Fall 2023 Zube Lecture Recordings

Presented by Christian Gabriel Creative Director & Founder at Public Nature Projects

The infrastructure we build and the combination of economic, environmental, and cultural services that infrastructure provides are ‘evolutionary’ by nature. Despite this, the field performance characteristics of the landscapes we build are seldom understood, and the evolutionary infrastructure we construct has relied largely on predicative assumptions. In this talk, Christian Gabriel provides insights on taking green infrastructure to scale and elevating our collective ability to place greater primacy in living systems.

Presented by Blake Belanger, PLA, ASLA, Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture and Regional & Community Planning, Kansas State University

Photomontage is one of the most pervasive forms of graphic communication in landscape architecture and urban design. In this lecture, Professor Belanger discusses how different methods of making photomontage can inspire imaginative thinking, particularly during the creative phases of incubation and insight.

Presented by Xiang (Jacob) Yan, Assistant Professor, Department of Civil & Coastal Engineering, University of Florida

The first and last-mile problem is a major deterrent to public transit use. With the rise of shared micromobility options, such as shared e-scooters, in recent years, there is a growing interest in exploring strategies to promote these options as a last-mile transit solution. In this talk, Professor Yan shares empirical insights derived from Washington DC that evidence the potential for public transit and shared micromobility integration.

Presented by Simon Bussiere, Landscape Architect and Associate Professor at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa

Conceptual Landscapes, edited by Simon Bussiere, grapples with the dilemma faced in the early moments of design thinking through a gradient of work in landscape and environmental design media by designers and educators of landscape architecture. In this Zube lecture, Professor Bussiere draws from this work to explore questions of where and, more importantly, how the process of design starts.

Presented by Julie Bargmann, Founder of D.I.R.T Studio & Professor Emeritus of Landscape Architecture, University of Virginia

Landscapes are hard; all messy and complex. Sites are entangled; many toxic and degraded. Neighborhoods are complicated; uniquely layered and wanting. To evoke the swan from tough sites, Julie Bargmann discusses how good design isn’t enough. Environmental regeneration, social equity, savvy resourcefulness and sheer joy are required for landscape architects to work reciprocally with nature to revivalize ecologies and communities.

Presented by Revel Sims, Assistant Professor, Department of Planning & Landscape Architecture, University of Wisconsin

Professor Sims summarizes findings from several published and unpublished investigations on housing conditions within a Southern California neighborhood, and offers critical reflections on the question of housing justice.

Presented Matthew Benzie, ASLA, ISA Certified Arborist, Owner of Indigenous Ingenuities

With an increased interest in native plants, stormwater management, and other ecological services, landscape architects are facing a new challenge: how to maintain built landscapes for long-term ecological success. Matthew Benzie shares his experience designing, building, maintaining, and rehabilitating landscapes with his company, Indigenous Ingenuities. A LARP alumnus, Benzie also shares his unique path after graduating from the UMass Landscape Architecture program in 2006.

Presented by Blair Evans, Founder and Director of Incite Focus

In the context of climate change disasters, pandemics, and growing political, economic, and social divide, it is critical for local communities to develop greater resilience and strengthen their ability to meet their own needs. Blair Evans is at the cutting edge of this work, combining the technology for local, community-based production with the recognition that this process is also about "growing" people to realize their full human potential.