在靈動(dòng)中尋找平衡訪AECOM執(zhí)行副總裁雅辛塔·麥卡恩Balance in Flexibility

采訪、翻譯：文樺

在靈動(dòng)中尋找平衡訪AECOM執(zhí)行副總裁雅辛塔·麥卡恩Balance in Flexibility

采訪、翻譯：文樺

編者按：雅辛塔·麥卡恩，AECOM執(zhí)行副主席，作為AECOM 設(shè)計(jì)+規(guī)劃|經(jīng)濟(jì)業(yè)務(wù)線的全球領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人，領(lǐng)導(dǎo)美洲、歐洲、亞洲、中東和澳大利亞的1 700名員工。從1981年開(kāi)始投身風(fēng)景園林行業(yè)，她便致力于將自己的專業(yè)能力向更多的領(lǐng)域延伸，并取得了驕人的成績(jī)。如今，雅辛塔身份多元，既是資深設(shè)計(jì)師，又熱衷教育和出版書(shū)籍，還連續(xù)3年獲得《舊金山商業(yè)時(shí)報(bào)》“最具影響力的女商人”。本刊日前對(duì)這位充滿傳奇色彩的女性風(fēng)景園林師進(jìn)行了專訪，就AECOM的轉(zhuǎn)型項(xiàng)目研究、企業(yè)管理、美國(guó)風(fēng)景園林基金會(huì)運(yùn)轉(zhuǎn)以及女性風(fēng)景園林師的職業(yè)規(guī)劃等話題展開(kāi)了探討。

《風(fēng)景園林》：您作為一名設(shè)計(jì)師，在管理、商業(yè)等方面都有非常杰出的表現(xiàn)，在不同的角色中，您對(duì)自己的定位是什么？

雅辛塔：你問(wèn)我的定位，我第一想到的是我作為風(fēng)景園林師的真正責(zé)任，對(duì)企業(yè)和社會(huì)的責(zé)任。我們接受教育成為一名風(fēng)景園林師后，開(kāi)始作為一名設(shè)計(jì)師，為項(xiàng)目工作，通過(guò)這些項(xiàng)目，你可以看到自己對(duì)社區(qū)所產(chǎn)生的影響。這是一個(gè)自然的過(guò)程。我進(jìn)入領(lǐng)導(dǎo)角色的過(guò)程也很自然，這樣能幫助客戶做出更好的決定。我認(rèn)為從技術(shù)層面進(jìn)入決策層面，會(huì)有助于對(duì)周邊的環(huán)境產(chǎn)生更大的影響。那意味著你將自己的重點(diǎn)稍作調(diào)整。你不需要做所有的設(shè)計(jì)工作，但你引導(dǎo)著設(shè)計(jì)，同時(shí)力圖影響人們，和政府或和其他組織一起，力爭(zhēng)讓人們獲得更好的結(jié)果。我認(rèn)為那是為什么你能增加價(jià)值，或者對(duì)客戶產(chǎn)生更有價(jià)值的原因。

同時(shí)，如果你引導(dǎo)設(shè)計(jì)，如果你才華橫溢的團(tuán)隊(duì)通過(guò)富有創(chuàng)意的探討來(lái)從事一項(xiàng)設(shè)計(jì)，你可以涵蓋更廣的范圍，進(jìn)而影響更遠(yuǎn)。此外，這也能為年輕的設(shè)計(jì)師提供事業(yè)道路，用他們的知識(shí)、新創(chuàng)意和活力來(lái)影響設(shè)計(jì)。我認(rèn)為這是非常重要的作用，當(dāng)你成熟并成為一名專業(yè)人士時(shí)，你有責(zé)任去指導(dǎo)和幫助更年輕的設(shè)計(jì)師成長(zhǎng)。

《風(fēng)景園林》：您積極投身于學(xué)會(huì)等公共組織的工作。目前，您還是風(fēng)景園林基金會(huì)（LAF）機(jī)構(gòu)的主席，能否為我們介紹一下LAF組織的定位和開(kāi)展的行動(dòng)？

雅辛塔：風(fēng)景園林基金會(huì)（LAF）成立快50年了，到2016年正好50年。它是由一個(gè)非常關(guān)注杰出風(fēng)景園林師的團(tuán)體創(chuàng)立的，我們不僅僅關(guān)注氣候環(huán)境質(zhì)量，我們也非常關(guān)注風(fēng)景園林專業(yè)在解決這方面問(wèn)題的專業(yè)能力。因此，基金關(guān)注研究，并設(shè)立獎(jiǎng)學(xué)金獎(jiǎng)勵(lì)優(yōu)秀學(xué)生。另外，我們也關(guān)注領(lǐng)導(dǎo)力，致力于發(fā)展專業(yè)的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)能力。

這是一個(gè)非常有意思的組織。我們建立了一個(gè)“景觀績(jī)效系列”（Landscape Performance Series，簡(jiǎn)稱LPS）計(jì)劃。因此，這是能對(duì)景觀貢獻(xiàn)進(jìn)行客觀評(píng)估的一種方式。基金會(huì)已經(jīng)在整理整個(gè)系列的案例研究，以供大家參考。因此，人們可以推薦這種景觀評(píng)估方法論，以此向客戶、城市和政府去爭(zhēng)取項(xiàng)目和設(shè)計(jì)的更優(yōu)途徑。這是一個(gè)非常重要的組織。在過(guò)去15年，我們已經(jīng)提供了超過(guò)100萬(wàn)美元的獎(jiǎng)學(xué)金，使那些最好的學(xué)生可以在特別領(lǐng)域繼續(xù)他們的研究。

