"To make the modern
city livable is the
task of our times"
Jens Jensen, 1900s
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Jens Jensen - Photo courtesy Grace Richardson
Roots of Change
Delve into the inspiring legacy of landscape architect Jens Jensen and uncover the beauty of sustainable design.
Jens Jensen The Living Green is an award-winning documentary about the Danish immigrant who rose from street sweeper to "dean of American landscape architects" - the title the New York Times gave Jensen (1860-1951) upon his death. Arriving in Chicago in the 1880s, in one of the fastest-growing and least livable cities in human history, Jensen believed working people needed nature to survive. He went on to design over 600 landscapes and originate the Prairie Style, America's first native landscape architecture movement.
Jensen's greatest fight was against Andrew Carnegie and J.P. Morgan, whose plans to industrialize the entire Indiana shoreline he opposed for decades - a battle that eventually created the Indiana Dunes National Park. In 1914, he helped stage the Pageant of the Dunes, a 1,000-actor spectacle performed for 70,000 people, using art and entertainment as activism decades before Earth Day existed.
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Featuring rare archival interviews with Jensen himself, testimony from Prairie School architect Alfred Caldwell, and the untold story of a man Frank Lloyd Wright, Henry Ford, and Julius Rosenwald (Sears) all turned to - this is the story of America's unsung conservation hero, and why his fight for green, livable cities matters more today than ever.
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Directed by Carey Lundin
Written by Mark Frazel
Produced by Viva Lundin Productions
copyright 2012, all rights reserved.
American Society of Landscape Architects: Communications Award
Explorers Museum, Medal of Honor
Chicago International Film Fest: Hugo Award
Watch Now
Rent the Film/Watch Featurettes
Rent the Film/Watch Featurettes
Jens Jensen the Living Green
Trailer
Jens Jensen Archival Interview
News
Inspire Your Audience:
Book inspirational speaker,
Carey Lundin, Director, Co-Writer/Co-Producer
​"The video...ought to reach a wider audience…A lot of things he did were forerunners of our environmentalism today." ASLA 2017 Juror​
"The Mount Rushmore of Prairie School giants is now complete. To Frank Lloyd Wright andLouis Sullivan add Jens Jensen. This beautiful documentary will inspire generations to come."
Eric Utne, Founder, Utne Reader
"Our attendees loved, loved, loved your talk and film! Best session of the meeting!"
Joanne DeLorenzo Annual Meeting Co-chair, New Jersey ASLA
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"powerful...poignant" Humans and Nature
“One of the most inspiring documentaries I have ever seen.”
Melanie Choukas-Bradley, author, City of Trees; A Year in Rock Creek Park​
GET IN Contact: carey@vivalundinproductions.com
THEMES
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What does our relationship to nature say about how we value one another—and what responsibility does an individual have to act on what they believe? Creating Jardincito Park.
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Jens Jensen believed that nature and people should be free to lead their own lives. He spent his own life turning that belief into places, movements and public lands. What might his example ask of us today?
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Nature isn't just poetic, our brains need nature
PAST SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS
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Harley Clarke Mansion / Jens Jensen Day, June 2026
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Chicago Park District: Earth Day, 2025
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Chicago Park District / Fall 2025
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Chicago Park District: Humboldt and Douglas Parks 2019
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The Pullman Historical Monument, Earth Day, 2018
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The Gorton Center, Earth Day 2018
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Fay Jones School of Architecture + Design, University of Arkansas, Fayetville, AK, Earth Day, 2017
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The Evanston Garden Club, March, 2017
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Marian University, March, 2017
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The Explorers Museum, Tullammore, IRE, June, 2016
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National Building Museum, Screening and Talk, April 14, 2016
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Rhode Island American Society of Landscape Architects, at Rhode Island School of Design, April 13, 2016
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Evanston City Council to save the Jensen landscape and public beach attached to the Harley Clarke House
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New York Botanical Garden: Earth Day Film and Panel with: Robert Grese, Darrel Morrison, Ambassador Jarl Frijs-Madsen, Consul General of Denmark in New York, Jensen Wheeler Wolfe
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Wild Things Conference, Every Yard Counts, Turning Film into Advocacy: The Wild Ones and One Earth Environmental Film Festival
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New Jersey American Society of Landscape Architects, Art as Activism, Annual Conference, Jan, 2015
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Friends of the Parks, Walter Netsch Series, Jens Jensen, December, 2014
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The Henry Ford House, Dearborn, MI, October, 2014
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National Park Service, Jensen’s Art as Activism, Pilot Junior Environmentalists with Boys and Girls Club of Lake Station, IN
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Chicago Park District, Jensen’s Art as Activism, Teen Reimagining the Arts, Community and the Environment
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Millennium Park, Chicago, Launch of film – June 19th, 2014, 3000 in attendance
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Lombard Lilac Festival, Jens Jensen the Living Green, May, 2014
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American Society of Landscape Architects, IL Chapter, introducing Jensen film, April, 2014
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Dubuque International Film Festival, Jens Jensen the Living Green, April, 2014
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One Earth Film Festival panel discussion on Jens Jensen the Living Green, March, 2014
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Ft. Myers Film Festival, Jens Jensen the Living Green, March, 2014
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Riverside Olmsted Society on Olmsted and Jensen, January 2014
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Pleasant Home Fundraiser, Lake Theater, Oak Park, IL, September, 2013
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German American Heritage Society, Screening, Figge Art Museum, July 2013
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Chicago Convergence Conference, Social Change and Citizen Journalism: Citizen Kate, June 2009
The Visionary
Jens Jensen the Living Green is a profound documentary that sheds light on the remarkable life and work of landscape architect Jens Jensen. It highlights his contributions to sustainable landscape design and aims to inspire current and future generations through educational content, licensing options for screenings, discussions and featurettes.
