The Field

This year’s ASLA Annual Meeting and EXPO in Chicago is almost here and we look forward to seeing many of you there. The meeting is full of social and educational opportunities for those of us involved in campus planning and design. In addition to the events listed below, there are two additional opportunities we have created for those interested in campus planning and design:

• Anyone (PPN member or not) is invited to an informal gathering for drinks, conversation, and networking on Saturday, November 7 starting around 6:15 PM (immediately after the Alumni Tailgate) in the M/X Lounge/POI Bar of the Hyatt Regency McCormick Place (2233 South Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive).
• Northwestern University Campus Tour: on Tuesday, November 10 from 9:30 AM to noon, Ann Ziegelmaier, landscape architect for Northwestern University, will lead an informal tour of the main Northwestern campus for all who are interested. The Northwestern campus is about a 45 minute trip via public transit from the downtown hotels. Although reservations are not required, please RSVP if you think you may attend for additional details.

Among the Annual Meeting’s field and education sessions, on Friday, November 6, you can tour the picturesque Gothic campus of the University of Chicago. Tickets for the field session “Stewardship of a Grand Campus Legacy: the University of Chicago” must be purchased in advance. For those not interested in the all-day tour, there will be an education session at 1:30 PM on Friday: “Resiliency in University Planning: Risks and Opportunities” asks how prepared are university campuses to resist and recover—in a timely, economical, and efficient way—from disasters, climate change, and natural hazards?

Also on Friday is the PPN Networking Reception—this will provide an opportunity to meet with other PPN members from Campus Planning and Design as well as the larger organization. It will be held from 5:30-7:30 PM at the Sheraton Chicago Hotel and is a ticketed event.

On Saturday, November 7, from 9:15 -10:45 AM we’ll hold our annual meeting of the Campus Planning and Design PPN. This is always a great time to get together to talk in person about current trends and other specific campus planning and design issues. We’d like to reserve at least a half hour of our meeting to discuss how the PPN can support your work in campus planning and design through information and dialog. During the meeting, David Cutter, Campus Landscape Architect at Cornell University, will assume the role of PPN Chair.

Like last year, there will also be a series of short presentations by members—any subject directly or peripherally related to campus planning and design is fair game. Campus design projects? Plants? Campuses around the world? Paving materials? Trends in campus planning and design? Research projects? Site furnishing? Yes! This really is a great opportunity to inspire others and show us what you love!

Among the education sessions on Monday, at 8:00 AM, “Collaboration, Preservation, and Pedagogy: Planning and Designing Today’s Academic Campus” will explore why campus planning is increasingly reliant on the optimization of outdoor space. Immediately following at 10:00 AM, “A Dynamic Legacy: The University of Washington Campus Landscape Framework Plan” will look at the campus landscape framework as a landscape-specific tool for understanding the past, evaluating the present, and charting the future of the University of Washington’s Seattle campus.

To those of you planning on attending the conference—we look forward to seeing you there!

by Dean Gregory, ASLA, and David Cutter, ASLA, Campus Planning and Design PPN Co-Chairs