《風(fēng)景園林》：如何評(píng)估哪些項(xiàng)目可以得到LAF的支持？

雅辛塔：我們會(huì)要求從業(yè)者、專業(yè)人士提交他們認(rèn)為可能符合要求的項(xiàng)目，然后由我們來(lái)進(jìn)行評(píng)估。我們有一個(gè)團(tuán)隊(duì)承擔(dān)項(xiàng)目研究任務(wù)，并記錄項(xiàng)目的績(jī)效，提交案例研究報(bào)告。我們有一個(gè)非常好的委員會(huì)。委員會(huì)大約有20人，他們都是非常資深的專業(yè)人士，是業(yè)界和學(xué)界的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)者，涉及領(lǐng)域還包括建筑、家居（furniture suppliers）等。這個(gè)過(guò)程十分高效。

《風(fēng)景園林》：您對(duì)LAF有哪些構(gòu)想？

雅辛塔：我之所以參與LAF一方面是因?yàn)槲宜?wù)的公司AECOM參與其中，并且多年支持LAF。另外一方面是因?yàn)槲蚁嘈盼覀冃枰嗟娘L(fēng)景園林師，需要彼此分享知識(shí)。我估計(jì)在美國(guó)現(xiàn)在有2.2萬(wàn)風(fēng)景園林師，但建筑師約有12萬(wàn)。因此未來(lái)我們需要更多的風(fēng)景園林師。大量的風(fēng)景園林師沒(méi)有機(jī)會(huì)獲得在大公司工作的益處——分享知識(shí)，了解世界其他地方正在發(fā)生什么。而我們有全球的實(shí)踐，因此我們的團(tuán)隊(duì)容易找到新的創(chuàng)意，或者新的項(xiàng)目解決方案。但大部分風(fēng)景園林設(shè)計(jì)師無(wú)法做到這一些，因?yàn)樗麄兇蠖鄶?shù)都在一個(gè)小公司工作，一個(gè)只有5個(gè)人左右的小公司。因此，基金會(huì)所做的就是創(chuàng)造機(jī)會(huì)，讓知識(shí)駐留，讓研究駐留。所有小的實(shí)踐都可以分享，并構(gòu)建職業(yè)能力。這是真正的關(guān)于專業(yè)能力的建設(shè)。

《風(fēng)景園林》：正好您提到了AECOM，作為AECOM的執(zhí)行副總裁，您的職責(zé)有哪些？

雅辛塔：我負(fù)責(zé)一個(gè)我們稱之為“全球?qū)嵺`業(yè)務(wù)（global practice line）”的團(tuán)隊(duì)——

設(shè)計(jì)+規(guī)劃|經(jīng)濟(jì)，包括規(guī)劃師、經(jīng)濟(jì)分析師和風(fēng)景園林師等不同專業(yè)，全球大約有1 700人。

我的角色是幫助和協(xié)調(diào)這個(gè)團(tuán)隊(duì)，使他們彼此能分享自己的知識(shí)。我也需要激發(fā)出團(tuán)隊(duì)最好的工作狀態(tài)。因此我會(huì)關(guān)注技術(shù)，確保我們有項(xiàng)目評(píng)估的水平，有始終如一的項(xiàng)目質(zhì)量。團(tuán)隊(duì)的職業(yè)規(guī)劃也是我需要考慮的方面，如果他們想轉(zhuǎn)換角色或者找到新的發(fā)展方向，我能盡最大可能幫助他們實(shí)現(xiàn)目標(biāo)。

我也負(fù)責(zé)協(xié)調(diào)與其他部門(mén)或者AECOM的其他部門(mén)的合作。我們團(tuán)隊(duì)隸屬于一個(gè)更大的終端市場(chǎng)“建筑與人居環(huán)境”，包括建筑設(shè)計(jì)、建筑工程、造價(jià)咨詢、規(guī)劃和設(shè)計(jì)。我還會(huì)和全球領(lǐng)導(dǎo)層展開(kāi)合作，以確保我們?cè)谥贫☉?zhàn)略和構(gòu)建綜合實(shí)踐平臺(tái)時(shí)能夠統(tǒng)一。這對(duì)我們而言是十分重要的。

《風(fēng)景園林》：在以男性為主導(dǎo)的商業(yè)公司中，您如何開(kāi)展工作?

雅辛塔：風(fēng)景園林是一個(gè)非常有意思的專業(yè)。畢業(yè)于風(fēng)景園林專業(yè)的女性人數(shù)大于男性人數(shù)。你可以看到許多杰出女性風(fēng)景園林師，瑪莎·舒瓦茨就是其中一位。

在AECOM，有一些部門(mén)的高層女性更多一些，有一些部門(mén)則男性主管多一些，視具體情況而定。我認(rèn)為這真正取決于你的態(tài)度。要有自信，這是非常重要的一點(diǎn)，而且要敢于表達(dá)，勇敢地說(shuō)出自己的想法，不要讓自己局限在一間可能有很多男性的辦公室里。在AECOM，我們的很多注意力都投在項(xiàng)目上，我們有很大的多樣性和包容性，也有許多培訓(xùn)計(jì)劃鼓勵(lì)女性去承擔(dān)更多的責(zé)任。但，這對(duì)于生活而言會(huì)是一個(gè)挑戰(zhàn)。

我之所以這么講，是因?yàn)榇蠖鄶?shù)女性擁有孩子。許多女性在30歲剛出頭，其事業(yè)生涯往往處于真正上升的時(shí)間點(diǎn)，因此，如果你有了孩子，這會(huì)成為一個(gè)很大的挑戰(zhàn)。但我的解決之道是鼓勵(lì)人們靈活處事。當(dāng)你是一位極具才華的女性，我們只需要多一點(diǎn)點(diǎn)的靈活，因?yàn)榻裉斓募夹g(shù)已經(jīng)可以讓我們?cè)诠ぷ鲿r(shí)間上非常靈活。你甚至可以在家里工作。我們僅需找到一個(gè)靈活的方法，讓女同事在她們小孩成長(zhǎng)的4到5歲后，還可以繼續(xù)投入到工作中。

