ASLA 2024 Student Urban Design Award of Excellence. Siaya Eco-Park: A Vision for a Green, Inclusive Hub in Siaya’s Heart. Caroline Schoeller, Associate ASLA; Johanny Bonilla Jimenez; Michelle Syl Yeng; Leechen Zhu. Faculty Advisors: David Gouverneur; Catherine Seavitt Nordenson, FASLA; Thabo Lenneiye. The University of Pennsylvania Stuart Weitzman School of Design
ASLA bestows Student Awards in the following categories:
General Design
Residential Design
Urban Design
Analysis & Planning
Communications
Research
Student Community Service Award
Student Collaboration
In each of these categories, juries select a number of Honor Awards and may select one Award of Excellence.
Registration must be received no later than 11:59 PM PST on April 25, 2025. Submissions are due no later than 11:59 PM PST on Friday, May 9, 2025.
Award recipients receive featured coverage in Landscape Architecture Magazine and will be honored at a special Awards Presentation ceremony at the ASLA 2025 Conference on Landscape Architecture, held October 10-13 in New Orleans, Louisiana.
FAQs:
Do I need to be a member of ASLA? Yes, individuals must be a member to submit for an ASLA Student Award. But student membership is free for students that qualify for student, student affiliate, or international student membership. Complete your application.
What is the entry fee? The fee is $80 for each submission.
The assessment details the amounts and sources of greenhouse gas emissions generated in 2023 by ASLA operations. This total includes electricity use, magazine printing and shipping, business travel, employee commuting, waste produced, and more. These emissions add up to 320.5 metric tonnes.
ASLA Center for Landscape Architecture / Halkin Mason Photography, courtesy of ASLA
To put that in perspective, the average U.S. home produces approximately one metric tonne of emissions monthly via its electricity use in regions where coal or gas generates power.
“We are demonstrating our climate leadership by being transparent about our impacts. We want to show our members and partners where we are in our journey to zero emissions by 2040. Cutting emissions makes great economic and environmental sense. Let’s learn from each other and move faster together,” said ASLA President Kona Gray, FASLA, PLA.
2023 Operations Baseline
This 2023 assessment was developed in partnership with Honeycomb Strategies, a sustainability consulting company. The company and ASLA team cooperated to collect extensive and complete data:
business travel and commuting data,
energy used and waste generated from the ASLA Center for Landscape Architecture, the organization’s LEED Platinum- and Well Gold-certified headquarters,
Of the total 320.5 metric tonnes, ASLA headquarters emitted 124.5 tonnes, or 39 percent, and LAM emitted 196 tonnes, or 61 percent.
Courtesy of ASLA
The assessment for LAM covered the creation and online use of the magazine. By requesting extensive emissions data, ASLA introduced new carbon estimation and measurement practices to its partners. These kinds of requests encourage greater transparency and efficiency in the printing supply chain.
Courtesy of ASLA
The calculations for the Center’s emissions included such factors as electricity use, employee commuting, and business travel.
ASLA Center for Landscape Architecture / Halkin Mason Photography, courtesy of ASLA
The Center used 170,000 kilowatt hours (kWh) of electricity or 13.4 kWh per square foot – substantially below the 16.9 kWh average annual electricity consumption per square foot for administrative office space, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).
Courtesy of ASLA
ASLA employees commuted to the office 3,882 times, covering 105,000 miles.
69 percent of trips by car
27 percent by public transit (train, subway, bus)
4 percent by foot or bike
ASLA employees traveled 228,000 miles on business trips
96 percent of trips by plane
ASLA produced an estimated 7,280 pounds of waste
71 percent of waste went to the landfill and 29 percent was recycled
Reduction Actions
As the 2023 data was collected, ASLA implemented new strategies to reduce emissions in 2024 and beyond. To reduce its emissions this year, ASLA implemented these strategies:
Purchased renewable energy credits for 100 percent of the ASLA Center’s energy use.
Promoted benefits and incentives for low-carbon commuting.
Issued new policies to lessen the effect of business travel.
Updated procurement policies to encourage locally sourced and 75 percent vegetarian meals for staff and member events hosted by ASLA at the Center.
“These policies help us decarbonize our operations and serve as an example for other organizations,” said ASLA CEO Torey Carter-Conneen, Hon. ASLA. “This assessment caused us to look into all aspects of our operations to see where we can lower our footprint and save money in the process. We share our impacts so other organizations can see what to track to cut their emissions.”
To empower other organizations and companies to make these changes, ASLA published Towards Zero Emission Business Operations. The guide is designed to help landscape architecture firms of all sizes navigate the transition to zero-emission offices more easily.
It outlines more than 110 strategies landscape architecture firms can implement to reduce their business and project greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 50 to 65 percent by 2030 and achieve zero emissions by 2040.
Next steps
In the first quarter of 2025, ASLA will release its 2024 business operations impact assessment with a list of actions to be taken in 2025 to further reduce emissions.
ASLA 2024 Professional General Design Honor Award. The Bay: “One Park for All” in Sarasota, Sarasota, Florida. Agency Landscape + Planning / HAPS agency / Michael Todoran
ASLA is now accepting submissions for its 2025 Professional Awards Program.
