Program

This presentation will explore the social, emotional, and physiological benefits of connection to the natural world and how these benefits can be translated into design practice in multiple settings by using nature and natural attributes as an environmental “interstitial tissue” to connect architecture, landscape design, and health as fundamental elements of design. It will further address how our strong attraction to nature is increasingly critical in supporting new ways of living with and protecting natural landscapes through the application of “urgent biophilia” approaches. The presentation will integrate theory and research from disparate disciplines including evolutionary psychology, climate science, sensory perceptions, and environmental health. The overall goals are (1) to understand biophilia and biophilic design as central and interactive components of both human and environmental health (2) to show examples of how this knowledge can be a basis for creating biophilic environments that fit the design context.

Speaker: Judith Heerwagen, PhD Psychology

Judith Heerwagen is an environmental psychologist whose work focuses on the relationship between the built environment and human behavior. Prior to joining US General Services Administration in 2010, she had her own consulting business for ten years specializing in sustainable and biophilic design. She has also served as a senior scientist at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and as a research faculty member at the University of Washington where she continues to teach a biophilic design class. At GSA, her work focuses on integrating behavioral science research and approaches into policy and guidance. She has been a member of the US Green Building Council since 1995 and served as vice chair of its research committee. She is coeditor of Biophic Design: The Theory, Science and Practice of Bringing Buildings to Life which won the 2009 Publishers Award for architecture and planning.

Streets comprise more 30% of the land in any given city or town.  These streets should do more than just move vehicles and people.  They are the seams that bring a community together. They are ecological corridors, makeshift ball fields, social hubs, outdoor cafes and the places that neighbors come together.  Historically, Landscape Architects have played an important role in the planning and design of some of the most beautiful and successful streets and highways in the country.  As Landscape Architects, Arterial strives to optimize these important public spaces by studying the culture of the community, land-use, traffic patterns, ecology and more.  We then work with the community to develop a plan and implementation strategy that celebrates these unique qualities.   The result is “Streets That Do More”.

During this session, attendees will learn about the key factors and processes utilized in the planning and design of successful streets and the important role that Landscape Architects play.  This will include an in-depth discussion of the five key performance measures utilized in the assessment of a High-Performance Street: Functionality, Arts + Culture, Health + the Environment, Economic Vitality and Design Quality.  Example projects, at a variety of scales, will be presented and discussed including processes, challenges, role of the Landscape Architect and the results. Example projects will be discussed along with before and after imagery.  Attendees will gain a clear understanding of the important role that streets play in the future of cities and towns.  Further, attendees will better understand the processes required to design “Streets That Do More”

Speaker: David Lustberg, LLA, PP – CEO + Managing Principal, Arterial

Mr. Lustberg is a Landscape Architect, Planner and Urban Designer with more than 20 years of diverse professional experience. This experience ranges from street and plaza design to bicycle/pedestrian planning and redevelopment consulting.  He is the founding partner of Arterial  LLC. Under his leadership the firm become recognized as a leader in the field of planning, design and implementation of High­ Performance Streets – “Streets That Do More™”.  Arterial  LLC has implemented some of the most complex and award-winning street designs in New Jersey. He  is an advocate for the important role that Landscape Architects have and should continue to play in the planning and design of streets, roads and highways.

This discussion will focus on diagnosing, avoiding, and managing the stress on trees and shrubs from abiotic stressors. Included is information about planning new planting sites to reduce abiotic stress.  Use of cultural IPM methods to reduce stress on current plantings will also be covered.  The discussion will include the importance of identifying abiotic stressors is important. The implementation and use of plant growth regulators will also be discussed. 

Speaker: Mark Ware, ISA, Arborologist – Rainbow Ecoscience

Mark Ware is an Arborologist on the Rainbow Ecoscience team, covering the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic region. Mark brings over ten years of experience in arboriculture, plant health care and ornamental horticulture. As an Arborologist, Mark is responsible for providing PHC technical and application training to Rainbow’s clients and their crews. This includes providing technical support and training in Rainbow PHC protocols, research and development of new products and protocols and field training. 