《風(fēng)景園林》：您在全球范圍內(nèi)從事城市規(guī)劃和景觀設(shè)計(jì)工作，完成過(guò)大大小小的轉(zhuǎn)型項(xiàng)目，其中包括澳大利亞最大的棕地修復(fù)項(xiàng)目和舊金山的使命灣等，在這類(lèi)項(xiàng)目中，您認(rèn)為共性是什么？什么問(wèn)題最為棘手？

雅辛塔：這真是一個(gè)很好的問(wèn)題。你所要處理的不僅是復(fù)雜的技術(shù)問(wèn)題，還有政治問(wèn)題、市場(chǎng)問(wèn)題。美國(guó)現(xiàn)在正處于一個(gè)嚴(yán)重的衰退周期，但你能在這些項(xiàng)目中找到變量，以阻止衰退，或使衰退減緩。你需要非常靈活地應(yīng)對(duì)。如果你真正能夠如此，就能處理不斷變化的情況。在我看來(lái)，我們公司之所以能夠從事大型項(xiàng)目，其中一個(gè)理由就是我們有能力在正確的時(shí)間配置正確的資源，并能夠適應(yīng)項(xiàng)目不斷變化的特性。

《風(fēng)景園林》：這里的“靈活”是指哪些方面？

雅辛塔：有時(shí)，它意味著妥協(xié)，但大

多數(shù)時(shí)間，它是指你在努力找到一條前進(jìn)的路徑。在核心的問(wèn)題上你必須堅(jiān)定不移，你需要非常清楚設(shè)計(jì)的哪些關(guān)鍵元素必須是完整的，因?yàn)闀?huì)有各種各樣的因素都試圖改變它。所以你不得不有個(gè)非常清晰的設(shè)計(jì)構(gòu)思，而且要非常清晰地表達(dá)它。

《風(fēng)景園林》：對(duì)大多數(shù)項(xiàng)目，以及其他大規(guī)模的復(fù)雜項(xiàng)目，怎樣確信，即使保持靈活性，結(jié)果仍在我們的期望之中？

雅辛塔：項(xiàng)目最終的落地，需要捍衛(wèi)者，需要富有遠(yuǎn)見(jiàn)的人們，他們是真正愿意堅(jiān)持做那些項(xiàng)目的人。可能是某個(gè)客戶，或者是某個(gè)政府官員，也可能是團(tuán)隊(duì)中的某一員，或者是社區(qū)中的某個(gè)人。這些人總是倡導(dǎo)人們要有遠(yuǎn)見(jiàn)，捍衛(wèi)那些項(xiàng)目。在大型項(xiàng)目上，在項(xiàng)目開(kāi)始她們就必須十分清楚這個(gè)項(xiàng)目的愿景是什么，這是關(guān)鍵的，因?yàn)槠渌氖虑榈囊蚬际莵?lái)自于這個(gè)愿景。在實(shí)現(xiàn)愿景的過(guò)程中，你要不斷地回頭查看，當(dāng)人們?cè)噲D改變某些東西，或者偏離軌道，你能在項(xiàng)目的愿景范圍內(nèi)做出判斷。

《風(fēng)景園林》：那么，我們應(yīng)該如何來(lái)評(píng)估公共轉(zhuǎn)型項(xiàng)目的影響？例如，就您于2002年至2013年間在美國(guó)所做的一個(gè)轉(zhuǎn)型項(xiàng)目來(lái)談（把圣佩德羅和洛杉磯海濱連接起來(lái)的公共領(lǐng)域基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施項(xiàng)目）。數(shù)據(jù)顯示，這個(gè)復(fù)雜項(xiàng)目帶來(lái)了價(jià)值超過(guò)20億美元的公共領(lǐng)域改善。如何來(lái)評(píng)估？

雅辛塔：那個(gè)項(xiàng)目是為洛衫磯港口而設(shè)計(jì)的。洛衫磯港是美國(guó)最大的港口之一。在當(dāng)?shù)亟?jīng)濟(jì)中，它提供約30萬(wàn)個(gè)工作崗位。我們一直在做的工作是將當(dāng)?shù)厣鐓^(qū)、城鎮(zhèn)重新連接到海濱帶上，此前由于工業(yè)發(fā)展，社區(qū)、城市和海濱帶失去了聯(lián)系。我們對(duì)這個(gè)項(xiàng)目所帶來(lái)的價(jià)值影響的評(píng)估，實(shí)際上是對(duì)房地產(chǎn)價(jià)值的評(píng)估。你提升了海濱帶，創(chuàng)造了新的海濱公園、公共人行步道，然后你開(kāi)始尋找發(fā)展項(xiàng)目，然后你就會(huì)有一個(gè)強(qiáng)烈的愿望去對(duì)周?chē)徑鼌^(qū)域進(jìn)行再開(kāi)發(fā)。這就像許多年前的紐約中央公園對(duì)紐約的影響。而奧姆斯特德所做的設(shè)計(jì)，使它周邊房地產(chǎn)價(jià)值急劇上升。所以我們?cè)u(píng)估的方式是，讓我們的房地產(chǎn)經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家去對(duì)項(xiàng)目周?chē)约班徑鼌^(qū)域幾年內(nèi)的房產(chǎn)價(jià)值進(jìn)行實(shí)際考察和評(píng)估。通過(guò)這樣的方式去發(fā)現(xiàn)房產(chǎn)價(jià)值的上升。這也是我們建設(shè)新的公共空間的一個(gè)非常重要因素。實(shí)際上，這就是再生，更廣泛意義上的再生，效益正源于此。

