The Field

The 2016 ASLA Annual Meeting and EXPO will take place October 21-24 in New Orleans. We encourage all current and potential future members of the International Practice Professional Practice Network (IP-PPN) to attend and take advantage of all networking opportunities and education sessions. The world has become increasingly globalized in nature rather than being centered in North America—whether it’s a global challenge, or a localized solution, we invite you to participate, learn, and maybe contribute to a better environment without borders.

The following events at the Annual Meeting offer rare opportunities for us to meet to share our knowledge and make valuable connections—between experienced and emerging professionals as well as students. These connections may lead to friendships and future collaboration. Let’s meet up in New Orleans!

International Practice PPN Co-Chairs:
Chih-Wei G.V. Chang, ASLA, SWA Group, Sausalito, California
Jack Ahern, FASLA, University of Massachusetts Amherst

Special Events:

PPN Live: International Practice PPN Meeting
Sunday, October 23
1:30 – 2:15 PM, City Park Stage on the EXPO floor

Agenda

• Meet and Greet + Introduction
• IFLA updates: past and upcoming world agenda
• Education session overview, and 2016 award-winning project presentations
• Brainstorm: ASLA’s worldwide leadership
• Member Networking/Socializing

EXPO Reception featuring the Professional Practice Networks (PPNs)
Sunday, October 23
4:30 – 6:00 PM, EXPO floor

PPN Live also brings the PPN Reception right to the show floor on Sunday. Networking doesn’t just happen online! Join fellow PPN members in person to make connections with friends and colleagues and discuss how they are contributing to the landscape architecture profession. Free for all meeting registrants. Meeting badge required. Non-registrants may purchase EXPO-only passes at registration.

Education Sessions of International Interest:

Friday, October 21

FRI-B07: Global, Smart, Livable: Singapore Shows the Way
10:30 AM – 12:00 PM

Presenters: Dhaval Barbhaya, AICP, Planner + Urban Designer, SWA Group, Laguna Beach, CA; James Hencke, ASLA, Sr. Landscape Architect + Urban Designer, David Evans and Associates | DESIGN STUDIO, Portland, OR

Humans face an increasingly dense and urban future, yet cities struggle to accommodate population growth, provide services, and deliver on sustainability aspirations. Are there real-world solutions? Discover the unique and comprehensive place-making that is happening in Singapore, which offers a model for high-performance landscapes and urban livability.

Learning Objectives:

• Study Singapore’s success in aggressively planning, programming, designing, and delivering a high-quality living environment within a dense, complex urban context.
• Learn about specific government programs, such as ABC Waters, Skyrise Greenery, and LEAF, and how they set Singapore apart from its neighbors.
• Be inspired by photographs of cutting-edge urban design and landscape architecture work throughout the city-state.
• Gain understanding of living and working abroad, and how Singapore’s urban design lessons may apply to U.S. practice.

FRI-D07: Evolving Roles for Nigeria’s Urban Public Realm: A Tale of Two Cities
3:30 – 5:00 PM

Moderator: Allyson Mendenhall, ASLA, LEED GA, Director of Legacy Design, Design Workshop, Denver, CO
Panelists: Marty Borko, AIA, Principal, Gensler, Los Angeles, CA; Niyi Biodun Kehinde, ASLA, Landscape Architect, guelph86 ltd, Abuja FCT, Federal Capital Territory, Nigeria; Chuck Ware Jr., ASLA, Principal, Design Workshop, Los Angeles, CA

As in much of Africa, public space in Nigeria has historically been dedicated to sustenance roles, aimed most basically at commerce, transit, informal housing, and even refuse. This session examines the growing interest in a more aspiring role for public space and landscape, aimed at improving social and environmental health.

Learning Objectives:

• Learn how architects and landscape architects are collaborating to shape and expand the role of the public realm.
• See how two very different African cities are working to overcome quality-of-life deficiencies with improved public realm.
• Understand the challenges of integrating green technologies and landscape infrastructure where there is little precedent.
• Explore public realm issues in Nigeria—security, privatization, urban land pressures, and political repression.

Saturday, October 22

SAT-B07: The Frontier Is Here: Humanity’s Insatiable Desire to Imagine, Explore, and Create
2:30 – 4:00 PM

Presenters: Kona A. Gray, ASLA, Principal, EDSA, Inc., Fort Lauderdale, FL; Ian Hampson, ASLA, Director, !melk landscape architecture & urban design, New York, NY; Jerry Van Eyck, ASLA, Founder/Principal, !melk landscape architecture & urban design, New York, New York

In an age when humans have unprecedented power over the Earth, our patterns of urban development raise questions about the ethics of these activities in certain locations. Is “human-nature” unethical by measure of disturbance, or can it be rationalized as the result of the chase toward a new frontier?