ASLA bestows Professional Awards in the following categories:
General Design
Residential Design
Urban Design
Analysis & Planning, which includes the ASLA/IFLA Global Impact Award
Communications
Research
In each of these categories, juries select a number of Honor Awards and may select one Award of Excellence. One Landmark Award is also presented each year.
Registration must be received no later than 11:59 PM PST on February 19, 2025. Submissions are due no later than 11:59 PM PST on Friday, March 7, 2025.
Award recipients receive featured coverage in Landscape Architecture Magazine and will be honored at a special Awards Presentation ceremony at the ASLA 2025 Conference on Landscape Architecture, held October 10-13 in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Important Update:
In January, ASLA will launch an upgraded membership system to better serve you and make managing your account smoother and more efficient. To make these changes, we anticipate some scheduled system downtime in January. All systems will be back to normal before the January 31 awards registration deadline.
However, we encourage everyone to register before December 31, 2024, to ensure your registration is confirmed without delay.
FAQs:
Do I need to be a member of ASLA? Yes, individuals must be a member to submit for an ASLA Award.
What is the entry fee? The fee is $400 for each submission. $125 for each ASLA Landmark Award submission.
Landscape architects Kotchakorn Voraakhom, International ASLA, and Pamela Conrad, ASLA, lead a workshop on implementing nature-based solutions at COP29. / Steffi Schüppel
By Pamela Conrad
Last month, global leaders convened in Baku, Azerbaijan, for the 29th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP29). Dubbed the “Finance COP,” this year’s summit focused on increasing access to climate finance.
The most significant milestone was the adoption of the New Collective Quantified Goal, a historic commitment to channel $300 billion in financing to developing countries by 2035. These funds will help these countries build low-emission economies and adapt to the intensifying impacts of climate change.
Another key takeaway: the increasing global recognition of nature-based solutions as critical tools for addressing climate challenges. The U.S. government underscored this by endorsing the COP29 Declaration on Multisectoral Actions Pathways to Resilient and Healthy Cities. It promotes urban climate action l through integrating these solutions with disaster resilience, sustainable buildings, green jobs, and clean technologies.
These outcomes point to a growing international consensus on the importance of nature-based solution policies, resources, and approaches to combat the climate crisis. But much more financing is needed to scale up these solutions worldwide. The World Bank estimates that $2.4 trillion is needed per year by 2030 to meet climate goals, approximately four times what is currently invested.
Why We Still Must Communicate the Value of Nature-Based Solutions
As someone who has attended several COP conferences over the years, I’ve seen more buzz about nature-based solutions. But there’s a disconnect. While people talk about these solutions enthusiastically, few truly understand what they are. Many will point to mangroves as an example—and they’re not wrong—but these solutions are so much more.
Nature-based solutions work with natural ecosystems to address pressing challenges like climate change, biodiversity loss, and social inequities. They can be implemented in urban and rural areas and at any scale of development.
These solutions include strategies such as restoring wetlands to manage flooding, integrating green roofs in cities to reduce heat, and creating sustainable urban forests to improve air quality. The brilliance of these solutions lies in their multifaceted benefits. They deliver environmental, economic, and social advantages simultaneously.
ASLA 2021 Professional General Design Honor Award. From a Concrete Bulkhead Riverbank to a Vibrant Shoreline Park—Suining South Riverfront Park. Suining City, Sichuan Province, China. ECOLAND Planning and Design Corp. / Arch-Exist Photography
When people see these strategies in action, it’s often a revelation. Suddenly, the abstract concept becomes tangible, and a lightbulb moment occurs. For instance, when attendees at past COP events saw how these solutions could transform landscapes, enhance community resilience, and reduce costs, their enthusiasm shifted into action.
The WORKS with NATURE guide highlights one hundred low-carbon adaptation techniques from around the world. / GREENinc landscape architecture, South Africa
The Urgent Need for New Kinds of Infrastructure
The stakes could not be higher. By 2050, 75 percent of the infrastructure we’ll rely on has yet to be built. Meanwhile, without adaptation measures, an estimated 800 million people will be vulnerable to coastal flooding by mid-century. Traditional infrastructure, built primarily with concrete and steel, is not only costly but also carbon-intensive, contributing to the climate crisis we’re trying to solve.
Fortunately, we can shift from traditional gray infrastructure to nature-based solutions, which often cost significantly less and emits a fraction of the greenhouse gases. For every dollar spent on these solutions, the return on investment is roughly fourfold, thanks to benefits like flood mitigation, cleaner air, and increased biodiversity. According to estimates by The Nature Conservancy, these solutions could account for up to 30 percent of the carbon sequestration needed by 2030 to limit global warming to 1.5°C.
Bass River Park, Cape Cod, Massachusetts. STOSS Landscape Urbanism / MILLICENT HARVEY
These solutions make economic, environmental, and social sense. At COP29, this vision inspired a landscape architect-led workshop aimed at helping nations embrace nature-based solutions through practical guidance, shared experiences, and collaborative problem-solving.