《風(fēng)景園林》：隨著環(huán)境壓力加大，中國(guó)當(dāng)下轉(zhuǎn)型項(xiàng)目越來(lái)越多，除了上面談到的共性，您認(rèn)為中國(guó)的項(xiàng)目是否有其特殊因素？

雅辛塔：我在中國(guó)做的第一個(gè)項(xiàng)目是蘇州金雞湖。它以一種重要的里程方式將我們帶入中國(guó)。在我們贏得了這個(gè)項(xiàng)目后，我們才開(kāi)始在中國(guó)工作。所以實(shí)際上，我們是在舊金山辦公室完成它的總體規(guī)則的。后來(lái)，我們?cè)诂F(xiàn)場(chǎng)建立了一個(gè)團(tuán)隊(duì)，大概有20人。那個(gè)團(tuán)隊(duì)實(shí)際上負(fù)責(zé)了項(xiàng)目的詳細(xì)規(guī)劃階段，也監(jiān)督了施工過(guò)程，第二個(gè)項(xiàng)目是千島湖，我們?cè)?003年開(kāi)始總體規(guī)劃的工作。

我認(rèn)為在中國(guó)最令人驚異的是，正在被設(shè)計(jì)的以及剛剛建成的公共開(kāi)放空間的規(guī)模之大。數(shù)月前，我來(lái)中國(guó)，我們景觀設(shè)計(jì)的同事告訴我，國(guó)內(nèi)這里有100hm2公園，那里有200hm2山道，各類(lèi)項(xiàng)目面積加起來(lái)有大約1萬(wàn)hm2的開(kāi)放空間正在規(guī)劃或設(shè)計(jì)。這是個(gè)很大的數(shù)字，也的確使行業(yè)資源得到了延伸。這對(duì)設(shè)計(jì)者也是巨大的挑戰(zhàn)。因?yàn)槲覀儗?duì)這類(lèi)設(shè)計(jì)沒(méi)有一個(gè)完整的工作經(jīng)驗(yàn)，所以我們無(wú)法輕易地雇傭到做過(guò)類(lèi)似規(guī)模和復(fù)雜項(xiàng)目的經(jīng)驗(yàn)豐富的人。另外一個(gè)不同之處是，設(shè)計(jì)者不會(huì)一直記錄項(xiàng)目或者監(jiān)督項(xiàng)目的施工過(guò)程，因此就質(zhì)量而言，你會(huì)面對(duì)很多意外的變數(shù)。在項(xiàng)目的特性和穩(wěn)定性上存在許多風(fēng)險(xiǎn)。當(dāng)然，每件事都必須有效率。施工也總是一個(gè)挑戰(zhàn)，因?yàn)樗仨毻瓿?。也許，所需要的技術(shù)評(píng)審類(lèi)型，有時(shí)不會(huì)以它應(yīng)該出現(xiàn)的方式出現(xiàn)。所以他們是挑戰(zhàn)，但同時(shí)，也會(huì)有大量的轉(zhuǎn)變正在發(fā)生。在世界上其他地方不會(huì)這樣。這是中國(guó)最令人驚異的地方，擁有這么多正在被創(chuàng)造的公共空間。們需要有更好的產(chǎn)出，我們也需要有眾多有經(jīng)驗(yàn)的人在項(xiàng)目進(jìn)行到建設(shè)階段時(shí)，予以指導(dǎo)?！讹L(fēng)景園林》：AECOM是一個(gè)多專業(yè)協(xié)作的全球化公司，您能否為我們介紹一下AECOM的企業(yè)管理文化？

雅辛塔：AECOM一個(gè)非常讓我著迷的地方，就是我們對(duì)世界滿懷抱負(fù)。我們希望成為世界上最出色的基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施提供商，這是非常大的想法。但如何才能實(shí)現(xiàn)呢？我們構(gòu)建了一個(gè)非常多樣化的專家團(tuán)隊(duì)，覆蓋所有不同領(lǐng)域的專業(yè)知識(shí)。并且，我們還得樹(shù)立一種人們彼此尊重、彼此合作的文化，以追求一種最佳的成果。我們不需要每一個(gè)人，但需要有那么一部分人樂(lè)于去提問(wèn)，樂(lè)于去了解別人，樂(lè)于在組織內(nèi)部建立網(wǎng)絡(luò)。這對(duì)實(shí)現(xiàn)我們的愿景而言非常關(guān)鍵。

《風(fēng)景園林》：在管理框架之內(nèi)，如何實(shí)現(xiàn)風(fēng)景園林師的創(chuàng)意思維方式和內(nèi)部管理規(guī)則

之間的協(xié)調(diào)？

雅辛塔：在公司內(nèi)，我們有一個(gè)構(gòu)架，像我就負(fù)責(zé)實(shí)踐方面的工作。我們關(guān)注創(chuàng)新的技術(shù)、優(yōu)秀的設(shè)計(jì)，也關(guān)注合作。我們的團(tuán)隊(duì)中還有同樣重要的人，確保我們所做的事情取得成功，如：人力資源、合同法律審查、項(xiàng)目財(cái)務(wù)管理等。同時(shí)我們也有團(tuán)隊(duì)負(fù)責(zé)搭建部門(mén)，弄清楚我們下一步要尋找什么類(lèi)型的客戶和項(xiàng)目。此外，還有另一團(tuán)隊(duì)負(fù)責(zé)我們的關(guān)鍵客戶，關(guān)注我們進(jìn)入的市場(chǎng)領(lǐng)域，所以這是一個(gè)大型復(fù)雜的系統(tǒng)。

