May 7, 2012
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via Joyce Jackson, ASLA, Mt. Hood Section Co-Chair
Tour the June Delta Key Community Center –
A Living Building Challenge Demonstration Project
If you attended or missed but wanted to attend the Living Cities, How Do We Get There? session at the recent ASLA Oregon symposium and want to learn more about the living building challenge process, come to the MT Hood chapter meeting at the June Key Delta Community Center on May 31st.
Architect Mark Nye will be there to discuss how this community center was developed from an old gas station site and how it was transformed into a community asset with minimal environmental impacts.
Topics will include:
• An overview of the building and site’s fulfillment of the Living Building Challenge ‘petals’.
• Transformation of a brown field site to a usable property.
• Inclusion of the community in the programming and design process.
• Provisions for opportunities in urban agriculture and food education
• Collecting and reusing stormwater on site.
Spend an hour on the tour and then mingle with your colleagues at the Community Center.
(2) HSW PDH's are being offered at this event!.
Thursday, May 31 2012
5940 North Albina Ave., Portland, OR
Agenda:
5:30-5:45 - Gather together
5:45-6:45 - Tour and talk
6:45-7:45 - Social hour
Cost:
Free!
Maul Foster Alongi will be sponsoring the event by providing snacks and drinks.
Please RSVP to this event!
For more information and to RSVP email Joyce Jackson:
jjackson@maulfoster.com
April 7, 2012
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via Christopher Olin, ASLA Oregon Chapter Communications Chair
April is Landscape Architecture Month!
ASLA Oregon is pleased to announce our Spring 2012 Chapter lineup of Portland Events!
Join fellow like-minded student and professional peers in networking, learning and fun!
To learn more, register for events, find resources and subscribe to our mailing list visit www.aslaoregon.org.
Download Upcoming Events Flyer PDF - 11x17 Screen
Download Upcoming Events Flyer PDF - 11x17 Print
Visit ASLA Oregon's NLAM Page
Visit ASLA Oregon's Online Event Calendar
April 4, 2012
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via Nancy C. Somerville, Hon. ASLA
Executive Vice President and CEO
American Society of Landscape Architects
American Society of Landscape Architects
Annual 2011: A Report to Our Members
As we dive into what promises to be another very busy year for ASLA, I wanted to take a moment to review our accomplishments in 2011. Despite a very challenging economy that has affected us all, ASLA members and their Society made real progress in raising awareness of the profession and ensuring that the profession’s voice was heard.
On August 17, 1,000 volunteers hit the streets, the parks, and the sidewalks in their communities to share examples of landscape architecture projects and to explain the benefits your work brings to people’s lives. More than 250 events, half of which involved direct, one-on-one discussions, happened almost simultaneously. Collectively, these events generated more than 80 news stories in all media, reaching an estimated 15 million people.
So who says one person can’t make a difference? There are less than 30,000 people employed in the landscape architecture field in a nation of more than 312 million. Yet we were heard, big time. And we’ve only just begun.
Working hand-in-hand with our chapters and their dedicated public-awareness volunteers, we will continue that engagement with activities at the grassroots level supported by resources created by the national office. And this April chapters across the nation will once again celebrate National Landscape Architecture Month, introducing the profession to the public through a series of standalone events while also coordinating a common public outreach on April 26, Frederick Law Olmsted’s birthday.
On the PR and communications side, much of our energy—and creativity—continues to be focused on web communications, because of the ability of the web to reach the largest audience. In 2011, the site attracted 644,000 unique visitors and more than 5 million pageviews, continuing healthy year-to-year growth.
To complement the public awareness materials, we have developed special areas on the site to serve as resources for policy makers, educators, students, and members of the other design and construction industries.
As part of the 08.17.11 events, we launched www.asla.org/design, a basic introduction to the profession as a destination for the curious public. So far, it has received more than 55,000 pageviews.
Designing Our Future: Sustainable Landscapes features 30 case studies and eight animations that detail sustainable landscape design. These resources have attracted more than 370,000 pageviews thus far, and the animations have been viewed an additional 85,000 times.
To establish landscape architects in the forefront of discussions of key issues affecting the profession, we have developed detailed resource centers around topics such as transportation, green infrastructure, and livable communities, as well as corresponding resources for residential projects.
