June 2-3, 2011
Thursday-Friday, 9am-5pm
CES/AIA LU (HSW/SD) 14 units
A subject of growing interest around the world, landscape urbanism has recently been elevated from theory to practice. Systemic and catalytic urban projects are increasingly seen as opportunities for large cities to reengage their forgotten spaces and aging infrastructures as a means to respond to the urgent demands facing future generations. This two-day program will bring together leaders in the field of landscape design, urbanism, and development to engage participants in discussion about the process, undertaking, and response needed to implement these large-scale projects within the megalopolis. Speakers will present the emergence of various projects, such as the conversion of a former racetrack and intermodal transfer facility, within the Southern California region. The program content will explore various themes in landscape urbanism, to include regenerating postindustrial landscapes, channeling flows of capital to repurpose wasted urban space, growing a public realm with limited resources, and cultivating strong alchemy among professionals across disciplines.
Coordinators: Click the names for more info
Mia Lehrer is the founding principal of the Los Angeles based firm, Mia Lehrer + Associates. For over a decade, Mia has dedicated her practice to bridge between community, policy makers, and builders with aim of realizing the conversion of derelict urban lands into places for renewed ecological function and civic participation. Her involvement and leadership in complex projects such as the L.A. River Revitalization Master Plan and the Orange County Great Park has offered the opportunity for Southern California to repurpose the urban realm for the creation of contemporary open space that is multivalent and integral to its context.
Born in El Salvador, Mia received her Masters of Landscape Architecture from Harvard University. Following her education, she gained valuable experience by working on large-scale public projects as well as residential gardens. Ms. Lehrer leads the ML+A office in the design and development of a diverse range of ambitious public and private projects that include urban revitalization developments, large urban parks, and complex commercial projects. She is internationally recognized for her progressive landscape designs, working with natural landmarks, and her advocacy for sustainable, people-friendly public space.
Committed to education and her profession, Mia is actively involved in several organizations. In 2007, Mia was inducted as a Fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects, and was appointed to the City of Los Angeles’ Cultural Heritage Commission. Mia serves on the Board of Directors at the Latino Urban Forum, the Landscape Architecture Foundation, the Harvard Design Magazine, and the Hollywood Design Review Committee. Additionally, she has served on the Harvard Graduate School of Design Alumni Council, board of directors of TreePeople and Collage Dance Theater.
Ben Feldmann, a Senior Associate with ML+A, is both landscape architect and urban designer who emphasizes the integration of sustainable methodologies, contextual adaptation, and systems thinking. He brings over 12 years of experience working on projects throughout California and the U.S. as well as abroad including Asia, Central America and Europe. Furthering the aim for resilient communities and urban regeneration, Ben seeks out solutions that greatly enhance living environments, evoking ecological synergies between built, social and natural realms. His design approach looks to provide innovative solutions that build upon the unique qualities to the site’s context, climate and character.
Born in Santa Barbara, California, Ben received his Bachelor of Landscape Architecture from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and Masters of Urban Design from University of California Berkeley. Prior to joining Mia Lehrer, Ben worked for multidisciplinary firms including HOK, SMWM, and Perkins+Will in the San Francisco Bay Area where he valued the exchange across disciplines of architecture, engineering, graphic design, and planning which furthered his own ability and understanding of the process of design within the urban realm.
Ben received an Unbuilt Design Award from the AIA East Bay Chapter for his work on the REDCAR concept for transportation and mobility as well as an Urban Design Citation Award for his work on the Panama Pacifico Master Plan which was selected as one of sixteen international pilot projects by the Clinton Climate Initiative (CCI). He also served as an integral team member of the Piggyback Yard which received a Merit Award from the ASLA Southern California Chapter.
In 2010, Ben lectured at the Just Metropolis Conference at UC Berkeley and coordinated the REDCAR Colloquium as part of the 2010 SFAIA Architecture + the City Festival. He has served as a guest design critic at UC Berkeley, SCI-Arc, and USC.
Speakers: Click the names for more info
- Learning Objective 1: Participants will learn about innovative and emerging case studies of various scales and complexities towards regenerating post-industrial landscapes towards a sustainable future.
- Learning Objective 2: Participants will receive information about different approaches in the creative financing of these projects —despite limited capital resources from public and private entities.
- Learning Objective 3: Participants will discuss and evaluate the prospects of this newly emerging trend, its challenges and the viability of cohesive design vision in a world of imminently diminishing resources.
- Learning Objective 4: Participants will learn and discuss public policy reforms that may be needed to help implement theory into practice and allow a new vision of urbanism to be realized.
- The Landscape Urbanism Reader, Charles Waldheim, ed., 2006
- Drosscape: Wasting Land in Urban America, Alan Berger, 2007
- Ecological Urbanism, Mohsen Mostafavi, 2010
