Charles A. Birnbaum marks the milestones that have contributed to landscape architecture's growing stature over the past year.
Superstorm Sandy was perhaps the most significant event of the year, yielding headlines for landscape architects and the field's role in helping to mitigate future storms. Birnbaum calls out Kate Orff's "prescient 2010 proposal for mitigating storm surge in Brooklyn's Red Hook neighborhood (which was badly hit by Sandy) and Gowanus Bay" and landscape architect Susannah Drake's examination of the extent of New York's public housing located in flood zones, for particular praise.
Not all of the significant events in the field were Sandy-related. Several excellent new projects showed off the field's contributions to urban environments, including: Sugar Beach on the Lake Ontario waterfront in Toronto designed by Montreal-based Claude Cormier & Associés Inc., seven (!) projects at San Francisco's Golden Gate National Recreation Area, and Rios Clementi Hale's new Grand Park located in the heart of downtown Los Angeles.
As Alan Brake's recent editorial in The Architect's Newspaper noted, "[l]andscape architecture is gaining in public stature and it's because of entrepreneurial students at CCNY and elsewhere, practitioners like Kate Orff and Susannah Drake, organizations like the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy and the Presidio Trust, and many others that the profession and its practitioners are being recognized as leaders capable of integrating nature and culture to shape our future."
FULL STORY: 2012's Notable Developments in Landscape Architecture
East River Floodgates Rising in NYC
A tour of new infrastructure designed to protect the city’s East Side from catastrophic flooding.
In Battery Park City, Public Infrastructure Meets Climate Resilience
A massive project underway in Lower Manhattan seeks to protect the shoreline from future flooding and mitigate the effects of climate change and rising sea levels.
Net Zero Development Coming to New York City
The project, which relies largely on geothermal energy to minimize its carbon footprint, will bring affordable housing and boost storm resilience to an area devastated by Hurricane Sandy.
Coming Soon to Ohio: The Largest Agrivoltaic Farm in the US
The ambitious 6,000-acre project will combine an 800-watt solar farm with crop and livestock production.
Pennsylvania Mall Conversion Bill Passes House
If passed, the bill would promote the adaptive reuse of defunct commercial buildings.
U.S. Supreme Court: California's Impact Fees May Violate Takings Clause
A California property owner took El Dorado County to state court after paying a traffic impact fee he felt was exorbitant. He lost in trial court, appellate court, and the California Supreme Court denied review. Then the U.S. Supreme Court acted.
Dallas Surburb Bans New Airbnbs
Plano’s city council banned all new permits for short-term rentals as concerns about their impacts on housing costs grow.
Divvy Introduces E-Bike Charging Docks
New, circular docks let e-bikes charge at stations, eliminating the need for frequent battery swaps.
How Freeway Projects Impact Climate Resilience
In addition to displacement and public health impacts, highway expansions can also make communities less resilient to flooding and other climate-related disasters.
City of Costa Mesa
Licking County
Barrett Planning Group LLC
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
Mpact Transit + Community
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
Tufts University, Department of Urban and Environmental Policy & Planning
City of Universal City TX
ULI Northwest Arkansas
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