How We Can Integrate Nature-Based Solutions into National Adaptation Plans
Adefires Worku Gizaw shares implementation lessons from the Ethiopian Forestry Development and the Green Legacy Initiative. / Kotchakorn Voraakhom
Representatives highlighted their countries’ efforts to integrate nature-based solutions into National Adaptation Plans (NAPs). To date, 60 NAPs have been developed globally, with the rest of UN nations to launch their plans by the end of 2025. Each developing country receives $3 million to support the creation of their plans, which guide adaptation priorities tailored to local needs and challenges.
The workshop included a collaborative activity where leaders reflected on pressing challenges, potential solutions, and support needed to implement nature-based solutions effectively. They told us that their countries face a set of pressing challenges:
Food security and agriculture vulnerabilities
Increasing heat in urban areas
Water and sanitation crises
Flooding and sea-level rise
Livelihood disruptions and cultural heritage preservation
Urban climate resilience
Their countries also experience many barriers to implementing nature-based solutions:
Coordination difficulties and conflicting interests among stakeholders
Lack of landscape-based systematic solutions
Limited technical capacity to design and implement nature-based solutions
Absence of validation and valuation frameworks
Conflicts with existing regulations and compliance mandates
Insufficient political support and unclear governance
The leaders then identified ways to overcome these barriers:
Building capacity to develop adaptation plans and projects featuring nature-based solutions
Creating interdisciplinary advisory boards with unified goals
Developing policies that integrate these solutions into broader national strategies
Facilitating workshops to engage stakeholders and align priorities\
Enhancing coordination across sectors to break down silos
And they stated more support is needed in key areas:
Technical training and capacity building for implementing agencies
Awareness campaigns targeting policymakers and communities
Tools and technologies for monitoring and evaluation
De-risking nature-based solutions investments through validation studies
Political commitment and willingness to adopt these solutions
Landscape architect and IFLA representative Indra Purs synthesizes feedback from the workshop. / Pamela Conrad
Adao Soares Barbosa, the Vice Chair of the UN NAP / Least Developed Countries Technical Expert Group closed the event, saying: “I hope this guide and workshop inspires nations with technical guidance for implementing nature-based solutions. Sharing lessons learned between developed and developing countries is essential.”
To bridge this gap, we need robust policies, innovative financing mechanisms, and consistent performance evaluations to demonstrate these solutions’ effectiveness and economic benefits. ASLA’s recent briefs on the economic benefits of nature-based solutions is just the start of an ambitious economic research agenda that will support increased investment. Collaboration between policymakers, landscape architects, and communities will be key to scaling up these solutions and ensuring that nature plays a central role in building a sustainable future.
The path forward is clear: let’s invest in nature to secure a resilient, equitable, and thriving world for generations to come. COP29 may have concluded, but its outcomes will guide us as we tackle the challenges and embrace the opportunities ahead.
Pamela Conrad, ASLA, PLA, LEED AP is a licensed landscape architect, the founder of Climate Positive Design, faculty at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design, and ASLA’s inaugural Biodiversity and Climate Fellow. She was the chair and lead author of ASLA’s Climate Action Plan, 2019 LAF Fellow, 2023 Harvard Loeb Fellow and currently serves as IFLA’s Climate and Biodiversity Working Group Vice-Chair, World Economic Forum’s Nature-Positive Cities Task Force Expert, Carbon Leadership Forum ECHO Steering Committee, and is an Architecture 2030 Senior Fellow.
The Phillip Island Penguin Parade visitor center in Victoria, Australia, restores the surrounding ecosystem while providing an up-close experience for viewing penguin migration. / @phillip island nature parks, Underground Viewing Penguin Parade
The term biodiversity – which means the variety of all life on Earth – is new to many. But it has been present in the work of landscape architects for decades.
There are key ways we can increase biodiversity:
Preserve
The simple importance of preserving biological life cannot be overstated. Much of the developed world’s historic response to impacting ecosystems has been mitigation. Yes, before it was a term used in reference to climate change.
It means that if you impact an ecosystem for whatever you want, all you need to do is relocate and recreate it in another location. No big deal, right?! Wrong.
Ecologists and biologists know that this is not as simple as it sounds. There are many difficulties, resulting in a low success rate for ecosystem regeneration.
The preservation of Sacred Groves around the world can serve as inspiration for our efforts. They are areas of natural forest that contain rare collections of plants and animals. They are preserved by local communities due to their religious beliefs. Focusing on them holds great potential for the preservation of biological diversity and ecological functions and maintaining cultural ritual and belief systems.
Sacred Groves have historically been a shared resource connected to culturally-based conservation strategies. They are where people engage in practices combining botanicals, ritual, music, and dance that call upon natural energies, cultivating awareness.
As cities densify, the preservation of these places is increasingly threatened. But urban nature is at the root of many spiritual traditions so they must be protected.
Restore
Preservation is best, but we should take every opportunity to restore ecosystems where we can.
Working with ecologists and biologists is key to understanding the nuanced details — from soil regeneration to species selection, and planting arrangements that support habitable conditions.
We can apply some key strategies, like incorporating native plants, flower- and food-producing species, and structural diversity in terms of plant arrangement. These are outlined in ASLA’s Climate Action Field Guide and the Climate Positive Design Toolkit.
