Urban Design / Downtown Revitalization

75-Minute Education Session

Public Practitioners

SUN-C10 - UPSTREAM URBANISM: Redefining the Role of the Landscape Architect as City Builders

1.25 PDH, LA CES/HSW, AIA/non-HSW, AICP, FL, NY/HSW

Lead Speaker(s)

• 

  Michael Grove, ASLA

  Principal / Chair of Landscape Architecture, Civil Engineering, and Ecology
  SASAKI

Speaker(s)

• BJ

  Brian Jencek, ASLA, AIA, AICP

  Senior Principal
  HOK
• 

  Michael Johnson, ASLA

  Co-Director of Urban Design
  SmithGroup

Landscape architects are expanding our reach, tackling complex issues of resiliency, equity, and social justice. So why aren’t we playing a more significant role in shaping cities? Through the lens of three practices we will explore landscape-led urban design as a means for reclaiming professional agency and as a human imperative.

Learning Objectives:

• Witness how the field of urban design is shifting to embrace landscape architects as lead authors in shaping cities, and see examples of landscape architects defining urban form and policy.
• Explore ways of rethinking the traditional figure-ground approach to city design where buildings drive urban form to a ground-figure strategy that prioritizes the public realm as the foremost consideration.
• Understand how landscape architects, as systems thinkers, are uniquely qualified to advocate for a multitude of diverse and inclusive voices (ecologists, biologists, sociologists, activists, etc.) to tackle complex problems.
• Learn the language of developers, politicians, and economists to demonstrate our understanding of other perspectives while effectively asserting our contribution on issues including public health, climate change, and resilience.