對(duì)于設(shè)計(jì)師而言，非常重要的是清楚自己在這個(gè)組織中位置的重要性，以及他們所參與的實(shí)踐需要確保我們所做的一切都達(dá)到最佳狀態(tài)。這是公司最終的追求。我們不希望大家感覺(jué)在一個(gè)復(fù)雜、受限制的管理環(huán)境中工作。

這同樣也是一種重要的平衡。我們堅(jiān)持的時(shí)間越長(zhǎng)，就有越多的人（不論你在哪一組織當(dāng)中）真正團(tuán)結(jié)于特定的價(jià)值觀、抱負(fù)以及文化。彼此尊重是非常重要。設(shè)計(jì)師每天沉浸于設(shè)計(jì)的世界，我們所要做的是讓他們不被其他事情打擾。

《風(fēng)景園林》：AECOM有一個(gè)經(jīng)濟(jì)咨詢團(tuán)隊(duì)，在他們的影響下，您的工作會(huì)有怎樣的不同？

雅辛塔：是的，這個(gè)問(wèn)題問(wèn)得好。由于我們所做項(xiàng)目較為復(fù)雜，因此經(jīng)濟(jì)咨詢團(tuán)隊(duì)、政策咨詢團(tuán)隊(duì)對(duì)我們而言都是非常重要的。他們所做的是建立發(fā)展的理論依據(jù)，然后他們能評(píng)估最終的效果。所以我們也把他們整合到項(xiàng)目團(tuán)隊(duì)中來(lái)（我們的經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家也做了大量不同的工作），因?yàn)槿绻愕膱F(tuán)隊(duì)中有一個(gè)善于財(cái)務(wù)分析和市場(chǎng)分析的人，項(xiàng)目決策的質(zhì)量會(huì)得到提升。所以這樣的一種決策方式，我們認(rèn)為是非常重要的。

《風(fēng)景園林》：AECOM未來(lái)的著眼點(diǎn)及方向在哪里？

雅辛塔：在實(shí)踐領(lǐng)域，技術(shù)對(duì)于項(xiàng)目的成敗具有關(guān)鍵作用。3D打印就是當(dāng)下具有革命性的技術(shù)。我們必須適應(yīng)這些變化，否則我們就無(wú)法與時(shí)俱進(jìn)。我認(rèn)為3D打印對(duì)人們來(lái)說(shuō)，不僅是一項(xiàng)了不起的概念和溝通模型，而且還將很快成為建造事物的主體。這一切已經(jīng)在發(fā)生了。

我們?cè)谡務(wù)撧D(zhuǎn)型，這將對(duì)我們?cè)O(shè)計(jì)、記錄、建造項(xiàng)目的方式產(chǎn)生轉(zhuǎn)型的影響。巨大的變革正在來(lái)臨。因此，我們已經(jīng)發(fā)展了許多軟件技術(shù)，這對(duì)于我們?cè)u(píng)估那些非常復(fù)雜的項(xiàng)目十分重要，并且能為我們的客戶提供成熟的建議。例如，我們有一個(gè)工具叫做“可持續(xù)系統(tǒng)合成模式”（SSIM），這是一個(gè)規(guī)劃工具，它可以通過(guò)大量數(shù)據(jù)來(lái)評(píng)估物理環(huán)境，可以模擬項(xiàng)目的成本和收益，但工具的目的是導(dǎo)向更好的規(guī)劃決定。我們還有一些其他的工具，如成本估算工具和社會(huì)基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施工具等。所有這些都能幫助規(guī)劃師和設(shè)計(jì)師評(píng)估項(xiàng)目，尤其是對(duì)于大尺度項(xiàng)目。

《風(fēng)景園林》：您一直堅(jiān)信風(fēng)景園林應(yīng)該在整個(gè)產(chǎn)業(yè)中起到引領(lǐng)作用。您對(duì)此如何理解？

雅辛塔：我認(rèn)為有很多因素，例如信心、勇敢、冒險(xiǎn)，以及是否愿意去成就一件大事。你的確可以通過(guò)大的項(xiàng)目來(lái)影響世界，所以風(fēng)景園林師不得不提升自己而去適應(yīng)大尺度的項(xiàng)目。我們有太多的風(fēng)景園林師都在做小尺度的項(xiàng)目——當(dāng)然這些小項(xiàng)目都十分重要——但我們卻缺乏足夠的擔(dān)當(dāng)去做一個(gè)大尺度的項(xiàng)目。我們需要更多的風(fēng)景園林師做大尺度的項(xiàng)目。在我們公司里，領(lǐng)導(dǎo)“建筑與人居環(huán)境”終端市場(chǎng)的是一名風(fēng)景園林師。在一家擁有45 000名員工的公司里，他是20名最高層管理人員之一。所以風(fēng)景園林師可以以一種非常有影響力的方式從事領(lǐng)導(dǎo)工作。我們僅僅需要更多的人愿意去擔(dān)當(dāng)，對(duì)這個(gè)行業(yè)來(lái)說(shuō)，在某種程度上可以稱之為“戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)召喚”。我認(rèn)為像我這樣的人，應(yīng)該更多地鼓勵(lì)年輕人投身其中，因?yàn)檫@是我們領(lǐng)先于建筑師、工程師以及任何其他人的唯一路徑。