These approaches are evident in Tract’s project, Penguin Parade Visitor Center. After acquiring the Summerland Estate in Phillip Island, Victoria, a landmark conservation decision in Australia, the historic peninsula was carefully planned to enhance and restore native wildlife habitat. Home to the renowned Penguin Parade, the project applied a “first principles” approach to design, significantly expanding habitats and adding new penguin viewing facilities. (See image above)
The focus was on creating a memorable experience when penguins return from the sea to their burrows. From specially designed viewing platforms, guests can get a closer look at the penguins without interfering with their natural routines. The boardwalks are thoughtfully integrated into the natural surroundings and incorporate a lighting design that provides a safe viewing experience.
Connect and Create
Harkening back to Richard Foreman’s Land Mosaics, a book still on my shelf since landscape architecture grad school, I am reminded of the simple terms that outline the interconnection of habitats.
Habitat “patches” are areas of suitable habitat for species, while a “corridor” is a narrow strip of habitat that connects isolated habitat patches. Continuity and connectivity of corridors are critical to maintain, create, or restore healthy and resilient ecosystems.
Freeways, highways, and roads fragment and disrupt wildlife habitats, damage natural systems, and endanger both people and animals. In the U.S., 1 to 2 million wildlife-vehicle collisions occur each year, which has resulted in $8 billion in damages and around 200 human deaths from deer-related accidents.
To address these issues and reconnect fragmented habitats affordably, the Center for Large Landscape Conservation introduced the Animal Road Crossing (ARC) International Wildlife Crossing Infrastructure Design Competition.
The ‘Hypar-nature’ Wildlife Bridge by Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates is a unique single-span habitat bridge that uses prefabricated concrete modules. This connection extends the existing habitat across the bridge and over the traffic below by creating a vaulted structure with distinct habitat bands that create multiple zones to safely guide a variety of animals across.
The design includes forms that are easy to replicate and produce in a cost-effective way, minimize site disruption, and adapt to changing migration patterns.
Land bridges provide safe passage for wildlife while connecting habitats. Gathering Place, Tulsa, Oklahoma, Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates / Scott Shigley
In 2020, the Montreal COP15 paved the way for adopting the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, setting four goals, including protecting at least 30 percent of the world’s land and ocean by 2030.
Other initiatives have emerged, including supporting the UN Decade of Ecosystem Restoration through biodiversity-positive projects that achieve at least 10 percent biodiversity net gain (BNG). This is in line with the UK’s mandate for a 10 percent increase from pre-development biodiversity levels. All of these are targets in ASLA’s Climate Action Plan.
The recently launched Pathfinder 3.0 now guides landscape designs on biodiversity. Projects can have positive or negative impacts.
We must prioritize these goals in our designs:
Protect existing ecosystems
Restore native and ecologically appropriate ecosystems
Design planting based upon the plant communities and habitats of the local eco-region
Project teams should include ecologists to make field observations of a pre-construction site and provide nuanced information and guidance. To encourage biodiversity-positive planning, design, and engineering, the new Pathfinder 3.0 includes some basic biodiversity impact calculations outlined in a Methodology Report and User Guide.
As always, this is a work in progress, and there is much more to be done. But one step forward is the first step in making positive change.
Pamela Conrad, ASLA, PLA, LEED AP is a licensed landscape architect, the founder of Climate Positive Design, faculty at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design, and ASLA’s inaugural Biodiversity and Climate Fellow. She was the chair and lead author of ASLA’s Climate Action Plan, 2019 LAF Fellow, 2023 Harvard Loeb Fellow and currently serves as IFLA’s Climate and Biodiversity Working Group Vice-Chair, World Economic Forum’s Nature-Positive Cities Task Force Expert, Carbon Leadership Forum ECHO Steering Committee, and is an Architecture 2030 Senior Fellow.
ASLA 2019 Professional General Design Honor Award. Hunter’s Point South Waterfront Park Phase II: A New Urban Ecology. Long Island City, NY. SWA/BALSLEY and WEISS/MANFREDI with ARUP / copyright Vecerka/ESTO, courtesy SWA/BALSLEY and WEISS/MANFREDI
Leading global design firm heads with collective $350 million annual revenues pledge company goals, call on governments to strengthen climate commitments
By David Ringer
“They’re already designing resilient waterfronts, parks that soak up stormwater, and urban forests that take greenhouse gasses out of the atmosphere and cool our cities,” says Torey Carter-Conneen, CEO of American Society of Landscape Architects
26 CEOs representing the world’s largest and most influential landscape architecture firms released a public letter committing their firms to achieve the goals laid out in the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) Climate Action Plan, most notably a commitment to make landscape architecture a zero-emissions profession by 2040.
The firms signing onto the letter have designed many of the most-visited parks, public plazas, stadium grounds, waterfronts, and transportation corridors across the United States and around the world, representing tens of billions of dollars of public and private infrastructure.
The letter reads in part: “Because we work so closely with land and water, landscape architects are natural leaders in designing climate-resilient communities—from stormwater management to green infrastructure to sustainable transportation to biodiversity conservation. Every day, we design nature-based solutions to help build communities that are more resilient to extreme weather, more equitable for everyone, and more supportive of human health and wellness.”