Landscape architects are uniquely situated to design residential projects in sites impacted by ecological disturbance and decline. Wetlands and waterfronts are often impacted by reduced water quality, erosion, and colonies of invasive species. Christopher LaGuardia discusses strategies for designing in these ecologically sensitive areas and discuss how to protect, restore, and enhance the natural environment, while serving the client’s perceived needs.

Speaker: Christopher LaGuardia, PLA, FASLA Founder/Principal, LaGuardia Design Group

Christopher LaGuardia is the managing principal and founder of the LaGuardia Design Group, located in Water Mill NY. A fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects since 2014, he serves on the board of the Cultural Landscape Foundation in Washington DC and currently holds licenses in New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Florida. Chris has lectured widely on the importance of the profession as it relates to climate change at Cornell and Rutgers Universities, The Museum of Modern Art, The Parrish Art Museum and the ASLA National Convention. LaGuardia Design has received numerous national and regional design awards for its work and has been published in many national periodicals and media outlets. The firm works extensively on the East End of Long Island, and in New York City, New England, Florida, the Caribbean, Sun Valley and China.

So you’ve had the soil tested and it’s not good news.  Can plants help remediate your site’s contaminants? Cost-effective phytoremediation (phytotechnology) plantings can be effective in mitigating on-site pollutants, but these interactions are complicated.   When do they work and when don’t they?  What plant species can be used?  There is a lot of confusion around what phytotechnology can and cannot accomplish.  However, with careful research and planning, integrating this relatively new technology into design work can result in huge financial and environmental benefits.  This session will provide the tools to create ‘PHYTO’ landscapes that enhance environmental conditions.  A review of plant species and example projects will be provided.

Speaker: Kate Kennen, RLA ASLA Principal-Offshoots, Inc & Professor-Northeastern University

Kate Kennen is founder of Offshoots, Inc., a Boston, MA landscape architecture and horticultural installation practice focused on productive planting techniques and phytotechnology consulting.  She grew up on her family’s garden center in Massachusetts and has degrees from Cornell University and Harvard’s Graduate School of Design.  Kate’s book, co-authored with Niall Kirkwood, PHYTO:  Principles and Resources for Site Remediation and Landscape Design, received national awards. Kate is also a fulltime faculty member at Northeastern University’s College of Arts, Media and Design teaching landscape technologies and planting design.

In this session, you will receive a basic history on Latino culture. Accessing this type of knowledge will help landscape architects to safely access Latino citizens for design and increase awareness of historical and sociological factors. The benefits of this session are twofold: to introduce you to Latino cultural history and to give you a perspective on concerns and issues to be aware of in your practice.

Mr. Magallanes developed a landscape architecture course to introduce Latino landscape architecture and urbanism into the UNLV curriculum.  This course will be offered again in the Spring 2023.  There  is no better time than the present to take action in education future LA’s in the diversity of cultures that inhabit and shape the places in which we are professionally engaged. 

Speaker: Fernando Magallanes, PLA, ASLA, CELA Associate Professor Emeritus, North Carolina State University

Fernando Magallanes, is Associate Professor Emeritus at North Carolina State University College of Design and a registered landscape architect. He is a graduate of Texas A&M University and the Harvard Graduate School of Design. He has practiced in Texas, Boston, and Raleigh. He was awarded an honorary doctorate from the Universidad de Aquino Bolivia (UDABOL) for his career contributions to teaching and design. He has taught studios in Northern Spain and in Prague. Collaborating with Bolivian Universities and UNLV.

Olmsted may well be the most important American historical figure that the average person knows the least about. He’s best remembered as the creator of such green-space masterpieces as Central Park, the Biltmore Estate, Boston’s Emerald Necklace, and the grounds of the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago. But he was so much more. Pioneering landscape architect was only one of Olmsted’s careers. He was also a sailor, superintendent of a California gold mine, head of a Civil War medical unit, and a New York Times reporter who traveled across the South reporting on slavery. A true renaissance man, Olmsted charted his own course to greatness. Nothing was ever wasted with him; Olmsted was forever finding ways to draw on his deep well of varied experiences. That’s why his landscape creations (still in use, across the nation) are so timeless. Martin will connect the disparate pieces of Olmsted’s fervent, fascinating, gigantic life to create a portrait of this American visionary.