《風(fēng)景園林》：為了在這個(gè)行業(yè)有專業(yè)發(fā)展，除了您剛才已經(jīng)提到的需具備的要素，技能要求有多重要？

雅辛塔：很好的問(wèn)題。我們都在風(fēng)景園林專業(yè)方面受到很好的訓(xùn)練，我認(rèn)為訓(xùn)練，而且是正確系統(tǒng)的訓(xùn)練才能使人在一個(gè)復(fù)雜項(xiàng)目中承擔(dān)領(lǐng)導(dǎo)的角色。我們都在評(píng)估體系中被訓(xùn)練過(guò)，也都被訓(xùn)練過(guò)與其他設(shè)計(jì)、規(guī)劃學(xué)科相配合，我們確實(shí)獲益匪淺。除此之外，你所需要做的是，你必須愿意去擔(dān)任項(xiàng)目領(lǐng)導(dǎo)的角色，去領(lǐng)導(dǎo)來(lái)自不同專業(yè)背景人才的團(tuán)隊(duì)。而且對(duì)風(fēng)景園林師來(lái)說(shuō)，要成為這樣的角色也許會(huì)感到不適應(yīng)。那么，應(yīng)該如何克服這種不適應(yīng)呢？我認(rèn)為，只要得到適當(dāng)?shù)墓膭?lì)與支持，個(gè)人本身也有意愿去擔(dān)當(dāng)，那么他一定能夠成功。

LA: As a designer, you've got very outstanding performance in management and business. What's your positioning in different roles? What's the principle?

Jacinta: When you asked what is my own positioning about myself, what I thought of first was really the type of responsibility that I have as a landscape architect, really to society. Let me tell you something else about that question. I think when we come out from our training as a landscape architect, you start as a designer, and work on projects where you can see a visible impact on a community, through what you are doing, and I think there is a natural progression. Certainly I had a natural progression into more of a leadership role, helping the client make better decisions. And I think that move from technical landscape architect to more the leadership position. It's really a natural response to being able to make a difference, and have more influence in what happens around the world. That means you change your emphasis a bit. You are not necessarily doing all the design, but you are guiding the design, also trying to influence people, with the government or with other groups, trying to influence people to get a better outcome for a project. And I think that's sort of how you could add value, or become more valuable to the client.

If you guide design, if you have very talented people doing the design through a creative review of a project, you can actually cover more ground. So you can influence further. It's really about that. Plus, it's also about creating career paths for younger designers. It's about having their knowledge and new ideas, and energy, influencing the design. I think that's a very important role as you mature, as a professional, you have a responsibility to mentor and to help younger designers grow.

LA: You are the president of the Landscape Architecture Foundation(LAF).Is it possible to introduce about the organization's positioning

and actions?

Jacinta: The Landscape Architecture Foundation was founded almost 50 years ago, by 2016 that's 50 years. It was founded by a group of very concerned leading landscape architects who were deeply worried about the climate of environmental quality, and they were very concerned about the ability of the profession of landscape architecture to be able to have the scale to address the issues. So the foundation has a research admission that focuses on research. It focuses on awarding scholarships to outstanding students. And the third part focuses on leadership, developing leadership in the profession.

It's a very interesting organization. We have a program built around the Landscape Performance Series. So this is a way of being able to be more objective about the contribution in landscape, how it actually performing. Then the foundation has been documenting a whole series of case studies, and they are available for everyone to refer to. So people can commend about methodology of evaluating landscape. They can actually use that approach with clients, with cities and governments to be able to argue for a better approach to projects and to design. It's a very important organization. We've given out over a million dollars in scholarships during the last 15 years. The scholarships go to the best students, to enable them to continue research in particular area.

LA: How do you evaluate which kind of project LAF can give this support to?

Jacinta: We asked for practitioners, for professionals to submit a project that they think might qualify. And we evaluate that and then we have a team that actually undertakes the research about the project, and then documents its performance. We have a very good board. We have a board with about 20 people, honored. And they are leaders of practices; they are leaders in the industry, related areas by construction, furniture suppliers, very smart people, and academics on the board too. It’s a very good program.

LA: What idea do you have about the LAF?

Jacinta: Well the reason I became involved with LAF is, our firm, AECOM has been involved, and the supporter of LAF for many years. And the reason I wanted to be involved with this group was that I believe we need more landscape architects, and we need to share knowledge between landscape architects. I think in America, there are 22,000 landscape architects, and I think there are about 120,000 architects. So we need more landscape architects. A lot of landscape architects don't have the benefit of working in a large firm where you can share knowledge and see what's happening in the rest of the world. We have global practice, so our people can easily find out new ideas, or new approaches to project. But most landscape architects can't do that. They are in a small firm. They have, you know, five people. So what the foundation does is to create an opportunity, a place for knowledge to reside, a research to reside. So all these small practices can actually access that and that builds capacity in the profession. It's really about building capacity.

LA: Well, you just mentioned AECOM. As the Executive Vice President, what are your responsibilities?

Jacinta: I look after a group we called global practice line. I look after a group of planners and landscape architects. It’s about 1700 people around the world.

So my role is to help this group, collaborate, and share their knowledge with each other. I also focus on making sure that our work is the best it can be. So I focus on technical excellence, and make sure that we are having the necessary level of review in projects, so we have consistent quality. And I’m also very involved in people's career paths. And if they want to change a role or see a new path, I can help them achieve that.

I'm also responsible for making sure that we collaborate with the other parts or the other parts of AECOM. Our practice is part of a bigger group that we called "Buildings and Places", including architecture, building engineering, cost consulting, and planning and design. I also work with the global leadership to make sure that we have alignment in our strategies and building our platform of integrated practice, which is very important for us.

LA: How can you carry out the work in a male-dominated business in a very big company?

Jacinta: Landscape architecture is a very interesting profession. There are more women graduating in landscape architecture than men. You see a lot of women in leading practices. Martha

Schwartz is a great example.

