Friday, November 19

Design with Carbon: Reconsidering Landscapes, from Planning to Soils

Transform your practice by taking responsibility for the carbon footprint of your work. This session reviews innovative tools and frameworks, from planning scale to site and garden design, integrating metrics and soil science. Each panelist will share their findings from translating primary research into accessible tools and best practices.

3:45 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Sasaki speaker: Chris Hardy, ASLA, LEED AP

Saturday, November 20

How Big Data Benefits You: Using Information for Good in Landscape Architecture

This session presents ways landscape architects can utilize big data as a tool to cultivate solutions for equitable and inclusive outdoor environments. This session will demystify big data through sharing workflows of various projects and learning ways the synthesis and visualization of open source and privileged data benefit landscape architecture.

2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Sasaki speaker: Greg Havens, AIA, AICP

The Art of Teaming: Lessons for Assembling a 21st Century Design Team

The creation of a design team – especially for competitive public procurement processes – takes more than simply calling your contacts. The best teams bring a diversity of skills, perspective, and expertise to the table. This panel will offer case studies and lessons learned on teaming for today’s competitive marketplace.

4:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Sasaki speaker: Diana Fernandez Bibeau, ASLA, PLA

Sunday, November 21

SPREADING THE GOSPEL: International Landscape Architects Returning Home to Practice

As landscape architecture gains global prominence, talented professionals are leaving the US and returning home. Driven by a passion to tackle ubiquitous issues including climate change, unchecked urbanization, and social justice, these international pioneers are disrupting the status quo and demonstrating that we must think and practice beyond national boundaries.

9:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m.

Sasaki speaker: Michael Grove, FASLA, PLA

Promoting Climate Leadership by Exploring Alternative Models of Collaboration

Drawing on the landscape architecture profession’s aspiration to claim greater agency in the climate discourse, there is an urgency to strengthen the leadership role that we, in collaboration with allied professionals, should take on. This includes external voices from media and government explore narratives beyond traditional scopes and reveal opportunistic models of collaboration.

9:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m.

Sasaki speaker: Thomas Nideroest

Quality Control Matters Matter: Improving the Accuracy and Efficiency of Construction Documents

Construction documents play a key role in communicating between designers and contractors. This presentation focuses on the quality control measures of construction documents, both drawings and specifications, and aims to improve the accuracy and efficiency of the overall construction.

2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.

Sasaki speaker: Phyllis Zhou

Equity Through City-wide Heat and Urban Forest Management Planning

In Boston, historic patterns of racism, redlining, and development have created inequities in urban tree canopy cover and the impacts of excess heat. This session will focus on Boston’s simultaneous “Climate-Ready” planning efforts addressing heat resilience and urban forest management, highlighting the process taken to ensure equity-driven planning and outcomes.

2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.

Sasaki speaker: Diana Fernandez Bibeau, ASLA, PLA

Business and Culture: Breaking Norms in Diversity Equity and Inclusion

In 2020, history and culture shifted, the landscape profession’s complicity in systems of inequality became a focus of much conversation and action. Dismantling of systems of oppression starts with how we as professionals can work both internally and externally to make a more just profession.

4:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Sasaki speaker: Diana Fernandez Bibeau, ASLA, PLA

FIELDS OF DREAMS: How the Pandemic Accelerated Inclusive 21st-century Sports Districts

Like the teams that play in them, stadiums shape a city’s identity. The object often gets all the attention, but the urban experience is what makes them memorable. This session examines how sports districts are adapting to a post-COVID world, emphasizing inclusion, safety, and social vitality as measures of success.

4:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Sasaki speaker: Michael Grove, FASLA, PLA