The letter expresses key business commitments: “We publicly and expressly endorse, support, and commit to the goals articulated in the ASLA Climate Action Plan, which sets specific and extraordinarily ambitious goals for the profession of landscape architecture to become a zero-emission profession by 2040, including in our business operations, designed landscapes, and the materials and products used in our work.”
The businesses represented on the letter collectively do more than $350 million in revenues annually and lead or contribute to projects with more than $1 billion in construction value annually. Their work influences millions of acres in more than 50 countries every year.
“Leaders of more than two dozen top-tier firms that influence billions of dollars in infrastructure spending and millions of acres of land have just pledged to make their profession zero emissions by 2040—this is a really big deal,” said American Society of Landscape Architects CEO Torey Carter-Conneen.
“These are people who have the skills and imagination to make it happen: They’re already designing resilient waterfronts, parks that soak up stormwater, and urban forests that take greenhouse gasses out of the atmosphere and cool our cities. Landscape architects know how to get it done. Every sector of the economy has to tackle climate resilience, and landscape architects will do their part.”
The CEOs called on governments, clients, and peers in the closing section of the letter, writing in part: “We call on our colleagues in allied disciplines to partner with us in designing and implementing solutions. We call on leaders in government at every level to prioritize resilience, emissions reductions, and human wellbeing in their policymaking. We call on our clients to be bold and curious as we design the future together.”
Discover how landscape architects are helping to protect Lower Manhattan from climate impacts through design. Learn about some of the most cutting-edge coastal risk reduction projects.
This free discussion on September 24 at 6 PM EST features Molly Bourne, ASLA, Principal, MNLA; Gonzalo Cruz, Vice President and Principal of Design, Landscape and Urban Design, AECOM; Greta Ruedisueli, ASLA, Associate, SCAPE; and Rachel Claire Wilkins, Affil. ASLA, Senior Landscape Designer, BIG/CSM.
After Superstorm Sandy, Manhattan below 14th street was without power for weeks. Storm surge flooded buildings and caused widespread infrastructure failures.
The Lower Manhattan Coastal Resiliency (LMCR) Project, NY, NY / Bjarke Ingels Group
These are coastal protection initiatives aimed at reducing flood risk from coastal storms and sea level rise. They seek to increase resilience while preserving access to the waterfront and integrating public space.
As part of this new infrastructure, landscape architects are playing a critical role in combining flood defense with exciting new open space. We are integrating new infrastructure into the city’s fabric and harnessing nature.
The East Side Coastal Resiliency Project – along with other resilience efforts in Battery Park City, South Street Seaport, and the Financial District – are now well underway.
The East Side Coastal Resiliency Project in construction / MNLA
Living Breakwaters designed by SCAPE Landscape Architecture, shown installed along the South Shore of Staten Island, New York / Baird, courtesy of SCAPE
By Pamela Conrad
It’s that time of year again: students and their families are busy preparing for the start of school, while some of us are gearing up to step in front of the classroom.
While preparing to teach an intro course on climate, I’m reminded of why we use the term climate change and not global warming. Yes, the Earth is warming from a thickening layer of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere caused by us. But climate changes range from sea level rise to increasing storms, floods, fires, and drought, which are all negatively impacting biodiversity as well. So, not just warming.
Recent storms that battered the eastern U.S. coast and Bermuda remind us of this difference. While some communities face extreme heat, others brace for storms and rising waters, and many face multiple impacts.
Elevating flood protection was perhaps the first way landscape architects began designing climate change solutions. Many have been working on flood management for their entire career. I first engaged in this work at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers some 20 years ago. Over the past decade, my focus shifted to coastal adaptation projects, like the San Francisco Waterfront Resilience Program, Depave Park, and Treasure Island. They taught me that designing for unprecedented storms and rising seas requires a new tool bag, belt, and a whole new set of tools.
Much of our work as landscape architects focuses on designing adaptations. When designing with nature, we can create adaptations that reduce emissions and costs and increase benefits for ecosystems and communities. We’ve also learned new ways to engage community members and support them in gaining resources for self-determination when facing these risks.
Designing for Rising Waters
For the Rebuild by Design competition in the tri-state area, which was a response to Superstorm Sandy, the landscape architecture firm SCAPE developed the clever living breakwater technique. It’s an offshore approach that reduces the impact of intense waves on communities during coastal storms while benefiting ecosystems. Pushing beyond just flood protection, it transforms a typical breakwater approach into an aquatic environment supportive of marine life, including oysters. It also serves as a habitat and refuge for larger species.
In addition to designing this physical and non-traditional infrastructure, SCAPE spent countless hours documenting their approach and negotiating with governments at all levels to get their idea approved. This form of advocacy takes devotion but is required to innovate in this challenging and changing climate.
Living Breakwaters reduce erosion and damage from storm waves while enhancing physical, ecological, and social resilience. / SCAPE Landscape Architecture
Engaging Communities
In San Francisco, a city renowned for its inclusion and celebration of diverse voices, the commitment to openness can sometimes result in lengthy processes and, occasionally, lead to inaction. The team at landscape architecture firm CMG – Kevin Conger, FASLA, in particular – realized that a new model of participatory design was needed to rise to the challenge of increasing coastal flooding.