Olmsted is considered the “Father of Landscape Architecture”. His methods, design concepts, and visions persist into the practice of landscape architecture until the current day. His journey to become the “Father of Landscape Architecture” will be examined in detail.

Speaker:  Justin Martin, Author

Justin Martin’s specialty is American history, meticulously researched, but delivered in a narrative style that’s akin to fiction. He’s the author of five books, including Genius of Place: The Life of Frederick Law Olmsted (Da Capo Press, 2011). Martin is a former staff writer at Fortune. His articles have appeared in various magazines such as Newsweek, Money, and Conde Nast Traveler, as well as in newspapers across the country: The New York Times, Cleveland Plain Dealer, San Francisco Chronicle, and Lawrence (KS) Journal World. Martin is a graduate of Rice University in Houston (class of ’87). He lives in Forest Hills Gardens, a landmark New York City neighborhood designed by Frederick Law Olmsted Jr.

As designers of outdoor environments such as parks, river walks, urban plazas and campuses – and as participants on interdisciplinary design teams on projects involving architecture and engineering – it is imperative that landscape architects be knowledgeable of ADA Standards and their application. Revised ADA Accessibility Guidelines published in 2004 led to the new ADA Standards for Accessible Design published in September 2010 which became mandatory in March 15, 2012. Many states have or will enact accessibility codes with provisions that may exceed those of the 2010 ADA Standards. Designers should become aware of those situations and for which provisions state law will prevail. ASLA has just released the new LATIS: Principles of Accessibility Design for Landscape Architecture, ADA, ABA, and Other Accessibility Standards and Guidelines. This course will review that document and point out how this can serve as a desk-side companion.

Speaker: Emily M. O’Mahoney, FASLA, PLA, LEED®AP BD & C – Partner | 2GHO, Inc. & President | ASLA

As a partner at 2GHO, Inc. Landscape Architects | Planners | Environmental Consultants in Jupiter, Florida, Emily M. O’Mahoney assists in the daily management, operations and marketing of the firm as well as managing and participating in project design and direction. She represents complex projects before public agencies throughout the region handling design, development approvals to construction details and implementation! As both a Florida and Texas registered landscape architect she has 40 years of experience changing our landscapes and making better communities. Tying our necessary utility infrastructure into an asset for Place is her forte. Emily is serving as President for the American Society of Landscape Architects where she is carrying forward her passion for landscape architecture as the profession for climate change solutions in an inclusive and equitable environment. Note: Emily grew up in New Jersey and still summers in the northwest corner!

A sense of place in the profession of landscape architecture is often focused on the physical environment. The revitalization of portions of Harlem used knowledge from my academic and professional training with a unique perspective of the people, history, and culture. The purpose of the faith-based nonprofit was to work with the residents of the neighborhood and not just to improve the physical conditions. This session will review the projects, programs and activities that helped transform the area of Manhattan from a symbol of urban decay to a thriving community in the context of the politics and policies that influences revitalization. Now that the Harlem neighborhood attracts families from all over the city and the world, some residents are threatened by gentrification due to rising real estate markets.  The affordable housing projects created by nonprofits are impacted by rising energy prices, real estate values, and rising tax assessments.  What role can sustainability –  environmental and socio-economically – play in maintaining safe, livable and viable neighborhoods for a diverse population? What is the role of the design and planning professional in the evolution of this place? 

Speaker: Karen A. Phillips, FASLA

The 2021 Landscape Architecture Foundation Medal was conveyed to Karen for her distinguished career focused on improving the lives of residents in economically distressed communities. She was Director of Sustainability for NYS Homes & Community Renewal before her retirement in 2020. From 2002 thru 2011, Karen served as a member of the NYC Planning Commission was one of the founders and the first CEO of Harlem’s Abyssinian Development Corporation. Ms. Phillips was the first Black graduate from Univ. of Georgia College of Environment Design, and she received a master’s degree from the Harvard University Graduate School of Design.

