Iain Robertson (1948–2021) was a landscape architect, academic, and writer. He focused on the role of creativity in the practice of design, and was known to inspire colleagues and students to imagine the unimaginable. 

Robertson was Associate Professor Emeritus at the University of Washington’s Landscape Architect Department, and had three decades of experience teaching design studios and creativity seminars. He authored Cultivating Creativity (New Village Press, 2022), a playful resource text for inspiring creativity in the classroom. 

A native of Edinburgh, Robertson lived in Washington State. There, he made a positive and long-lasting impact by serving the Seattle Design Commission and on the Seattle Parks Foundation Board, advocating for local plants in Seattle’s Freeway Parks, and creating a new garden in the Washington Park Arboretum. 

Memory