And we continue to leverage The Dirt blog to keep our voice in the mix. The blog is widely read and syndicated, consistently ranks among the top 10 on environmental subjects, and has received some 1.3 million pageviews since relaunch in 2009
These outreach efforts provide a solid foundation to support our equally significant progress on the advocacy front, in spite of the challenging political environment in Washington.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is in the midst of a critical national rulemaking on stormwater. The process started with an EPA-commissioned National Research Council study on the effectiveness of the Agency’s current stormwater program. NRC’s conclusion: Big pipes and grey infrastructure are not going to solve the problem, but green infrastructure and low-impact development can.
To support its rulemaking, EPA asked ASLA to help document the use and effectiveness of green infrastructure approaches. We turned to you, and set an ambitious goal of 300 projects. You responded with 479 case studies, covering 43 states, D.C, and Canada. We provided all that data to EPA, and those case studies are now catalogued and available on the ASLA website. These projects are a compelling demonstration of the value of green infrastructure—and the critical role of landscape architects.
Another priority focus this year has been transportation. With the surface transportation bill coming up for renewal, we are advocating for inclusion of a federal Complete Streets policy in the legislation, along with supporting essential existing programs that support transportation alternatives, enhance community livability, and provide jobs for landscape architects.
Many of these programs came under a barrage of attacks in 2011, especially the transportation enhancements program. An example: On October 17, ASLA’s government affairs staff learned of a serious threat: Senator John McCain was preparing to offer an amendment to a fiscal year 2012 spending bill to gut the transportation enhancements program.
Since McCain did not include bicycle and trail projects on his hit list, many of our usual coalition partners opted not to challenge the proposal. So ASLA took the lead. We prepared a letter in opposition, got 12 other organizations to sign on, and put the letter into the hands of each senator’s chief of staff, legislative director, and transportation legislative assistant. And we sent out a red alert to all of you through our Advocacy Network. You responded. We had the best performance from the Advocacy Network to date, with 655 activists sending 1,338 messages to their senators over the two days preceding the vote.
It worked. The roll-call vote on October 19 was 59 to 39 to table the amendment, essentially killing it.
Your grassroots-level advocacy, combined with our D.C.-based outreach efforts, not only reversed the threat, but also raised ASLA’s profile on Capitol Hill. ASLA was cited by the influential Democratic Policy Committee as an opponent of the amendment, and multiple senate staffers cited ASLA’s opposition and outreach as a major contributing factor to votes against the amendment.
Threats are continuing, and vigilance and quick action are still required. I commend you all for your support of ASLA and your direct involvement in issues of importance to the profession and to the country. It would be easy in such very difficult and stubborn financial times to lose faith and withdraw. That’s not our style, and the relative health of ASLA and the profession is testimony to that, as are such success stories as I’ve just shared.
There’s a lot more I could tell you about, like the changes I hope you’ve been noticing in our fantastic Landscape Architecture Magazine, the second-largest Annual Meeting and largest Expo in ASLA history, and the progress of our Sustainable Sites Initiative partnership. I urge you to stay engaged and help us help you, as you all did so effectively in 2011. Thank you all.
Nancy C. Somerville
March 29, 2012
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via Beth Flanagan, International Living Future Institute
Join Cascadia Green Building Council May 2-4 for Living Future 2012, where the green building movement’s leading thinkers and practitioners come together to share their deep expertise and dearest hopes, to leap ahead as a movement and as a society. Living Future is where cutting edge practice meets inspiration and where visionaries get down to business. This three-day unConference has earned a reputation as the must-attend event for many of the green building movement's most innovative and influential leaders. This years conference will take place in Portland, Oregon and is themed “Women Reshaping the World”. For more information please go to the Living Future 2012 Website.
For questions please contact Beth Flanagan at beth.flanagan@gmail.com
Quick Links:
Living Future Website
Registration
Program and Speakers
Keynote and Reception, Dr. Vandana Shiva
March 29, 2012
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ASLA Oregon LANDbytes MARCH 2012 Feature:
Happy Birthday, FLO!