By analyzing the life, legacy, and vision of Frederick Law Olmsted, attendees will gain a deeper historical appreciation for the birth of the landscape architecture profession in the USA. Attendees will learn about the transition from an agrarian and rural society to an urban environment with a focused lens examining the role of planners. The session will analyze Olmsted’s design work, including Central Park and Prospect Park, in addition to his preservation efforts of natural treasures like Niagara Fall State Park and Yosemite National Park

Speaker:  Hugh Howard. Writer, narrative historian, independent scholar.

Author of Architects of An American Landscape: Henry Hobson Richardson, Frederick Law Olmsted, and the Reimagining of America’s Public and Private Space (Atlantic Monthly Press, January 2022).

A student of the American past, Hugh Howard has written more than twenty much-admired books about architecture and landscape, presidents and painting. With each new book, he finds fresh joy in encountering uniquely American places, their creators, and telling their stories

An Addingham scholar, Howard has lectured widely at many historic sites, symposia, libraries, museums, and universities, including Washington’s Mount Vernon, the Massachusetts Historical Society, Philadelphia Museum of Art, University of Virginia, the National Portrait Gallery, Yale’s Beinecke Library, Andrew Jackson’s Hermitage, the Library of Congress, and earlier this year, at the bicentenary celebration of Olmsted’s birth in New York’s Central Park and with the National Association of Olmsted Parks. 

Learn four stages that create better business, better leaders, better teams, and better profits. All while growing your firm and having happy, satisfied clients.

 Bill Truby will share the contents of a Business Success Model he has used for 4-decades, proven to eliminate people problems, maximize productivity and profitability, and position your firm for organic growth. The model creates high-performing teamwork, efficiency systems, strategic planning goals, and a marketing posture that makes your firm compelling to clients. This model takes your firm to the next level. 

Truby’s Business Success Model has been successful because it is not a “program” that you overlay onto your business. And it doesn’t ask an owner or leader to do a bunch of new and different things. Instead, it simply shows you how to do what you are already doing…differently. Truby calls it, “The Power of the How.” You don’t have to change WHAT you are doing – you simply change HOW you are doing it.

You will learn a new approach to practice management, consisting of four stages, that are simple and built on a platform of commonsense. In the first stage, you learn to TRANSFORM your people. A firm’s success is in direct proportion to the quality and ability of your leaders, managers and the team of people developing your designs and managing your projects.  The second stage is to ORGANIZE your people and business for clarity of roles, responsibilities, and outcomes. This stage creates a sense of “ownership” and initiative. The third stage leads you to OPTIMIZE your business to, externally, provide a compelling “value” to clients and, internally, create efficiency systems for maximum productivity and profitability. The fourth stage is to continuously experience IMPROVEMENT – thus remaining competitive, responsive to future trends and positioned to grow. 

Speaker:  Bill Truby, President & CEO, Truby Achievements, Inc.

Bill Truby, MA, MFT, has helped thousands of business owners, leaders and managers find their next level of success. A speaker, author, trainer, and management consultant, he is the co-founder of Truby Achievements, Inc. where businesses learn to achieve better business, better leaders, better teams, and better profits.

He has worked extensively in the United States, as well as Australia, Singapore, Thailand, and Hong Kong (specifically for Landscape Architecture offices). National has engaged Bill to conduct leadership training for thousands of members. He has created abundant success for many small and LARGE, national, and international firms.            

This session will explore ways in which concepts of resiliency and low impact design can be coupled with flood mitigation initiatives to stabilize, revitalize, and enhance the future of suburban communities with riparian flood zones.  Ms. Venin will present case studies from communities within New Jersey’s Passaic River Basin, where repetitive flooding has created economic, social, and ecological hardships for residents.  The session will profile the role of landscape architecture in public outreach and education and community stewardship programs that help flood prone communities navigate their complex relationship with our waterways.