Rise-Up community engagement informs future adaptations at Crissy Field, San Francisco. / CMG Landscape Architecture
Sharing scientific knowledge in an accessible way to the community
Gathering responses through the hands-on engagement activity called “Game of Floods” where participants use risk maps to come up with adaptation alternatives
Community presentations of their ideas, which ultimately move forward in the design and planning process
The Rise-Up participatory design process includes intentional steps that ultimately lead to design strategies. / Climate Positive Design
The role of the landscape architect is shifting to become both facilitator and listener. This enables us to support more community self-determination. Plans and designs can be rooted in community ideas, which they can fully champion.
One way to complement in-person or online activities is to engage communities where they are. FloMo was developed by landscape architecture firm Bionic for the Resilient by Design Competition: Bay Area Challenge. It engages communities impacted by flooding.
By transporting knowledge and resources via the FloMo van, backyard interactive learning happens at the homes of those most impacted by sea level rise. This approach creates a memorable and informative encounter that prepares those in need for the tough decisions ahead.
The FloMo is a mobile education and awareness vehicle that educates people of the impacts of sea level rise on their community. ASLA 2019 Professional Communications Award of Excellence. The FloMo: A Mobile Messenger for Sea Level Rise. Bionic
Enabling Underserved Communities
The harsh reality is that adaptation will not happen without funding. For historically marginalized, underserved, and under-represented communities, this is a devastating but familiar circumstance.
Landscape architects at Design Jones, LLC offer a model through their work in the Gentilly Neighborhood of New Orleans. Following Hurricane Katrina, they identified ways to prevent future hydraulic system failures. Their insights raised awareness that adaptations need to happen within inland communities, not just along the coast, to safeguard against future flooding.
After Hurricane Katrina, the Gentilly Neighborhood benefited from the formation of a “Resilience District”, funding, and education. / Community Adaptation Program in Gentilly, New Orleans, Louisiana, Design Jones, LLC
Forming the first resilience district in New Orleans, the city and redevelopment authority prioritized a new Community Adaptation Program with $141 million from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. This program distributes funds directly to homeowners, supporting the design and construction of green infrastructure in their own backyards. This reduces stormwater from entering the surrounding urban waterways, which will continue to experience more intense storms.
Going Global
While these initiatives may not be new, they are steadily becoming more mainstream. One outcome of the UN Global Stocktake in 2023 is that all countries will be developing National Adaptation Plans (NAPs) by 2025 and are required to show significant implementation progress by 2030.
We can contribute lessons learned from our work in this space. By sharing this knowledge, we can help many countries without landscape architects or in-country technical expertise and those that are just beginning to develop their NAPs.
To support this, I am developing Supplementary Material to the UN NAP Technical Guidelines, which will be shared as a resource at COP29 and is the product of my ASLA Biodiversity and Climate Fellowship this year. During the conference, Kotchakorn Voraakhom, Intl. ASLA, and I will be workshopping these strategies with country leaders helping to develop implementation roadmaps with a goal of overcoming unique regional challenges.
More Support Needed
There is positive momentum to implement more nature-based adaptations, but we need support to change the business-as-usual mindset. The U.S. federal government has lifted up nature-based solutions. Community-based education programs like the Envision Resilience Challenge are becoming more common. And there are resources like Landscape Architecture for Sea Level Rise being published. We are making progress.
But when students from other schools still come up to me to say, “I wish I was learning more about climate change,” it means we have a ways to go. Nature-based solutions are documented to be approximately 70% more cost effective than gray infrastructure. However, most nature-based climate adaptation is not funded despite the fact that 800 million people will be affected by coastal flooding by 2050.
More studies and research to prove the effectiveness of these solutions and more built projects will get us there. But we will all need to do our part.
Pamela Conrad, ASLA, PLA, LEED AP is a licensed landscape architect, the founder of Climate Positive Design, faculty at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design, and ASLA’s inaugural Biodiversity and Climate Fellow. She was the chair and lead author of ASLA’s Climate Action Plan, 2019 LAF Fellow, 2023 Harvard Loeb Fellow and currently serves as IFLA’s Climate and Biodiversity Working Group Vice-Chair, World Economic Forum’s Nature-Positive Cities Task Force Expert, Carbon Leadership Forum ECHO Steering Committee, and is an Architecture 2030 Senior Fellow.
ASLA 2024 Student Urban Design Award of Excellence. Siaya Eco-Park: A Vision for a Green, Inclusive Hub in Siaya’s Heart. Caroline Schoeller, Associate ASLA; Johanny Bonilla Jimenez; Michelle Syl Yeng; Leechen Zhu. Faculty Advisors: David Gouverneur; Catherine Seavitt Nordenson, FASLA; Thabo Lenneiye. The University of Pennsylvania Stuart Weitzman School of Design
By Lisa Hardaway
ASLA has announced its 2024 Student Awards. Winners showcase innovation and represent the highest level of achievement among the future of the profession. The 38 winners were chosen out of 382 entries.
Jury panels representing a broad cross-section of the profession, from the public and private sectors, and academia, select winners each year and are listed below.