By Rebecca Wahlstrom
What are you doing on April 26? Join the coast to coast party, celebrating the 190th birthday of Mr. Frederick Law Olmsted with all your fellow ASLA members! April 26 is a day to remember and celebrate the man who first brought to the forefront many of the ideas that we practice today in Landscape Architecture. So gather some friends, blow out some birthday candles for Mr. Olmsted, and make a wish for the continuation of great designs that stand the test of time.
Check out more fun ways to celebrate Landscape Architecture month at www.aslaoregon.org/updates/articles/national-landscape-architecture-month.
Visit ASLA Oregon's NLAM Webpage!
March 29, 2012
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ASLA Oregon LANDbytes MARCH 2012 Feature:
Get Ready! National Landscape Architecture Month is Coming!
By Rebecca Wahlstrom
April has been set aside by the ASLA as a month when activities happen nationwide to celebrate and promote the profession of landscape architecture. The focus of this month’s activities is “Public Health and Active Living 2012”, showing how we are addressing the major problems of obesity and chronic health problems due to lack of exercise by designing healthy community structures. This topic is a great fit for our active state – what a perfect chance to show people how we promote healthy lifestyles. Are there playgrounds or trail systems where you can show people how landscape architecture has been part of its creation? How about plaza’s where farmers markets happen or places where people wait to catch the MAX or bus? Can you get out there and let people know who designed that space? Now is the time to celebrate all you have done and promote the future of landscape architecture.
You might be asking, “what can I do?” Glad you asked! ASLA has put forward a whole webpage of ideas for activities along with detailed instructions and tips (and has a picture of Portland’s Mt. Tabor Middle School rain garden design). The below is just a sampling of what the website provides on the ‘Career Discovery Activities’ page. http://www.aslaoregon.org/updates/articles/national-landscape-architecture-month. Boy Scout troops can learn about plants and earn a badge during your time with them; Connect with middle and high-school students and design a rain garden or reading garden; Are you a native plant expert? Visit your local high school and show them how essential native plants are to our landscape.
One doesn’t need to be hampered by this list – create your own activity that will appeal to you and the audience you wish to reach. Back on 8.17.11, the first roll-out of the Understory, the Bend folks led a design charrette, people in Springfield did a workplace information blast to enlighten their co-workers on what their department had accomplished, and Portland canvassed downtown parks. http://www.aslaoregon.org/blog/2011/9/14/dues-increase-effective-january-2012 What will Oregon do this time to celebrate landscape architecture? I believe our fit and active state is primed and ready to show off all that we have done to promote physical activity and public health to the general public and to the nation. Be creative – have fun – and be sure to let people know about landscape architecture in April!
Visit ASLA Oregon's NLAM Webpage!
March 17, 2012
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National Landscape Architecture Month 2012 (NLAM) Quick Links:
NLAM HOMEPAGE
NLAM PUBLIC AWARENESS CAMPAIGN
NLAM POSTERS FOR DOWNLOAD
CAREER DISCOVERY ACTIVITIES
NLAM 2011 RECAP
FREDERICK LAW OLMSTED & THE CAMPAIGN FOR PUBLIC HEALTH
APRIL 2012 National, State and Local Activities:
04.04.12 COMMUNITY TREES FIELD CLASS
04.20.12 ASLA OREGON NORTH PARK BLOCK DESIGN CHARRETTE
04.20.12 ASLA OREGON EMERGING PROFESSIONALS SOCIAL
04.21.12 ASLA OREGON ENLIGHTENED LANDSCAPE[S] SYMPOSIUM
04.26.12 AND YOU
04.26.12 THE UNDERSTORY
04.26.12 UNIVERSITY OF OREGON A&AA CAREER SYMPOSIUM
Questions? Interested in getting involved with NLAM?
Contact ASLA Oregon Communications Chair Christopher Olin for more information!
via ASLA Nationals
A Whole New National Landscape Architecture Month:
Public Health & Active Living 2012
Now is the time. Childhood obesity surges to epidemic proportions, healthcare costs push even higher and divisive politics provide no solutions. Meanwhile an interdisciplinary profession continues to rise offering solutions to these stark problems:
- Two out of every three American adults twenty years or older are overweight or obese (Flegal, 2010).
- Since 2000, antidepressants have become the most prescribed medication in the United States (Olfson and Marcus, 2009).
