Crum Auditorium, Robert B. Rowling Hall
The University of Texas at Austin
April 3, 2025
5:00 p.m. – 6:30 p.m.
Landscape as Inspiration
Opening address with audience Q&A
Discover how innovative nature based solutions promote community engagement and advance new sustainable and resilient visions for cities.
Ignacio Bunster-Ossa, FASLA
Vice-President for Landscape Urbanism and
Resiliency, The Collaborative
April 4, 2025
8:00 a.m. – 9:00 a.m.
Sign in and Coffee
9:00 a.m. – 9:15 a.m.
Welcome
9:15 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.
Landscape from Campus to City
Panel with audience Q&A
Learn how landscape concepts shape conversations and how landscape projects drive positive change for stronger communities, from campus to city scale.
Gina Ford, FASLA
Principal and Co-Founder, Agency Landscape+Planning
Mark Hough, FASLA
University Landscape Architect, Duke University
Frederick (Fritz) Steiner, FASLA, FCELA, FAAR
Dean of the Stuart Weitzman School of Design, University of Pennsylvania
10:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.
Landscape as Expanded Practice
Keynote address with audience Q&A
Explore how nature-based solutions in urban planning and design create new opportunities for civic life.
Gullivar Shepard
Partner, Micheal Van Valkenburgh Associates
11:30 p.m. – 12:30 p.m.
Lunch
12:30 p.m. – 1:45 p.m.
Landscape as Investment and Infrastructure
Panel with audience Q&A
See how investing in nature-based solutions provides tangible returns, including improved public health, reduced urban heat island effects, enhanced stormwater management, food security, and other benefits.
Aaron Abelson
Managing Partner, HR&A
Allyson Mendenhall, FASLA
Chief Practice Resources Officer, Sasaki
William C. Sullivan, Ph.D., ASLA, FCELA
Professor and Director of the Smart, Healthy Communities Initiative, University of Illinois
1:45 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.
Break/Coffee
2:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Landscape as a Setting for Art and Culture
Featured address with audience Q&A
Discover how urban landscapes elevate cultural values by serving as settings for public art and cultural offerings.
Mary Margaret Jones, FASLA, FAAR
President and CEO, Hargreaves Jones
3:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Landscape as Promise
Panel with audience Q&A
Discover how urban landscapes elevate cultural values by serving as settings for public art and cultural offerings.
Ron McCoy, FAIA
University Architect, Princeton University
Gullivar Shepard
Partner, Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates
Melba Whatley
Co-Founding Board Member, Waterloo Greenway Conservancy
