Landscript Associates


Landscript Associates is the environmental writing and design practice that bookends William Carney’s professional career, before and after his public service in landscape architecture and project management at the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency (1979 – 2004). Committed to the idea that engaging language can help create meaningful places, Landscript has pioneered the concept of land poems, evocative . . .  More

Landscript Associates Portfolio
Land Poems

 Land Poem:  “Earth”
Concrete stepping stone
label imbuing the microcosm of a backyard residential design with macrocosmic context.
Cincinnati
 Land Poem:  “Path of Courage”
Flight 93 Memorial competition entry.
Monumental steel letters set into contours along
forced perspective of final flight path.
“There’s not much time.
There’s a group of us. Don’t worry.
We’re going to do something.
Where are the kids? Tell them
I’ll talk to them later.
I love you!
Are you ready?
Let’s roll.
Pray. Just pray.”
Western Pennsylvania

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 Land Poem:  “1857 Shoreline”
To nurture a sense of identity for the new South Beach residential neighborhood, the master streetscape plan includes a serpentine tracery of exposed aggregate concrete marking the historic shoreline of San Francisco Bay. Developed Master Streetscape Plan and shoreline marker concept as Redevelopment Agency senior landscape architect.
San Francisco

Landscript Associates Portfolio
Participatory Plans

Where We Stand: A Report on Leverett’s Planning Process
Pioneered unique planning process based on transcribed and edited interviews with citizens of a small New England town, published with proposed planning and conservation actions distributed to every household prior to annual Town Meeting.Leverett, Massachusetts.
A Topography of the Mind: The Meaning of Cincinnati’s Hillsides
Similar process replicated with 100 interviews published in Cincinnati Post, leading to citywide hillside preservation ordinance and guidelines.
 Transbay 2020  Concept Plan
Managed multidisciplinary community planning process, highlighted by concept documents explaining complex environmental objectives in simple terms to facilitate public understanding and participation.
San Francisco
Back to Top  South of Market Redevelopment Plan  Amendment & Implementation
Developed and implemented strategy to achieve revitalization without displacement through infill creation, rehabilitation and preservation of affordable housing stock in high-need redevelopment area. Managed Plan Amendment process, working closely with Project Area Committee. Developed Sixth Street design guidelines and streetscape improvements.
San Francisco

Landscript Associates Portfolio
Environmental Interpretation

Museum of the African Diaspora Core Exhibits
Facilitated design team of nationally prominent consultants to create core exhibits for innovative new museum; included significant involvement in finalizing exhibit text and leading client review committee. Sussman/Prejza, exhibit and graphic design.San Francisco
Starkweather Shoreline Park Interpretive Signage Master Plan
Developed Master Plan for comprehensive interpretation of natural and human history along two-mile public frontage on San Francisco Bay, including sign prototypes, structural system and budget. Laura Hogan, graphic design.
San Rafael

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A Berkshire Sourcebook
Complete research and writing for regional history and environmental education text in guidebook format, written to engage the next generation in environmental stewardship.
Berkshire County, Massachusetts

Landscript Associates Portfolio
Public Artwork

Yerba Buena Gardens Public Art
As project manager for San Francisco Redevelopment Agency, oversaw nine artists in development of site-specific pieces creating a welcoming and evocative symbolic environment. These included a Butterfly Garden by artist Reiko Goto.
San Francisco

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Martin Luther King, Jr., Memorial
Oversaw design by artist Houston Conwell, including selection and sequencing of 13 quotations incised on glass panels within a waterfall connoting the power of Dr. King’s words.
San Francisco

Landscript Associates Portfolio
Urban Forestry

Hunters View Urban Forestry
Demonstration Planting Designed and managed citizen-based planting of 250-unit public housing rehabilitation, fostering community pride as well as environmental benefits. California Department of Forestry funding.
San Francisco
The Hip-Pocket Urban Tree Planter
Designed and wrote user-friendly manual on why and how to re-green neighborhoods. California Department of Forestry funding.
A Citizen’s Guide to Maintaining Neighborhood Place
Wrote simple guide on keeping neighborhoods green. Funding by the Trust of Public Land and U.S. Department of Interior.

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Trees for Cincinnati
Demonstration Planting Wrote readable, compelling and successful proposal that lead to establishment of one of the nation’s first comprehensive urban forestry programs in Cincinnati, Ohio. The Cincinnati Institute.