013, he served as the Verna C. Garvan Distinguished Visitor in Landscape Architecture. He joined the school's faculty in 2013. During this time, he has taught design studios and courses in public participation, urban design, environmental design and planning, the American landscape and study abroad in Italy and Turkey. He has served as the Honors Program director for the Fay Jones School since 2013 and as chair of the urban and regional planning minor. He is also a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners.

In his mid-20s, Billig returned to school to study urban planning. However, after learning about landscape architecture from his neighbor, he pursued dual master's degrees in landscape architecture and urban planning.

He said this duality corresponds with his passion for interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary experiences for students.

"I think it's important for the future of the built and natural environments, and it's more akin to realities as professionals," Billig said. "I think the conversations that students have with students outside their discipline are just as valuable as the content they're learning in class. That's who they might be designing for; understanding that perspective is helpful to the non-designer mind and vice versa."

One of Billig's philosophies on teaching is giving students autonomy. He said even though students might get decision fatigue early on, he thinks it is important to help them be autonomous as designers.

"When students make decisions, they care more about the process and the final work," Billig said. "I think most students understand this approach, especially if they've taken a studio with me. Sometimes giving autonomy is not the easiest option, and I question whether I have caused too much decision fatigue."

Billig's research concentrates on adaptive design and planning. This includes participatory design and planning, ecological justice, informal settlements and perceptions of environments. His research on Istanbul's informal settlements includes analyses of how these settlements contribute to a modern typology in generative urban design theory, as well as explorations of how the processes and patterns found in these settlements can provide lessons for designers and planners. Billig's work also includes investigating residents' perceptions of environmental amenities and trade-offs associated with various spatial densities and patterns.

Billig has taught, researched and practiced in Minneapolis, Minnesota; Istanbul, Turkey; and Vienna, Austria. This included working as an urban design instructor at Istanbul Technical University and as a landscape designer for Arzu Nuhoglu Peyzaj Tasarim in Istanbul.

He said that his experience living abroad changed his perspective on how other people value landscapes and experiences.

"Living in Istanbul, I experienced this burgeoning megacity," Billig said. "It's interesting partly because it's an ancient city that has all these layers of history. But living there also made me think about the realities of urbanism in the 21st century and how a lot of landscape architects work primarily in the formal and more developed world."

Conversely, living in Vienna, he experienced well-organized landscape architecture. This allowed him to experience day-to-day living in a very livable environment.

After more than a dozen years with the Fay Jones School, Billig is moving to his next adventure. He has accepted a new position teaching high school at Cairo American College in Egypt starting this fall.

"I am excited to make the move with my family," Billig said. "But of course, I am sad to leave our school and the community we have in Fayetteville."

Read the full Q&A with Noah Billig.