Speakers address intentionality through three lenses:
Julie Bargmann, Professor and Dean, University of Virginia School of Landscape Architecture,
Principal, D.I.R.T Studio
Working Landscape
Landscapes of labor – past and present – bestow extraordinary circumstances of complexity and beauty. With respect for site histories of working landscapes, D.I.R.T. studio has carefully offered regenerative layers that engage the cyclical nature of urban and industrial sites and the systems to which they belong. The socioecological health of degraded places and their marginalized communities is at stake. D.I.R.T. studio has deployed physical design as one approach, operational design strategies as another. The imperative, always: the landscape must work.
Timothy Beatley, Teresa Heinz Professor of Sustainable Communities, in the Department of Urban and Environmental Planning, School of Architecture at the University of Virginia, University of Virginia
The Nature of Cities: Toward a Biophilic Urbanism
As the planet continues to rapidly urbanize there is a growing sense that a new model is needed: one that overcomes the physical (and mental) disconnect between nature and cities. Beatley believes that contact with nature is not something optional but it absolutely essential for a happy, healthy and meaningful life. Beatley will review the many ways in which cities are already profoundly natureful and biodiverse and he will describe the emerging concept of Biophilic Urbanism as alternative global vision for how cities might grow and develop. He will discuss the newly formed global Biophilic Cities Network and will provide examples of innovative design and planning in cities in the Network. While there are significant obstacles to be overcome, the vision of Biophilic Cities is a hopeful and optimistic one that at once understands the need for daily contact with the natural world and the need to to take steps through urban design and planning to ensure that cities are and will be a positive force for global conservation.
Alexander Felson, Associate Professor, Yale University School of Landscape Architecture
Working in the Middle Ground between Ecological Science and Landscape Architecture
Dr. Felson explores his work to integrate applied ecology with landscape architecture and urban design focusing on climate adaptation, green infrastructure and directing the NYC Reforestation Plan informing the MillionTreesNYC and leveraged a publicly funded design project to build the country’s largest constructed urban forestry experiment. He also examines the bioretention gardens he built, designed as experiments for research as well as public gardens for an underserved neighborhood in Bridgeport CT which now serves as a testbed for public involvement and adaptive management.
View speaker bios
5 contact hours, HSW, LACES (pending), VSLD, CVNLA, CBLP