Inside AECOM, we have parts of AECOM with more senior women, and more women in general, and other parts of AECOM which are more male-dominated, it varies. I think it's really just about your attitude. It's important to have confidence, and it's very important to speak up, and be brave, and say what you think, and to not let yourself be dominated by a room where there might be a lot of men. Inside AECOM, we also have a lot of attention putting into programs for, we have a whole area around diversity and inclusion. We have a lot of programs to encourage women, to take on more responsibility. But it's always a challenge you've mentioned what life is about.

I think for women, it's always a challenge because most women have children. most women in their early 30s, at a point where career path tends to really move ahead, so if you have children, it can be quite challenging to bridge that. But I think my approach is that I encourage people to be very flexible. What we need to do is just, when you've got very talented women, who may need a little more flexibility, and because of the technology we have today, you can be very flexible in work hours, you can work from home. It's really about finding ways to keep women engaged during that period, 4 or 5 years when children are young.

LA: You have been engaged in urban community planning and landscape design works around the world and taken over transformation projects of any scales, among which are the largest brown field restoration project in Australia, Mission Bay in San Francisco, etc. In these projects, what are their similarities? What is the most difficult problem?

Jacinta: I thought this was a good question. There are not only the complex technical issues that you have to deal with, but there are also the political issues, the market issues. In America, there's a big very strong recession cycle, now coming out of it, but you've always got this variables in these projects that can stop them, or make them slow down. You've got to be able to be very flexible. If you really get to be able with that, to the changing conditions, and I think with our firm, one of the reasons we work on very large projects is because we have the ability to be able to deploy the right resources at the right time, be able to adapt to the changing nature of the projects.

LA: What's the meaning of "flexible" here?

Jacinta: In some times it might be compromise but mostly you are trying to find a path forward. It's really about getting all of the issues on the table and figuring out a way to move forward. Yes perhaps compromise for some aspects but not all.

You do need to keep and be very strong about the core things that shouldn't change. You've get to be very clear about the essential elements of the design that have to be intact. Because there will be forces coming from every direction, trying to change that. So you've got to have a very clear design position and be able to communicate that very clearly.

LA: For most of the projects, and other large scale complex projects, how to make sure, even keeping that flexibility, which the outcome is within our expectations?

Jacinta: They need champions and need people with vision who are really willing to stick with those projects. There might be the client, or someone in the government, it could be someone in the team, or someone in the community, but you've got have champions who will be always advocating for the vision, for the project. And on big projects, it's critical, at the outset of the project, to be very clear about what the vision of the project is, because everything else grows from that vision. A clearly articulated vision is something you can constantly check back against, and when people try to change things, derail, you can come back and respond in the context of the vision of the project.

LA: How do we come up with the evaluation of impact that our projects weigh to urban development. For example, for this project that you did between 2002 and 2013, which links the seashores of LA to other public places in the bay area. And according to data, that complex transformation project brought forth about 200 million value to bay improvementing public spaces, how do we come up with that evaluation?

Jacinta: That project is a work for the Port of Los Angeles. The Port of Los Angeles is one of the largest ports in America, and it's actually responsible for about 300 thousand jobs in the local economy. This work we've been doing is about reconnecting the local community, the town, back to the waterfront, because with all the industrial

development, the community, the city became cut off from the waterfront. The way which we measure the impact on value coming out of that work, is really real estate value that we are measuring. You improve the waterfront, you create new parks and promenades, and then you start to find the development, and there is an increased desire to redevelop the areas next to it. It's like how Central Park was in New York, the impacts of the park having on New York many years ago. Now but Olmsted did that design, it resulted in dramatic uplift in property values around it. So we measure that by getting our real estate economists to actually look at the values of sites around the area, adjacent to the area over a period of years. That's when you see the value, the uplift in real estate value. That's a very important aspect of building new public space. It's actually the regeneration, the broader regeneration, benefits come from that.

LA: So what do you think of Chinese projects? Do they have something special or different to other cultures, especially concern for the Environmental projects?

Jacinta: The first project I worked on over here was a project called Jinji Lake. It was the project that brought us into China in a significant way. We had just started working in China when we won that project, so we actually did the masterplan for that from our San Francisco Office where I was. Then we built a team on site, we had about 20 people there. That actually took through the more detailed planning phases and oversaw construction of a lot of that project so, so that was when I first started coming over here. The next project I worked on here was a project called "1000 Island Lake" uh, yeah. We did the Master Plan for that. That was in 2003 from memory.

I think one thing that's really amazing about China, is the scale of open space, of public ground that's being designed and built on right now. I was here about several months ago and our Head of Landscape Architecture in this office said to me that they had 10,000 Hectares of Open Space under planning or design. I think it was a big number. He had just added it all up, all of the projects, because you add up a 100 Hectare park here, 200 Hectare of trails there and it pretty quickly adds up, so let's just say it's a big number. But you look at that and that's a massive thing that's going on and it really stretches the resources of the profession, to be able to deliver that. I mean it's massive and so it's very challenging for Designers, I think it's challenging because we don't have a whole, deep history of that type of work, so you can't just access a lot of very experienced people easily who have done this sort of work at this scale, of this complexity. So you know that's a big challenge and the other thing that is different here is that the Designer doesn't always document the project or oversee the construction of the project and so you see more variation here I think, in terms of quality. There are some risks; you have more risks to quality and consistency in projects. And of course everything has to happen so fast. Construction is always a challenge because it has to be finished. So the type of technical review that you need to have, sometimes doesn't happen the way it should happen. So they're the challenges but at the same time there is a massive transformation happening here right now. It didn't happen anywhere else in the world like this. This is an amazing thing for China to have this type of public space being created right now. I think that we need some things will turn out better than others and we also need a lot of people with experience to be guiding these projects as they go through into construction.