The presentation will begin by highlighting the impact of riparian flooding on communities in the Passaic River Basin and the ways in which the well-established approaches to green infrastructure and resilient design commonly used in coastal and urban environments can be applied to suburban riparian communities.  Ms. Venin will present examples of how local outreach and public education efforts focused on community-based initiatives have led to successful flood mitigation, new recreation opportunities, and increased stewardship in the example community.  The case study will include a description of the specific initiatives implemented and the role of landscape architects in these efforts.  The presentation will conclude with a call to action to expand our thinking about resiliency beyond the urban and coastal areas and to begin implementing sustainable design into New Jersey’s suburban landscapes. 

Speaker: Lauren K. Venin, LLA, RLA, CFM. 

Ms. Venin has been a practicing landscape architect since her graduation from the Rutgers University Landscape Architecture program in 2001.  Ms. Venin became involved in flood mitigation and open space management in her community in 2010, following a series of flooding events that impacted her home and family.  Her community involvement has expanded to include founding a Stormwater Management Committee and Trails Committee, intertwining flood mitigation, recreation, and ecological stewardship initiatives.  Ms. Venin is currently employed as a Senior Project Manager at Dresdner Robin, a Jersey City based land use consultancy.

Landscape professionals want the latest plant and soil science information to pass on to their clients, but how to tell what’s science – and what’s pseudoscience? You can quickly lose your credibility (and business) when you end up promoting products and practices that aren’t based on reputable science. This seminar will provide landscape professionals with guidelines for evaluating articles, books, and electronic resources objectively.

Attendees will learn to apply four criteria when assessing information on products, practices, and phenomena related to the management of landscape trees:

• Credibility – discover whether the author has expertise in the field and whether the information has been peer-reviewed
• Relevance – decide whether the information is applicable to managed landscapes
• Accuracy – determine when the information was published and whether it is still representative of the state of the science
• Purpose – discern the author’s reason for sharing the information (Educational? Ideological? Commercial?)

Dr. Chalker-Scott will demonstrate the use of these guidelines to evaluate some products and practices of current interest.

Speaker:  Dr. Linda Chalker-Scott, Professor in Urban Horticulture, WSU

Dr. Linda Chalker-Scott has a Ph.D. in Horticulture from Oregon State University and is an ISA certified arborist.  She is WSU’s Extension Urban Horticulturist and a Professor in the Department of Horticulture. Dr. Chalker-Scott conducts research in applied plant and soil sciences, publishing the results in scientific articles, Extension fact sheets, and award-winning books.

Dr. Chalker-Scott’s educational contributions to science-based information have been recognized by such groups as Garden Communicators International, the National Association of County Agricultural Agents, and the International Association for Arboriculture.

Tom will discuss how COVID and other social and technological changes have forced us to redesign our outdoor spaces to emulate the best of our interior environments. Using placemaking tools such as tactical urbanism and community engagement, the session will identify lessons learned during the pandemic to create memorable and positive spaces that are both cost-effective and successful. Solutions will balance creative placemaking, public safety, natural and cultural sensitivity, climate change and resiliency, and economics.

Speaker: Thomas G. Dallessio, AICP/PP/CPM/FRSA, Executive Director, Musconetcong Watershed Association

Tom is a licensed professional planner, policy expert, university instructor and nonprofit executive with over three decades of experience in   the public, private, nonprofit and academic sectors. He’s the Executive Director of the Musconetcong Watershed Association and a Part-Time Lecturer at the Bloustein School of Planning & Public Policy at Rutgers University, where he teaches Comprehensive Planning and Planning   & Land Use Administration. He received his Master of City and Regional Planning degree from Rutgers University, a Master of Arts from the Eagleton Institute of Politics and a Bachelor of Arts from Rutgers College.

This session will cover a broad range of living shorelines. By using regional examples, attendees will gain a better understanding of critical design considerations, environmental trade-offs, the permitting process, principles and practices of taking a “nature-based” approach, and how these relate to shorelines in varying environmental contexts.

