Disaster ResponseFeaturedLoaders, Excavators & TractorsManufacturer/Supplier UpdatesProducts and EquipmentTree Care Gear
Loftness Adds Lightweight Mulching Head For Compact Excavators
Jessica Schwartz
President Biden Appoints Landscape Architect to Federal Agency
Lisa E. Delplace, FASLA, is one of seven members on the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts. The American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) welcomes President Biden’s appointment of Lisa E. Delplace, FASLA, as the newest member of the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts (CFA). Delplace is CEO of Washington, D.C.-based landscape architecture firm Oehme, van Sweden (OvS). With her appointment, the federal agency that reviews the design of all public buildings, parks, and memorials in Washington, D.C. will once again have the expertise of a landscape architect. OvS’s work in Washington, D.C. includes the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial on the National Mall, Francis Scott Key Memorial Park, and Virginia Avenue Gardens. “Landscape architects are at the forefront of designing sustainable and resilient urban spaces, including parks, streetscapes, memorials, and public educational landscapes, and others,” said ASLA President Eugenia Martin, FASLA. The legacy of landscape architects as members of the CFA includes one of the original Commissioners, Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr., who was one of the 11 founders of ASLA. Olmsted Jr. served on the Commission from 1910 to 1918 (1912-1918 as Vice Chair). His eventual replacement, James L. Greenleaf, a former ASLA President, was also a landscape professional.In 2021, ASLA called on President Biden to ensure the Commission included a representative from the landscape architecture profession. “We thank President Biden for reaffirming the importance and value of having the counsel of a landscape architect on this important federal agency,” said Torey Carter-Conneen, ASLA’s Chief Executive Officer. For more information ...
The Infrastructure Act & New Landscape Opportunities
The House of Representatives recently passed the bi-partisan $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which makes significant investments in the nation’s transportation, water, renewable energy, and broadband infrastructure. So what could it mean for landscape professionals? Here’s just a few highlights as summarized from the article “Landscape Architects Poised to Lead New Era of Infrastructure” by Roxanne Blackwell, Esq., director of federal government affairs at the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA). The legislation incorporates 13 of the transportation, water, and natural resource policy recommendations sent by ASLA’s Government Affairs team to Congressional leaders. The package creates new programs that will allow landscape opportunities nationwide. These include the Healthy Streets Initiative, as well as programs to remove invasive plants, create habitat for pollinators on highway rights-of-way, and plan and design new wildlife crossings. Healthy Streets Program: $500 million over five years ($100 million a year) for a new trust fund-financed grant program that can be used for cool and porous pavements and expanding tree cover in order to mitigate urban heat islands, improve air quality, and reduce impervious surfaces, stormwater runoff, and flood risks. Priority is given to projects in low-income or disadvantaged communities. Maximum grant amount is $15 million. Invasive Plant Elimination: $250 million over five years to eliminate or control existing invasive plants along transportation corridors. Support for Pollinators: $10 million over five years to benefit pollinators on roadsides and highway rights-of-way. Wildlife Crossings Pilot Program: $350 million over five years from the Highway Trust Fund. ...
Brooklyn Bridge Park Wins International Landscape Prize
A U.S. landscape project, the Brooklyn Bridge Park, beat out ten other entries to win the 2021 Rosa Barba International Landscape Prize last month at the 11th International Landscape Architecture Biennial in Barcelona, Spain. Designed by Michael Van Valkenburgh and built over the past 20 years, Brooklyn Bridge Park in NY spans 85 acres along 1.3 miles of the East River waterfront. The project has transformed the hardened industrial site of abandoned warehouses, obsolete piers, and decaying bulkheads into a vibrant public space. Today, park elements improve public access, reanimate six piers, and restore ecological diversity, blurring the edge between the East River and the park. The majority of the site was a defunct bulk cargo shipping and storage complex, built by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey in the 1950s but rendered obsolete by the rise of container shipping. Out of operation since 1983 and cut off from the surrounding residential neighborhood by the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, the complex included six piers and several upland warehouse buildings. The north end of the site is under and between the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges, and was an underutilized landscape surrounded by light industrial and loft complexes. Brooklyn Bridge Park has now transformed this stretch of post-industrial waterfront into a thriving civic landscape . The park facilitates a system of new and refurbished connections between the city and the river, becoming a vital urban space for a wide variety of activities and programming, all with spectacular views of the Manhattan ...