LA: AECOM is a global company with multi-disciplinary practices. What is your experience and how do you see the Management culture?

Jacinta: Well, one of the things that fascinate me about AECOM is the ambitious vision we have for the world. We wanna be the premier infrastructure provider in the world, and that's a very big idea. So then, how do you get that? Well, you build a very diverse expert team that has all the different areas of expertise. So you go at that, but then you also have to build a culture where people will respect each other, collaborate with each other, you know, not just wanna just do everything themselves but use an expert that will help get a better result. So we don't need everyone, but we need some of our people to be interested in asking questions, getting to know other people, building a network inside the organization. So it's very critical to do the success of us achieving our vision.

LA: how to achieve reconciliation and the creative mindset of Landscape Architects and the rules we try to enforce within the Management structure.

Jacinta: Well we have a structure in the firm, we have practice areas with practice leaders, like me, so we focus on technical excellence, design excellence, we focus on collaboration, all those things I talked about. Then we have people who are equally as important in the organization and they are people who make sure that the things we have to have to succeed, are all happeninghuman resources, legal review of contracts, financial monitoring of projects. So we have all those people who are watching the business aspects of the practice, and then we have people who are responsible for building our division, figuring out where we are going next and what type of clients and projects we wanna have and that's a whole other group of people who look after our key clients, who focus us into market sectors, so it's a big complex system that we have.

It's very important for a Designer to be clear about the importance of where they sit in the organization and they are sitting inside a practice that is responsible for making sure that everything we do is done extremely well, and that's what the firm is about in the end. So we gotta make sure that people appreciate that and don't feel like they are working for a complex, restrictive management environment.

Again it's an important balance, and I think the longer we go at this, the more everyone, no matter which part of the organization you're in, everyone gets that we're really aligned around certain values and certain ambition, around culture. Respect for each other is very important and it's not perfect but, we are getting better at that and it's I think most of our Designers when they are sitting inside, their day to day world is design, their day to day world is not the finance team or something like that. They're in the world of design and that's where

they need to be and we try to keep it that way, not have them distracted by other things.

LA: You have an economics team, that's part of your practice. I wonder if your work under the economics team has anything to do with the evaluation of the impact of projects.

Jacinta: Yeah it's a good question. That group is very important to the sophistication of the work we do, so our economics team, our policy team is very important. What they do is establish the rationale for development and then they can actually measure the effectiveness of the result. So we integrate ( our Economists do a lot of different things) we integrate them into our planning team as well, because the quality of planning decisions will improve if you've got someone who is very good at fiscal analysis and market analysis sitting right next to the planner. So that's a model of planning that we think is very important.

LA: What are we seeing in terms of new things we're doing. What’s the future direction?

Jacinta: For us technology is really critical to our success projects. One very interesting thing is about 3D printers and 3D printers are really revolutionizing what we do now.

We have to adapt to it, because if we don't others are doing it, so you know we have to keep at that same level. I mean 3D printing is not only a fantastic tool for communicating models and concepts to people, but 3D printing will very quickly start to become the method for actually making things that get built, so that's going to happen.

We are talking about transformation, you know it will have a transformational impact on the way we design, document and fabricate and construct projects-it's a massive change coming. We do have a lot of software tools that we have developed. They're very important for us to be able to evaluate very complex projects and be able to develop sophisticated advice for our clients. We have a tool called the Sustainable Systems Integrated Model (SSIM), it's a trademark planning tool and that is a system where a lot of data about the physical environment can be evaluated. Everything from energy performance of a building though to the natural conditions, transport, natural resources and so on, but, the purpose of the tool is to enable good planning decisions to be made, so you can actually model what the cost benefit of all these things will be. It puts a different basis for into decisions about how you will develop in place, it's a very important tool. We have other tools: cost estimating tools and social infrastructure tools. So these are all very important to us as they help our planners and designers to be sophisticated in the way they evaluate, especially for big scale projects.

LA: You firmly believe that Landscape Architecture should take the leading role in the whole industry. How do you think about it ?

Jacinta: I think a lot of it is about confidence and being brave and taking risks and being willing to go out after a big thing. You really make an impact on the world through big projects and so Landscape Architects have to lift themselves up to that scale. We have too many Landscape Architects who are working at small scale, which is important, but we don't have enough willing to work at a large scale. We need more Landscape Architects working at that scale. Inside our firm the person who heads up our group "Buildings and Places" is a Landscape Architect. He is one of the top 20 Executives probably, in a firm of 45,000 people. So you can be a Landscape Architect and be leading in a very influential way. We just need to have more people willing to do that and it's sort of a "call to arms" to the profession. I’m thinking of people like me, we have to be more encouraging of younger people to wanna do that, cos that's the only way we'll ever get out there ahead of the Architects and Engineers and everyone else.

LA: For professional development in this industry, besides all the characteristics you have just mentioned, how important are skill sets in our industry ?

Jacinta: It's a good question. We all get a good training in Landscape Architecture, and I think the training is the right training for being able to take a leadership role on complex projects. We're trained in evaluating systems, we are trained to interface with the other design and planning disciplines, we really get all of that. So what do you need in addition to that I think is, you've gotta be willing to step into Project Leadership roles in projects where it's not just Landscape Architects in the team and I think sometimes Landscape Architects are not comfortable in that role as they should be. So how do you overcome that? Well, people need to be encouraged to do that and they need to be willing to do that.

An Interview of the Executive Vice-president of AECOM, Jacinta McCann

Interview & Тranslation: WEN Hua