Speakers: Pippa Brashear, RLA & William Shadel, CE-ESA, CERP

Pippa Brashear, RLA, is Resilience Principal at SCAPE Landscape Architecture. A leading national expert on resilience planning and design for climate adaptation, Pippa works with multi-disciplinary teams to develop landscape strategies and next-century infrastructure that integrate environmental, economic and social benefits. She leads both planning and built work teams within the firm, bringing an ecological and people-driven approach to SCAPE’s projects—informed by systems thinking; an understanding of natural and nature-based systems; engineering methods; and social and environmental equity.

William Shadel, CE-ESA, CERP, Coastal Projects Manager – The Nature Conservancy in New Jersey

Bill is the Coastal Projects Manager at The Nature Conservancy in New Jersey, which he joined in November 2018. His work is focused on advancing the implementation of nature-based adaptation to flooding in New Jersey. The majority of Bill’s career has been in coastal ecological restoration, having worked for the US Army Corps of Engineers, NJ Meadowlands Commission, NV5, as well as two other NGOs — American Littoral Society and Save the Sound – where he directed habitat restoration programs. Immediately prior to joining TNC, Bill was self-employed, consulting homeowners, towns, nonprofits, and private firms on various natural resource issues, including ecosystem management and coastal resilience. He is a Certified Ecologist by the Ecological Society of American and a Certified Ecological Restoration Practitioner by the Society for Ecological Restoration. He holds a MS in botany from the University of Vermont and a BA in history and a BS in landscape architecture from Rutgers.

Cities generate rubble at an exponential rate. This presentation will discuss how construction waste can form the basis of a new landscape design approach demonstrated through site examples and drawings. Implications for teaching landscape architecture will be discussed.  Global climate change and its implications for design and LA education will be discussed. The need to address natural regeneration and succession in time will alter the practice of Landscape Architecture.

Speaker: Walter H. Kehm, FASLA, FCSLA, OALA

Mr. Kehm’s intent is to create urban wildings where native trees, birds, mammals, water bodies and rock formations can be artfully arranged for places of mystery, adventure, education while stimulating creativity. His recent Trillium Park project has won several national and regional design awards.  Recently he published “Accidental Wilderness: The Origins and Ecology of Toronto’s Tommy Thompson Park” that has won national and regional awards. 

One of the biggest problems landscape architects’ faces is a lack of recognition and credit for impact they make on the built environment. With billions of users, social media and the digital landscape has a critical role to play in how to choose control of the narrative of the profession.  Choices include platforms for easily sharing videos, showcasing beautiful hand-drawings, offering behind-the-scenes tours of studios, and sharing stunning completed project images. Cameras on smartphones are of a caliber delivering very high-quality images. They allow more people to contribute to the effort with images from the field or around the office. Why are more firms not investing in social media strategies? Why is it a challenge to demonstrate the return on investment?

This session will demonstrate how having a strategy in place for social media best practices can have a large impact on elevating the profession and increasing public interest and awareness.  This is accomplished while showcasing the talent and work of a firm in addition to a benefit to the profession

Speaker: Catherine Saunders, Principal & Director of Marketing, TBG Partners

A firmwide principal, Ms. Saunders, is the Director of Marketing at TBG Partners- Landscape Architects, Planners and Designers. She leads strategies which help the firm win new work, elevate the firm’s reputation through public relations and digital media, and bring the brand of TBG to life externally. During her time at TBG, she served as TBG’s first dedicated public relations professional and was involved with the first major rebranding effort initiated 30 years after TBG’s original establishment. Most recently, Ms. Saunders was a stakeholder through the firm’s strategic planning effort. Ms. Saunders thrives on creative problem-solving and finds the most rewarding aspect of her job to be the ever-changing marketing landscape.

When a designer or artist is called in to create a memorial, they have the opportunity to do more than commemorate an event. Memorials can provide support to a community that’s healing from their grief, can help facilitate how people interact with memories, can educate guests of the space on the culture of the community, and can create a discourse that addresses social issues and injustices with the promise for a hopeful tomorrow. In this session, we will be exploring strategies on how to create these complex spaces and platforms through several examples of memorials ranging from built designs to ephemeral, travelling experiences.