“The passion and creativity demonstrated by these student award winners is inspiring,” said ASLA President SuLin Kotowicz, FASLA, PLA. “I’m so proud of the excellence on display and excited for the future of the profession. Our student-leaders are dedicated not only to advancing the field of landscape architecture but bringing people and nature together.”
“What an incredible display of talent,” said ASLA CEO Torey Carter-Conneen. “I’m so proud of the talent and advocacy at the heart of these projects because they reflect a deep commitment to tackle the thorny issues communities face.”
ASLA 2024 Student General Design Award of Excellence. Restoring Elba’s Pea River Through Dam Revitalization. Elba, Alabama. Chase Hoytink, Student ASLA; Faculty Advisors: Frank Hu; Auburn University
General Design
Award of Excellence
Restoring Elba’s Pea River Through Dam Revitalization
Auburn University
Honor Award
Longleaf Pine, Fire, Prospect Bluff
University of Virginia
Honor Award
Just Land
Harvard University Graduate School of Design
Honor Award
Rebirth of Bald Cypress: Uniting Restoration & Community Rejuvenation
Soochow University
Honor Award
The Long Marsh Forward: Adaptive Regeneration of Belville’s Riverfront
North Carolina State University
Honor Award
The Inner Coast
Harvard University Graduate School of Design
Residential Design
Honor Award
Eco-booster: Sustainable Solutions for Ibagué’s Vulnerable Communities
The University of Pennsylvania Stuart Weitzman School of Design
Honor Award
Mitigating Extreme Urban Heat in the Neighborhoods of Jeddah
The Ohio State University
Urban Design
Award of Excellence
Siaya Eco-Park: A Vision for a Green, Inclusive Hub in Siaya’s Heart
The University of Pennsylvania Stuart Weitzman School of Design
Honor Award
Unity Oasis: Promoting Equality, Nurturing Racial Healing in Cape Town
Soochow University
Honor Award
Fluid Fiesta: Blending Rainfall and Terrain Dynamics with Landscapes
Soochow University
Honor Award
From Remnants to Resonance: Reimagine Coastal Fishing Villages
National University of Singapore
Honor Award
Stitching Kingston, Community to Coast
The University of Pennsylvania Stuart Weitzman School of Design
Honor Award
Riverside Revival: Urban Design Strategies for Coastal Development
North Carolina State University
Analysis & Planning
Award of Excellence
The Embers of the Rainbow
Xi’an University of Architecture and Technology
Honor Award
Sprouting from the Scar: Seed – Biochar – Reforestation
The University of Pennsylvania Stuart Weitzman School of Design
Honor Award
Migratory bird networks & urban networks: From conflict to coexistence
Gachon University
Honor Award
Hops Rescue Plan: Nature-based Solutions response to Climate Change
Beijing Forestry University, Harvard University, Beijing University Of Civil Engineering And Architecture
Honor Award
Community Cycle: a solution to dike-pond landscape simplification
South China University of Technology
ASLA 2024 Student Collaboration Award of Excellence. Revitalization of Life. Gaziantep, Gaziantep, Türkiye. Reza Farhadi, Student International ASLA; Maryam Noroozi; Amir Rahsaz, Student International ASLA; Mahshid Delavar; Hengameh Ghasemi, Student International ASLA; Majid Aghazadeh; Faculty Advisors: Mahdi Khansfid; Ahmad Pourahmad, University of Tehran
Student Collaboration
Award of Excellence
Revitalization of Life
University of Tehran
Honor Award
Post-carceral Justice: Reclaiming the Bronx’s Transitional Margins
Harvard Graduate School of Design
Honor Award
Fifty-one Miles: Walking the Los Angeles River
University of Southern California
Honor Award
Bird Sanctuary
Texas A&M University
ASLA 2024 Student Communications Award of Excellence. Where the Street Ends. Seattle, WA. Lily Daniels, Student ASLA; Faculty Advisors: Ken Yocom, ASLA; University of Washington
Communications
Award of Excellence
Where the Street Ends
University of Washington
Honor Award
Designing a Green New Deal at Greenland’s Resource Frontier
The University of Pennsylvania Stuart Weitzman School of Design
Honor Award
Olmsted’s Crown Jewel: An Exhibition Celebrating Franklin Park
Kansas State University
Honor Award
Tracing the Contour of Song Dynasty West Lake
China Academy of Art
Honor Award
Wonderland of Weeds
Harvard Graduate School of Design
Honor Award
Forest Futures: A Collaborative Game for Forest Health
The University of Pennsylvania Stuart Weitzman School of Design
ASLA 2024 Student Research Award of Excellence. Textile Landscapes: The Material Future of Tulare Lake. Corcoran, California. Anna Avdalyan, Associate ASLA; Faculty Advisors: Alison Hirsch; University of Southern California
Research
Award of Excellence
Textile Landscapes: The Material Future of Tulare Lake
University of Southern California School of Architecture
Honor Award
Leveraging the Potential of Spontaneous Pavement Vegetation
University of Guelph
Honor Award
Smart Tree Watering in Southern Arizona’s Urban Environment
University of Arizona
Honor Award
Blight to Benefit: Vacant Lot Greening to Support Ecosystem Services
Kansas State University College of Architecture, Planning & Design
Honor Award
Dynamic Symbiosis: Avian Response to Rapid Urbanization
Southwest University
ASLA 2024 Student Community Service Award of Excellence. Co-creating Urban Gardens: Enhancing the Community Wellbeing. Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, China. Zhihao Zhong, Student International ASLA; Danbing Chen; Feixiang Huang; Lin Liao; Zhenfeng Zhong; Junjie Luo; Faculty Advisors: Meikang Li; Yuda Huo; Zhengji Zeng, Shenzhen Technology University
Student Community Service
Award of Excellence
Co-creating urban gardens: enhancing the community wellbeing
School of Design and Innovation, Shenzhen Technology University
Honor Award
The Allensworth Agricultural Experiment Station
University of Southern California
Honor Award
Circulating Rainwater:Multi-party Rural Landscape Creation
Beijing Jiaotong University
Honor Award
Letitia Carson’s Legacy: Healing Ourselves, Our Community, & Our Land
University of Oregon School of Architecture & Environment
Chair: Aida Curtis, FASLA, Curtis+Rogers Design Studio
Members:
Charles Anderson, FASLA, Charles Anderson Landscape Architecture
Bill Estes, ASLA, MIG, Inc.