- In 2007, 16 percent of the United State’s gross domestic product – $2.3 trillion – was spent on health care (Orszag and Ellis, 2007).
Landscape architects will join across the country during the month of April to educate the public as to how their profession is well poised to address these troubling issues.They’ll hold public events showcasing just what can be done through hands on work with the public, speaking engagements and design charrettes. For an idea, check out this slideshow of 2011’s events.
With the theme of Public Health and Landscape Architecture, National Landscape Architecture Month 2012 welcomes these new and necessary discussions about the profession. Besides all the same great activities from years past, National Landscape Architecture Month joins in the public awareness campaign. On 04.26.12, the profession will publically celebrate Frederick Olmsted's birthday, considered the founder of modern landscape architecture, by once again taking to the streets from coast to coast telling people why landscape architecture matters just as they did on 08.17.11. Since 08.17.11 was just the beginning, expect more this time around. The call to celebrate his birthday could not be more in line with the theme as Frederick Law Olmsted and the Campaign for Public Health points out, Olmsted’s roots in landscape architecture first started with his dedication to public health.
The prevalence of low-density, automobile-dependent communities has resulted in unsustainable lifestyles that increasingly threaten human health and well-being. In addition to inflating housing and transportation costs and increasing carbon emissions, disconnected communities reliant on cars create sedentary lifestyles. The lack of access to environments that encourage daily exercise, provide clean air and water and offer affordable services and nutritious food has meant growing epidemics of depression, obesity, diabetes, asthma, and heart disease.
Working with landscape architects, communities can promote human health and well-being by encouraging the development of environments that offer rich social, economic, and environmental benefits. Healthy, livable communities improve the welfare and well-being of people by expanding the range of affordable transportation, employment, and housing choices through "Live, Work, Play" developments; incorporating physical activity into components of daily life; preserving and enhancing valuable natural resources; providing access to affordable, nutritious, and locally produced foods distributed for less cost; and creating a unique sense of community and place.
Landscape architects help communities maximize opportunities for daily exercise like walking and biking. Landscape architects encourage communities to move towards compact, transit-oriented land-uses by designing Complete Streets and other transportation networks that connect mixed-use developments, neighborhood schools, and a range of affordable housing choices. They assist communities in developing healthy green buildings and open spaces that promote efficient water and energy use and provide substantial amounts of vegetation to clean air and cool temperatures. In doing so, these communities can avoid the expensive health epidemics associated with automobile dependence, sedentary lifestyles, along with the high costs to the environment brought by dysfunctional patterns of living.
PUBLIC HEALTH & COMMUNITY DESIGN
With health epidemics associated with sprawl on the rise, there is growing demand for communities that get people moving and reduce the onslaught of depression, obesity, diabetes, asthma, and heart disease. Communities can also be designed to reduce traffic fatalities and crime rates. When communities take these issues seriously, they become people-friendly places that promote healthy living and feel safe and secure.
A recent study from the Victoria Transport Policy Institute demonstrates that people who "drive less, exercise more, and live longer, are generally healthier than residents of communities without high-quality public transportation." Lansdcape architects design multi-modal sustainable transportation infrastructure such as public transit, which force people to walk and climb stairs, and well-lit, tree-lined streets with sidewalks and bike lanes, which enable safe and convenient physical activity. These systems provide healthy alternatives to automobile transportation. In addition, landscape architects create parks, green streets, and even green roofs, which encourage physical activity by making outdoor spaces more attractive, cooler, with cleaner air.
Communities can also invest in healthy green schools built along new and improved transportation infrastructure and connected to neighborhoods via sidewalks, bike trails, transit service, and roadways that provide safe routes to school. Landscape architects design green school campuses with indoor and outdoor learning environments, which are also available for community activities.
In addition, landscape architects work with communities to create urban agriculture projects that provide access to safe, affordable, and nutritious food that is locally produced and distributed. These initiatives make productive use of vacant lots and derelict spaces, transforming them into safe environments for youth education and community interaction. They can provide resources for green hospitals where studies have shown that organic food gardens help patients recover faster.
