The Fifth Shanghai Landscape Forum: Sensation

by Dou Zhang, ASLA, PLA, LEED AP BD+C, SITES AP

Past Shanghai Landscape Forum events
Past Shanghai Landscape Forum events / image: Sasaki

[活动预告与报名] 第五届上海景观论坛——感知

上海景观论坛是由Sasaki, AECOM 和 SWA 三家设计公司于2017年联合发起的主题性景观行业分享盛会。随着SOM, ASPECT Studios, HASSELL, TLS等多家国际性景观公司的加入逐渐壮大。论坛以”开拓新的实践,以催化设计创新、影响政策变革;提升公众对于景观重要贡献的认识;倡导景观行业,使之汇入社会进步的主流推动力“为使命,旨在提升景观行业的影响力,并推进行业的可持续发展。其主题覆盖景观设计行业及相关领域的方方面面。往届论坛已成功吸引设计师们就生态复育在中国的实践和挑战,景观中的文化遗产,景观与基础设施等话题交流与分享。

The Shanghai Landscape Forum is a themed sharing event initiated by Sasaki, AECOM, and SWA in 2017. The forum expanded with participation of SOM, ASPECT Studios, HASSELL, TLS, and many other international landscape companies. It aims to pioneer new practices that result in design innovation and influence policy transformation, raise public awareness of landscape architecture’s vital contributions, bring landscape architecture into the mainstream by advocating for the profession as a driving force for social progress, and build a more sustainable tomorrow. The forum covers all aspects of the landscape design industry. Previous forums have successfully attracted designers to exchange and share topics such as the “practice and challenges of ecological rehabilitation in China,” “landscape cultural heritage,” and “landscape and infrastructure.”

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Pontilly Stormwater Management

by Dana Brown, FASLA, PLA, AICP, LEED AP

Streetscape design for stormwater runoff
Street basins receive runoff from along the curbs and gutters and detains the water. These curb extensions have the added benefit of reducing the distance pedestrians must cross street, resulting in traffic calming and improved pedestrian safety. / image: Dana Brown & Associates

The 900-acre Pontilly area of New Orleans is composed of two moderate-income, minority-majority neighborhoods—Pontchartrain Park and Gentilly Woods. For decades, these neighborhoods have repeatedly experienced losses due to flooding and both were severely damaged by Hurricane Katrina with hundreds of homes destroyed.

In response, the neighborhoods collaborated to form the Pontilly Disaster Collaborative (PDC) that seeks solutions to localized flooding issues caused by rainfall events. PDC approached the New Orleans Redevelopment Authority (NORA), who had received ownership of many residential properties in Pontilly following Katrina, to utilize vacant lots for managing stormwater. A landscape architect at NORA recognized the value of the community organization’s idea and began seeking funding through the FEMA Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP). Continue reading