Ten New ASLA Projects Represent Climate Resilient Landscape Design
It’s Earth Day! And for inspiration, here’s 10 new projects that were recently added to the Smart Policies for a Changing Climate Online Exhibition from the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA). The exhibit demonstrates smart landscape design solutions to climate impacts, such as flooding, extreme heat, drought, and sea level rise and exemplifies best practice approaches in an era of climate change. The projects include a mix of landscape-based and nature-based solutions across the U.S., which range in scale from residential and school landscapes to masterplans for entire cities and counties. There is also a focus on projects that address climate injustices and meet the needs of historically-marginalized and underserved communities. “These projects clearly show how landscape architects can help all kinds of communities reduce their risk to increasingly severe climate impacts. Landscape architects design with nature, which leads to more resilient solutions that also improve community health, safety, and well-being over the long-term,” said Torey Carter-Conneen, ASLA CEO. With these 10 new projects, which were selected with ASLA’s Climate Action Committee, there are now a total of 30 projects featured in the online exhibition, which opened in 2019. Each project was selected to illustrate policy recommendations outlined in the 2017 report produced by ASLA’s Blue Ribbon Panel on Climate Change & Resilience. The new projects were submitted by ASLA members through an open call released in 2019. In partnership with the ASLA Climate Action Committee, projects were selected to represent a range of U.S. regions, scales (from ...
ASLA & EARTHDAY.ORG Sponsor The Great Global Cleanup 2021
As part of this year’s World Landscape Architecture Month celebration in April, the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) is teaming up with EARTHDAY.ORG to sponsor The Great Global Cleanup 2021. Throughout the month of April, ASLA members are joining together to organize and execute local cleanup projects as part of The Great Global Cleanup’s third official year. “This April, ASLA is celebrating the work of landscape architects to help communities grow together, with each other and with their natural surroundings. Pollution is a prodigious issue in public open spaces – causing flooding, spreading illness, contaminating water sources, and at the root of a myriad of other problems,” said Torey Carter-Conneen, CEO of ASLA. “We’re incredibly proud to partner with EARTHDAY.ORG on The Great Global Cleanup initiative during World Landscape Architecture Month to combat this issue and support healthy, resilient, and sustainable open spaces for all.” Now in its third year, The Great Global Cleanup is building on its record as the world’s largest coordinated volunteer event, providing opportunities for individuals and organizations to make positive, tangible impacts on our environment. Emerging from the coronavirus pandemic and guided by updated safety protocols, the collective goal in April 2021 is to remove millions more pieces of trash from our green spaces, urban communities, and waterways. “Plastics and other pollution are destroying our communities, our drinking water systems, and our oceans, said Kathleen Rogers, EARTHDAY.ORG President. “Whether it’s a lot or a little, every piece of plastic and other waste materials that ...
ASLA Marks Black History Month With #BlackDesignExcellence Campaign
Today marks the beginning of Black History Month. As part of the annual observance, the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) will be hosting Design Excellence by Black Landscape Architects, a social media campaign celebrating African American landscape architects and their valuable contributions to the profession. “This will be the third year that ASLA has made a special effort to recognize Black landscape architects, members, and non-members, around the world. We’re working to bring some much-overdue attention to the talented and growing community of professionals who are expanding and enhancing this profession — and doing so in ways that elevate the practice, challenge the norm, and innovate design,” said ASLA CEO Torey Carter-Conneen. The ASLA Black History Month initiative was kicked off with a post and links about David August Williston, one of the first African American landscape architects. Williston designed some of the major campuses of historically African American colleges like Booker T. Washington’s Tuskeegee Institute and Howard University in Washington, D.C. In his lifetime, he never experienced full integration, having passed away in 1962 at the age of 94, but managed to accomplish a lasting legacy of built work. Learn more about Black landscape architects making strides in the profession and design projects that exemplify excellence on ASLA social media channels including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn, with the hashtag #BlackDesignExcellence. In similar news, ASLA released a comprehensive set of policy recommendations for the new Biden-Harris administration titled “Landscape Architects Design Vibrant, Resilient, and Just ...