Columbus Park. Courtesy Chicago Park District
Team
Meet the talented individuals who brought 'Jens Jensen the Living Green' to life. Their dedication and passion shine through every frame of this documentary.
Writers: Mark Frazel (writer) | Carey Lundin
Producers: Mark Frazel (producer) | Carey Lundin (producer)
Cinematographer: Lana Bernberg,
PRODUCED BY VIVA LUNDIN PRODUCTIONS
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CAST
Jens Jensen: himself, Fritz Wolfmeyer, Mark Frazel
Alfred Caldwell: himself
Narrator: Jensen Wheeler Wolfe
Frank Lloyd Wright: self
Henry Ford: self
Professor Bill Tishler
Julia Sniderman Bachrach
Professor Bob Grese
Jo Ann Nathan
Professor Peter B. Hales
Professor Darrel Morrison
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DEEP DIVE
Research for the film
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
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Archival radio broadcast and 16mm footage of Jens Jensen (1860-1951), landscape architect, conservationist, author Siftings.
Archival videos shot from the late 1980s – to early 1990s of Alfred Caldwell (1903-1998), Jensen acolyte and friend, landscape architect, architect, protégé of Mies van der Rohe.
Addams, Jane. Twenty Years at Hull-House: With Autobiographical Notes. Dover Publications, 2008.
Bachrach, Julia S., and Jo Ann Nathan. Inspired By Nature: The Garfield Park Conservatory and Chicago’s West Side. Chicago: Garfield Park Conservatory Alliance, 2008
Bachrach, Julia, The City in a Garden: A Photographic History of Chicago's Parks Second Ed. (Center for American Places - Center Books on American Places)
Chicago: Columbia College Chicago Press; 2nd Edition, 2012.
Botts, Lee, and Bruce Krushelnicki. The Great Lakes: An Environmental Atlas & Resource Book. Washington: US EPA & Environment, 1988.
Burnham, Daniel, and Bennett, Edward. Plan of Chicago. Princeton Architectural Press, 1993.
Cassidy, Victor. Henry Chandler Cowles, Pioneer Ecologist. Chicago: Kedzie Sigel Press, 2007.
Chaddock, Diane K. Wildflowers of the Dunes: A Guide to the Common Flowering Plants of the Michigan and Indiana Dunes. Baroda, MI: Sand Cress Books, Baroda, 1998.
Chicago, West Park Commission. A Plea for Playgrounds. Chicago: Special Park Commission, 1905.
Chicago Park District, Special Collections. Chicago Park District Offices, Chicago, IL.
Christy, Stephen F. “The Growth of an Artist: Jens Jensen and Landscape Architecture.” Master’s thesis. Dept. of Landscape Architecture. University of Wisconsin, 1976.
Collier, Malcolm. “Jens Jensen and Columbus Park.” Chicago History 4, no. 4 (Winter) 1975.
Condit, Carl. The Chicago School of Architecture: A History of Commercial and Public Building in the Chicago Area, 1875-1925. Chicago: University Of Chicago Press, 1998.
Cronon, William. Nature's Metropolis: Chicago and the Great West. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1992.
Dabbert, James R., and J. Ronald Engel. The INDIANA DUNES REVEALED: The Art of Frank V. Dudley. University of Illinois Press, 2006.
Domer, Dennis (ed.). Alfred Caldwell: The Life and Work of a Prairie School Landscape Architect. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1997.
Eaton, Leonard K. Landscape Artist in America: The Life and Work of Jens Jensen. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1964.
Engel, J. Ronald. Sacred Sands: The Struggle for Community in the Indiana Dunes. Wesleyan, 1986.
Farr, Doug. Sustainable Urbanism: Urban Design With Nature. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 2007.