Learning Objectives:

• Consider the ethical implications of our decisions as designers.
• Learn how the profession of landscape architecture can influence creative adaptation in new settings.
• Gain insight into the market forces that drive urban development.
• Be inspired by examples of new environments as a response to the human condition.

Sunday, October 23

SUN-A07: The Politics of Landscape: An International Perspective on Environmental Justice
11:00 AM – 12:30 PM

Moderator: Kurt Culbertson, FASLA, AICP, Chairman, CEO, Design Workshop, Aspen, CO
Panelists: Kamel Mahadin, ASLA, Founder, Chairman of the Board , MK Associates, Amman, Jordan; Mario E. Schjetnan, FASLA, Director General, Grupo de Diseno Urbano, Mexico, D.F., Distrito Federal, Mexico; Kongjian Yu, FASLA, President & principal, Turenscape, Beijing, China

As we come to grips with the role of landscape architects in issues of environmental justice, we look to practice abroad for lessons learned about the impact of design. This panel examines the experiences of three practicing landscape architects from Latin American, Asia, and the Middle East.

Learning Objectives:

• Gain insight into issues of environmental justice and injustice from around the world.
• Explore unique perspectives about the role of politics in design.
• Learn best practices for working with diverse communities.
• Understand current issues in environmental justice in Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East.

Monday, October 24

MON-A03: Living Wilderness: Reclamation of Ecological Forests in Thailand
8:00 – 9:30 AM

Co-Presenters: Angsana Boonyobhas, Professor, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand; Touchapon Suntrajarn, ASLA, Design Principal, Landscape Architects of Bangkok (LAB), Bangkok, Krung Thep, Thailand
Lead Presenter: Tawatchai Kobkaikit, ASLA, Managing Director, Landscape Architects of Bangkok (LAB), Bangkok, Thailand

As demand for agricultural land is rapidly increasing, the reclamation of natural wilderness seems like an afterthought in the developing country of Thailand. With the collaboration of landscape design and ecological restoration disciplines, this session explores two projects of open space reclamation/forest regeneration and the context of planning

Learning Objectives:

• Provide a synopsis of the pre-development ecology to agricultural use typically found in Thailand to the gathering of many stakeholders to bring the land back to a natural setting.
• Gain insight on the methodology used—the Akira Miyawaki Method—to regenerate the forest and create a natural ecology.
• Understand the development constraints in Thailand and the process it takes for land preservation.
• Learn about tropical forest ecology, and see efforts taken by the Thailand Association of Landscape Architects to bring an awareness of that plant ecology to the exhibition space of its Annual Gala.

MON-B07: Post-occupancy Metrics: Is China’s Ecological Health Improving?
10:00 – 11:30 AM

Moderator: Michael Grove, ASLA, Principal / Landscape Architect, Sasaki Associates, Watertown, MA
Panelists: Yifan Yu, Professor, Tongji University School of Architecture and Planning, Shanghai, China; Tao Zhang, ASLA, Senior Associate, Sasaki Associates, Watertown, MA

Shanghai’s brisk development has resulted in a degraded environment where little wildlife remains and public demand for environmental change is mounting. This panel discussion explores two large parks in Shanghai as a palette of ecosystem services, economic opportunity, and social inclusion focusing on evidence-based design and post-occupancy metrics.

Learning Objectives:

• Discover the mechanisms and drivers of large-scale park redevelopment in Shanghai.
• See how ecosystems services are guiding park programming and design.
• Working with local universities and environmental agencies, learn how to obtain post-occupancy metrics.
• Learn what is and is not working in efforts to improve water, soil, and air quality.

2016 ASLA Awards Ceremony
Monday, October 24
12 Noon

Each year, the ASLA Professional Awards program honors the best in landscape architecture from around the globe, while the Student Awards program gives us a glimpse of the future of the profession. A video presentation will highlight the projects receiving awards in the General Design, Residential Design, Analysis and Planning, Research, and Communications categories, as well as the 2016 recipients of the Landmark Award. Also recognized are the recipients of the Student Awards, and the Bradford Williams Medals. Student Award of Excellence official entrants receive scholarships to attend the annual meeting, courtesy of Landscape Structures.

Congratulations to the following winning teams for their excellence in International Practice:

• PFS Studio with The Planning Partnership – Underpass Park
• Turenscape – Quzhou Luming Park
• SWA – Eco-Corridor Resurrects Former Brownfield
• Ramboll Studio Dreiseitl – Bishan-Ang Mo Kio Park
• Landscape Architects of Bangkok (LAB) – The Metro-Forest Project
• Ramboll Studio Dreiseitl – The Copenhagen Cloudburst Formula
• Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates – Corktown Common

by Chih-Wei G.V. Chang, ASLA, EWRI, LEED-AP. He is an Associate of SWA Group, lecturer in Academy of Art University of San Francisco, and co-chair of the International Practice PPN.