ASLA Now Accepting Entries For Landscape Architecture Awards
Do you have a landscape architecture design you’re particularly proud of? The American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) is now accepting submissions for both its 2021 Professional Awards and its Student Awards Program. The ASLA Awards Program is the oldest and most prestigious in the landscape architecture profession. The Awards honor the most innovative professional landscape architecture projects as well as the brightest ideas from up-and-coming landscape architecture students. Award recipients receive featured coverage in Landscape Architecture Magazine and are honored at a special Awards Presentation ceremony in the fall. ASLA bestows Professional Awards in General Design, Residential Design, Urban Design, Analysis & Planning, Communications, and Research categories. In each of these categories, juries select a number of Honor Awards and may select one Award of Excellence. One Landmark Award is also presented each year. Submissions for ASLA Professional Awards are due no later than 11:59 PST on Friday, March 12, 2021. The 2021 Professional Awards Jury includes: Chair: Thaïsa Way, FASLA – Dumbarton Oaks Virginia Burt, FASLA – Virginia Burt Designs, Inc. Sahar Coston-Hardy, Affiliate ASLA – Sahar Coston-Hardy Photography Perry Howard, FASLA – Greensboro, NC USA Kene Okigbo, ASLA – RDG Planning & Design Faith Okuma, ASLA – Surroundings Studio, LLC Karen Phillips, FASLA – NYS Homes & Community Renewal David Rubin, FASLA – David Rubin Land Collective Emma Skalka, Hon. ASLA – Victor Stanley ASLA bestows Student Awards in General Design, Residential Design, Urban Design, Analysis & Planning, Communications, Research, Student Community Service, and Student Collaboration. ...
PARK(ing) Day 2020: Time To Reimagine Streets In COVID-19 Era
The COVD-19 pandemic has forced cities everywhere to rethink how people use their streets and public places. Parking spaces have been transformed into pop-up parklets and outdoor dining and shopping areas, and streets that were once dominated by automobiles are being turned over to pedestrians and cyclists. Issues of racial justice and equity in the built environment have come to the fore. The idea of redefining streetscapes as places for people and not just cars is the driving force behind PARK(ing) Day, an annual national initiative that uses the creative conversion of on-street parking spaces into pop-up parklets as a way to demonstrate alternative ways of thinking about city life. This year’s PARK(ing) Day falls on Friday, September 18, and it presents landscape architects with an opportunity to build on current experience and reimagine city streets now and in the post-COVID world. ASLA’s PARK(ing) Day Challenge On-street installations in curbside parking spaces are impractical in most cities this year. But anyone can participate virtually by posting on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram drawings, sketches, or models of reimagined streetscapes or photographs of exemplary streetscapes that have already been transformed. Traditionally built parklets are welcome if they can be created safely and are permitted by local jurisdictions. Because the design of streetscapes is fundamentally a form of landscape architecture, the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) is urging its members, chapters, students, and firms to play an active role in PARK(ing) Day 2020, using hashtags #ASLAParkingDay and #ReimagineStreets. By putting their ...
Great American Outdoors Act Signed; Will Fund National Parks
The Great American Outdoors Act was signed last week, according to the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA). This new law will permanently and fully fund the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) and provide funding to address the maintenance backlog in the national parks and other public lands. “Landscape architects helped design the first national parks and are involved in their maintenance to this day. Many landscape architects rely on funding from LWCF to finance important projects that otherwise would never get off the ground,” said Wendy Miller, FASLA, President ASLA. “In the midst of the current climate crisis, the role of landscape architects as responsible stewards of the land has never been more important. This law will go a long way toward helping us continue that work.” ASLA has long supported the measures included in the Great American Outdoors Act. During this Congress alone, 2,500 members of ASLA’s advocacy network sent over 6,200 messages in support of the law, reaching lawmakers in all 50 states, Washington D.C., and Puerto Rico. “For ASLA, marks the culmination of years of advocacy, by our team on Capitol Hill and by members all across the country,” added Miller. Speaking of the signing on August 4, she said, “It’s truly a day to celebrate.”