Speakers: Anita Bakshi, Ph.D, M.Arch, Sahar Coston-Hardy, Photographer, Affiliate ASLA,  Diana Fernandez Bibeau, RLA, ASLA & Jennifer Reut, Editor, Landscape Architecture Magazine

Anita Bakshi is the author of Topographies of Memories: A New Poetics of Commemoration (2017, Palgrave Macmillan). Following several years in architectural practice she received her PhD from Cambridge University with the Conflict in Cities Research Programme. She now teaches at Rutgers University, Department of Landscape Architecture. Her research focuses on contested landscapes and histories, environmental justice, and the relationship between architecture and inequality. She has published articles in Journal of Urban Design, e-flux Architecture, Journal of Landscape Architecture, Memory Studies, and International Journal of Islamic Architecture.  Recent publications include Our Land, Our Stories (2022) and “Contaminated Representations.”   http://anita-bakshi.squarespace.com/

Sahar Coston-Hardy is a landscape architecture photographer whose work is focused on the intersections of race and cultural identity. Her work integrates portraiture, urban design, and street photography, with an emphasis on the relationship between place, power, and personhood. A graduate of Tyler School of Art, Sahar lectures frequently on urban design photography and visual storytelling, and her work has been widely published, including Landscape Architecture Magazine, Architect, Oprah Daily, and LEVEL. Coston-Hardy’s collaborative projects have received national recognition, including a Women Photograph + Nikon grant, a Gold EXCEL Award from Association Media & Publishing, and many regional and national ASLA awards. Sahar photographed Dumbarton Oaks for the publication, Garden as Art: Beatrix Farrand at Dumbarton Oaks.

Diana Fernandez Bibeau, RLA, ASLA, Deputy Chief of Urban Design for the City of Boston. Diana is a proven thinker, collaborator and leader, who teams effortlessly with architects, planners, urban designers, ecologists and civil engineers on the design of equitable and sustainable places. Her experience spans a broad range of projects from planning to built work. She writes and lectures in the discourses of landscape architecture, urban design, and equity.

Jennifer Reut, PhD, is the editor of Landscape Architecture Magazine and an architectural and landscape historian specializing in the post-World War II period in the U.S.  She has written extensively on landscape and race, including an award-winning article on the Anacostia River in Washington, DC.  She is the founder of Mapping the Green Book, a project that looks at the cultural, economic, and social networks created by the Green Book and other travel guides for African Americans published in the 20th century. With photographer Sahar Coston-Hardy, she is the co-creator of the Spaces in Between, a multi-media cultural project.

The nature of redevelopment implies a condition of economic distress and stagnation that requires the “concerted effort of responsible public bodies” to overcome in the public interest. In the process, municipalities have an opportunity to maximize the benefit of the redevelopment project to the broader public welfare, thereby making it sustainable.  This session will use examples from the City of Hoboken, New Jersey and the Town of Dover, New Jersey to illustrate how municipal government can be proactive in that regard.

The City of Hoboken has been in the forefront in recent years of using the redevelopment process to advance larger public benefit goals by combining resiliency and public parks and related public amenities in its redevelopment plans and agreements. The City has involved economic experts on the consultant teams it has selected to develop its redevelopment plans and used the metric of the internal rate of return (IRR) to determine when a project will generate excess profit that can be captured and converted into amenities such as additional parks, affordable housing and recreational facilities that are shared with the general public. Where building height and residential density can be directly related to the IRR, the concept of a base and bonus is relatively straight forward. However, when the City dealt with a redevelopment project involving a much-needed hotel adjacent to a riverfront park and a block from the Hoboken Terminal, the nexus became more complicated.

In Dover, it is concern over gentrification and social justice that has caused opposition to redevelopment in a community that is the most economically distressed in Morris County. The Town has responded by using redevelopment agreements to direct resources to programs that directly benefit current residents.