David Ferguson, ASLA, Ball State University
Drake Fowler, ASLA, The North Carolina Arboretum
Pamela Palmer, ASLA, ARTECHO Architecture & Landscape Architecture
May So, Intl Associate AIA, Mithun
Lauren Stimson, ASLA, Stimson
Jury 2–Analysis & Planning, Communications, Research & Student Community Service
Chair: Dalton LaVoie, ASLA, Stantec
Members:
Ignacio Lòpez Busòn, ASLA, University of Oregon
Thomas Balsley, FASLA, SWA/Balsley
Travis Brooks, ASLA, Brooks Landscape Architecture
Ashley Clark, Associate AIA, LandDesign
Seth Hendler-Voss, ASLA, Prince William County
Raymond Senes, ASLA, Cal Poly, Pomona
Kate Tooke, ASLA, Agency Landscape + Planning
The Landmark Award is bestowed upon a distinguished landscape architecture project completed between 15 and 50 years ago that retains its original design integrity and contributes many benefits to the surrounding community.
Declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1988, the 3,000-hectare cultural landscape of the Chinampas region is home to a sustainable agriculture system that is prehispanic in origin. The original park project in 1993 and the 2021 rehabilitation was completed in partnership with the city government of Mexico City.
The 277 hectare park is crossed by Anillo Periférico Sur road, bifurcating it into two sections: The northern section with the Plant and Flower Market and the Cuemanco Sports Park, and the southern section where the Xochimilco Ecological Park, including the Huetzalin and Acitlalin lakes, are connected to the broader Xochimilco chinampa area. The park is home to more than 200 species of native and migratory birds and hosts 2.5 million visitors annually.
Since 2004, the wetlands of Xochimilco have been part of the RAMSAR sites list, a designation established by the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance.
“In the midst of the prehispanic ‘Chinampa’ agricultural district, Xochimilco Ecological Park resurges and revitalizes the marvelous biodiversity of the ancestral lacustrian landscape,” said Mario Schjetnan, Founder, Grupo de Diseño Urbano S.C.
“In landscape architecture we talk a lot about honoring the history and cultural significance of the land–and this project is an exceptional example of that principle in action,” said ASLA President SuLin Kotowicz, FASLA, PLA. “Congratulations to Mario and Grupo de Diseño Urbano S.C. and thank you for your dedication and commitment to this iconic landscape.”
The Landmark Award was announced as part of the ASLA 2024 Professional Awards. This year, thirty-nine winners in multiple categories showcase innovation and represent the highest level of achievement in the landscape architecture profession.
Jury 1: General Design, Residential Design, Urban Design & Landmark Award
Chair Jury 1: Jennifer Nitzky, FASLA, Studio HIP
Members:
Michelle Delk, FASLA, Snohetta
Kyle Fiddelke, FASLA, OJB
John Gendall, Chapter Agency
Devon Henry, Hon ASLA, Team Henry Enterprises, LLC
Marc Miller, ASLA, Penn State
Chelina Odbert, Hon. ASLA, Kounkuey Design Initiative
Michele Shelor, ASLA, Colwell Shelor LA
Lance Thies, ASLA, City of Lockport
Jury 2: Analysis & Planning ASLA / IFLA Global Impact Award, Research, Communications & Landmark Award
Chair Jury 2: Glenn LaRue Smith, FASLA, PUSH Studio LLC
Members:
Luis Gonzalez, ASLA, EYA, LLC
Anyeley Hallova, Adre
Rebecca Leonard, ASLA, Lionheart Studio
Frank Edgerton Martin, Frank Edgerton Martin
Mary Pat McGuire, ASLA, University of Illinois
Ramon Murray, FASLA, Murray Design Group
Marion Pressley, FASLA, Pressley Associates
Darneka Waters, ASLA, Mecklenburg County Park and Recreation
IFLA Representative: Monica Pallares, IFLA America Region
CELA Representative: Dongying Li, Texas A&M University
LAF Representative: Austin Allen, ASLA, University of Texas at Arlington
