Los Osos Welcomes World-Famous Civics Designer

In the little over 24 hours she was in Los Osos—she drove down from Monterey where she lectured at the university—she managed to meet with community leaders Gail McPherson, John Fouche, Steve Senet and District Engineer Rob Miller. Johanson, who has worked extensively in Asia and Africa, is known throughout the world for creating innovative designs that combine the industrial and the imaginary in a way that—magically, through some eyes—turns wastewater projects, public works and town parks into their very opposites: realms of colorful, childlike joy and wonder that attract rather than repel. Johanson’s list of striking accomplishments include the ongoing Petaluma Wetlands Water Recycling Facility and 290-acre Shollenberger Park, Fair Park Lagoon in Dallas, Park for the Amazon Rainforest, Endangered Garden in San Francisco, and a 912-acre park in Seoul, South Korea—bigger than New York’s Central Park. This luminous willow of a woman, a cancer survivor, has been called “one of the most exciting environmental artists working today,” and those in the community fortunate enough to meet and speak with her found out why first hand. Johanson travels around the world by herself, summoned by a reputation that reaches even beyond the Internet, and wherever she goes, she’s always intently jotting down notes in her diaries, capturing almost every word local officials utter about a possible project site. Johanson humbly told residents and community leaders that she felt a kinship with Los Osos, and would certainly consider working here, if asked. (See page 8 for examples of her work, and visit www.patriciajohanson.com)