Speaker: David Glynn Roberts, ASLA, AICP/PP, LLA, LEED AP ND

David Roberts is a licensed planner in New Jersey and a registered landscape architect in Maryland, New Jersey, Virginia, and Delaware, with 41 years of experience in the public and private sectors.  Mr. Roberts received his Bachelor of Science in Environmental Planning and Design from Cook College in 1978 and Landscape Architecture Program in 1979 and graduated with a Master Of City and Regional Planning Degree from the Graduate School (now Edward J. Bloustein School) in 1981.

Mr. Roberts’ career included public sector experience in Sussex County, Norwalk CT, and ten years as the Planning Director in Asbury Park, followed by 22 years of private consulting.

He co-authored “The Redevelopment Handbook, A Guide for Rebuilding New Jersey’s Communities”, published and released by NJDCA in the spring of 2003. He and his co-author completed the Second Edition of the Redevelopment Handbook for NJDCA, which released it in CD form in December of 2011 and in hard copy form in March of 2012.

Developing a sense of place is more than just good design.  The ongoing management, activation, maintenance and security all are important contributors in developing a sense of place and an inviting and usable public space.  Developing a sense of place can take years and can change over time as use changes.  The ability to responding to changing is a sense of place that reflect user needs and demands.

Speaker:  Timothy Marshall, Principal, ETM ASSOCIATES

Timothy Marshall has extensive hands-on experience with park management and operations, with over 30 years in the field. He was formerly the Vice President for the Central Park Conservancy and Deputy Administrator of Central Park for more than00 years with responsibility for the Park’s daily management. With ETM, he provides creative problem solving for park management and operations, funding and public/private involvement. Mr. Marshall was elevated to the ASLA Council of Fellows in 2016.

Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) challenges the way we see and experience the surrounding environment. Moreover, observing the environment through “CPTED eyes” extends beyond site safety considerations. It also includes considerations of space functionality, attractiveness, sociability, inclusion, environmental considerations, and others, that cumulatively contribute to safety, livability, and a sense of place.

This presentation begins with an historic overview of CPTED theory and practice to elucidate the multi-disciplinary influences that have been shaping this field for over 60 years. Drawing from the fields of architecture, urban planning, sociology, biology, criminology, engineering, environmental studies, psychology, and others, the theorists have systematically organized this body of knowledge into three interconnected generations. First Generation CPTED is primarily concerned with addressing criminal opportunities through physical environment; Second Generation CPTED is concerned with addressing criminal motivation through a social environment; Third Generation CPTED – the latest evolution of the theory – integrates the multi-disciplinary influences to develop a holistic understanding of safety as one – but integral – aspect of livability. The presentation continues with summarizing the principles associated with each generation to demonstrate how the three generations should not be viewed as distinct but rather interrelated approaches to addressing existing issues and preventing potential issues in the targeted environment.

The final part of the presentation offers some practical examples to demonstrate how CPTED is applied. The examples highlight the importance of avoiding focusing only on the “product” i.e., application of the principles but also on the “process” i.e., considerations of environmental context, intended outcomes, existing or anticipated issues, community/actor engagement, ethical and regulatory mandates, potential obstacles, and others. These examples highlight the importance of integrating CPTED at the thinking, planning and design stages of a project together with other considerations that contribute to safety, livability, and a sense of place. 

Speaker: Mateja Mihinjac, MCCJ – AlterNation Consulting; The International CPTED Association

Mateja Mihinjac is a criminologist and researcher from Slovenia. Mateja has studied criminal justice issues since 2009. She runs AlterNation Consulting – Europe, a European partner of AlterNation LLC that specializes in a neighborhood safety planning method called SafeGrowth®. She has taught, conducted research and project work in Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED), crime prevention, fear of crime, crime patterns and other topics, has published articles, and co-taught SafeGrowth® workshops in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Sweden, and across the United States. Mateja joined the Board of the International CPTED Association in 2017. In 2019 she was appointed Executive Director and ICA Certification Program – ICCP Coordinator.