See the full article at ASLA.org
January 10, 2012
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Elevate your understanding of landscape by taking it to a higher level. ASLA Oregon invites you to expand your thinking over two days of inspired guest speakers, discussions and a design charrette. Join us for learning and networking opportunities, as well as the opportunity to earn valuable professional development hours (PDH’s).
promotional mailer PDF
more information + registration
2012 sponsorship opportunities
2012 supporting sponsor - only $100!
Your company name will be featured on the event program!
December 20, 2011
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Landscape Architecture Mentor Program
In April 2011, the ASLA Public Practice Advisory Committee posted a note in LAND E-News "Wanted: Examples of Landscape Architecture Mentor Programs." The PPAC goal was to showcase and search for shining examples of Mentor Programs that pair practitioners with students or provide excellent networking opportunities between seasoned and emerging professionals. As a result of the outreach effort, a white paper and matrix are now available with some excellent models for Mentor Programs that involve ASLA chapters, universities, private firms, and local, state, and federal agencies. As a living document, the next action is to include other Mentor Programs that have had great success or are just getting started and are looking for some guidance. Our committee request to each state is to provide us with feedback and let us know how and what your LA Mentor Program is doing. Thank you for adding your successes to this national effort.
Robin Gyorgyfalvy, ASLA, PLA
ASLA Oregon Chapter
Public Practice Advisory Committee Chair, 2011-12
(541) 383-4786
rgyorgyfalvy@fs.fed.us
Download the Mentor Programs White Paper
Download the Mentor Programs Matrix
July 26, 2011
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The world needs to know about landscape architecture, and 08.17.11 is the day it all begins.
What if, for just one day, we all decided to let everyone know what the heck landscape architects do. That we create the very places used to live, work and play. That we connect cities. That we create experience. That landscape architecture is your environment, designed.
08.17.11 is that day. It’s the day the profession reintroduces itself to public. It’s the day where, for only your time spent during lunch, you’ll join the beginning of a new movement – a movement to step out of the Understory and tell your story to the world.
Details will arrive soon. But until then, share the movement with friends, coworkers and classmates. The public awaits.
Check out 08.17.11 on Facebook!
Check out a map of nationwide 08.17.11 Events!
Get your "Landscape Architecture: Your Environment. Designed." T-Shirt!
June 16, 2011
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- Have you been searching for a medium to showcase a thought, idea or fresh approach?
- Are you interested in providing a Member Spotlight or a review of that new book on your shelf?
- Perhaps you're a guru of current trends in the profession?
- Do you have an analog or digital technique, tutorial or secret you're willing to share with your peers?
- Are you a student or emerging professional looking for an opportunity to get involved with your local chapter?
The ASLA Oregon Chapter Communications Committee is spearheading an effort to revisit, revamp and bring back to life the publication ORegon land, an award-winning publication that has established the Oregon Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects as a leading chapter within the society! Until further funding is secured, upcoming efforts will take the form of columns, briefs, reviews and photojournalism features in upcoming Newswires, published on a monthly basis.
Act now on this exciting opportunity to contribute and circulate your creative inklings through our community of like-minded design professionals including landscape architects, architects, students and faculty members, political leaders, ASLA state chapter presidents, and other individuals related to the profession.
Interested?
Contact Communications Chair Christopher Olin for more information.
Stay tuned and look for our launch in the July Newswire!
November 12, 2010
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A benefit of membership in ASLA is one free membership to a Professional Practice Networks, in "17 specialized areas of landscape architecture... Membership in these groups is available exclusively to ASLA members, who may join one PPN for free, and each additional PPN for only $15 per year. Topics include a variety of specializations, including: from Campus Planning and Design, Healthcare and Therapeutic Design, Historic Preservation, Transportation, Parks and Recreation, Sustainable Design and Development and Women in Landscape Architecture, to name a few.
Our current Oregon Chapter President Jim Hencke is the national chair of the Urban Design PPN, which periodically releases newsletters of items of interest for members related to urban issue from around the globe. From the latest: "Welcome to our Fall 2010 ASLA Urban Design Professional Practice Network Newsletter! This issue contains articles on art intervention in participatory planning, an analysis of the Křemežsky Brook watershed, A “Kit of Parks†for vacant lots and other unused spaces, and the urban streetscapes of Taipei."
Images from 'Urban Transformations' by Sarah Kathleen Peck
Read the entire selection of Urban Design PPN articles
