Cover Story

Many landscape architects resist planting design. It’s complex, time-consuming, and site-specific. Results are highly intertwined with implementation and maintenance. Planting is also exactly what your dad’s friends think you do – “Come over, tell me what to do with my yard. And why don’t you mow the lawn while you’re at it.” However, over the past 20 years, it’s become increasingly apparent that landscape architects can’t continue to rely on landscape contractors to “shrub up” their beautifully-rendered designs. Functioning and maintainable plantings are essential for projects to deliver the ecosystem benefits that landscape architects claim to value. High-profile projects like the High Line in New York demonstrate the power of good planting to capture the public imagination and con...Read More

AIDS Garden Chicago, designed by Design Workshop, is a realization of a design idea, close to Alderman Tom Tunny’s heart, for a garden championed by him and a number of community organizations. The garden surrounds a 30-foot-tall sculpture designed by the late artist and activist, Keith Haring and donated to the Chicago Park District through the efforts of Ald. Tunny and support from the Chicago Parks Foundation. The sculpture, a self-portrait of Keith, was installed in November 2019. The AIDS Garden Chicago will be Chicago’s first public space to memorialize the early days of Chicago’s HIV epidemic, and to honor those who continue to fight against the disease today. Anticipated to be completed in 2020, the 2.5-acre garden is located along the magnificent shoreline of Lake Michigan just so...Read More

Gentrification is a term that emerged in the mid-1960s to explain the demographic and social changes that some neighborhoods in the London were experiencing. Since then, a vast number of articles and essays on urban transformation have sought to explain this phenomenon. In this article, we shall explore how to detect areas that are likely to be affected by this process, how to identify those that are already being affected and how to prevent this from happening to preserve heterogeneity, social inclusion, and sustainability in our cities. But what exactly is gentrification? The word gentrification coming from the English syllable “gentry”, refers to the British rural nobility. Gentrification was originally coined to describe the emergence of middle-to-higher-income social group...Read More

As volatile weather events increasingly become the norm, the importance of designing to support dynamic ecological processes – and proactive planning not just for operations and maintenance, but for the inevitable, ensuing recovery efforts – has never been more critical. A pioneering project in China’s Hunan Province, the Baxi Island River Forest exemplifies both the importance of designing in harmony with nature as well as the tremendous challenges associated with changing climates and rising water levels. The project was conceived as a catalyst to regional development and eco-tourism within the larger Dawang Mountain Development Zone. One of 16 islands along the Xiang River in Changsha, the 156-acre Baxi Island had for many years been a private island sandbar covered with poplar trees an...Read More

The ASLA Conference on Landscape Architecture often feels like homecoming. Running around with 6,000-some of your colleagues, friends old and new, it’s almost impossible not to feel more educated, inspired, excited, and empowered. This year we celebrated, discussed, and challenged landscape architecture – how we perceive it, shape it, and share it – in sunny San Diego in November. With over 120 education opportunities, 14 special events, and 350 exhibitors gathered in concert, there is always something to do, something to see, something to learn, and someone to meet. With a wide range of topics varying from sustainable materials, BIM (Building Information Modeling), extending to identity and culture in our practice, this year’s conference felt especially powerful, timely, and i...Read More

LABash is an annual, student-run landscape architecture conference that brings together students and professionals in the field for a weekend of educational sessions, keynote lectures, social events, networking, and career-building. This year, for the 50th anniversary of the conference, LABash is being held at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY. During the weekend of April 2-4, students and professionals from across the country will come together to celebrate the theme “Rise Above Run” and hear first-hand from professionals about how they have overcome obstacles relating to the environment and social justice through the power of design. LABash is so much more than a conference – it is a sneak-peak into the future of landscape architecture. It is reassurance that the next generation of ...Read More