Franklin, Kay and Norma Schaeffer. Duel for the Dunes: Land Use Conflict on the Shores of Lake Michigan. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1983.
Friends of Our Native Landscape (FONL). Proposed Park Areas in the State of Illinois: A Report with Recommendations. Chicago: Friends of Our Native Landscape, 1921.
Fulkerson, Mertha, and Ada Corson. The Story of The Clearing. Chicago: Coach House Press, 1972.
Grese, Robert E. “Abstractions of Nature: Jensen Designed to Uplift the Spirit at the Eleanor and Edsel Ford Estate.” Garden Design. Autumn, 1988.
Grese, Robert E. Jens Jensen Maker of Parks and Gardens (Creating the North American Landscape). Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998.
Grese, Robert E. The Native Landscape Reader (Critical Perspectives in the History of Environmental Design) Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 2011.
Jacobs, Jane. The Death and Life of Great American Cities. Modern Library, 1993.
Jensen, Jens. Siftings. Chicago: Ralph Fletcher Seymour, 1939.
Jensen, Jens. A Greater West Park System. Chicago: West Park Commission, 1920.
Hales, Peter B. Silver Cities: Photographing American Urbanization, 1839-1939. University of New Mexico Press, 1980.
Hales, Peter B. “The Hidden Hand: Jacob Riis’s Photographs.” College Art Association. New York, 1982.
Hales, Peter B. William Henry Jackson and the Transformation of the American Landscape. Temple University Press, 1996.
Hasbrouck, Wilbert. The Chicago Architectural Club: Prelude to the Modern. Chicago: The Monacelli Press, 2005.
Knight, Louise W. Citizen: Jane Addams and the Struggle for Democracy. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2006.
Knudson, Berta. Abraham Lincoln Memorial Gardens Memoir. University of Illinois at Springfield Library Special Collections, 1975.
Lincoln Highway Association. The Lincoln Highway: The Story of a Crusade That Made Transportation History. New York: Dodd, Mead and Co., 1935.
Mather, Stephen. Report On the Proposed Sand Dunes National Park, Indiana. United States Dept. of The Interior. National Park Service. Nabu Press, 2010.
Mayer, Harold M., and Richard C. Wade. Chicago: Growth of a Metropolis. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1973.
Miller, Donald L. City of the Century: The Epic of Chicago and the Making of America. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1997.
Miller, Wilhelm. “The Prairie Style of Landscape Architecture.” Architectural Record 40, no. 6 (December), 1916.
Maloney, Cathy. Chicago Gardens: The Early History. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2008.
Maloney, Cathy. The Gardener’s Cottage in Riverside, Illinois: Living in a "Small Masterpiece" by Frank Lloyd Wright, Jens Jensen, and Frederick Law Olmsted. Chicago: Columbia College Chicago Press, 2010.
Morrison, Darrel. Afterward to Siftings (American Land Classics). Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1990.
The Morton Arboretum. Special Collections. Jens Jensen Archive.
Oakley, Stewart. A Short History of Denmark. New York: Praeger Publishers, 1972.
Pacyga, Dominic A. Chicago: A Biography. Chicago: University Of Chicago Press; 1 edition, 2011.
Prairie Club Archives. Thomas Memorial Library, Chesterton, Ind.
Rordam, Thomas. The Danish Folk Schools. Copenhagen: Der Danske Selskab, 1980.
Russell, Virginia L. “You Dear Old Prima Donna: The Letters of Frank Lloyd Wright and Jens Jensen.” Landscape Journal, vol. 20 no. 2, (January), 2001.
Smith, Carl. The Plan of Chicago: Daniel Burnham and the Remaking of the American City (Chicago Visions and Revisions). Chicago: University Of Chicago Press, 2007.
Smithson, Robert. “Frederick Law Olmsted and the Dialectical Landscape.” Artforum 11 (February) 1973.
Sullivan, Louis. The Autobiography of an Idea. New York: Press of the American Institute of Architects, 1924.
Takemoto, Patricia Akiko. “The Clearing: The Growth and Survival of an American Adult Education Institution in the Danish Folk School Tradition.” Ph.D. diss., Northern Illinois University, De Kalb, 1987.
Tishler, William H. (ed.) Midwestern Landscape Architecture. De Kalb: University of Illinois Press, 2004.
Tishler, William H. (ed.) American Landscape Architecture: Designers and Places. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1988.
Tishler, William H. and Erik M. Ghenoui. "Conservation pioneers: Jens Jensen and the Friends of our Native Landscape" Wisconsin Magazine Of History. 86: 4, 2002-2003.
Twombly, Robert C. "Frank Lloyd Wright: His Life and Architecture" New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1979.
Wille, Lois, "Forever Open, Clear, and Free: The Historic Struggle for Chicago’s Lakefront. Chicago" Henry Regnery Co., 1972.