thefield.asla.orgThe Field – ASLA Professional Practice Networks’ Blog

Primary Menu HomeContact Us Follow Us Submissions Search Search for: The Field ASLA Professional Practice Networks’ Blog Through Lines May 9, 2024 May 9, 2024 ASLA staff Leave a comment by Tom Martin, PLA, and Caeley Hynes, AICP image: courtesy of Tom Martin, Caeley Hynes, and SmithGroup My colleague, Caeley Hynes, AICP, and I recently finished a research project related to alleyways in Chicago, where we explored the potential of adapting them to better serve alternative modes of transportation. While this post summarizes key findings and provides a sampling of our research, the full report can be found here . Through Lines: An Exploration of Connections Via Chicago’s Alleyways Alleyways are misunderstood. Upon hearing the term, most people are quick to think dirty, dangerous, or dark. While all of these reactions are valid, they undersell the magnificence of alleyways. Defined as a narrow passage behind or between buildings,” the designation of an ‘alleyway’ can be ambiguous. For our purposes, we will define an alleyway as a narrow passage bisecting a city block, typically accommodating back of house functions like trash collection, utility routing, and delivery services. At one point in time, the idea of housing utilities at the back of the house was radical. In Chicago, public sentiment regarding alleyways eventually shifted to a sense of pride. Serving as neighborhood capillaries, they provide physical and social connections for Chicagoans. Simply, alleyways arm Chicagoans with the single, incontestable claim over other large cities: the clean, garbage-free street. This research topic explores the concept of repurposing alleyway systems as an alternative framework of non-motorized connections, using the City of Chicago as a case study. Continue reading → Landscape - Land Use Planning Caeley Hynes , Tom Martin Unity Park Playscape Site Visit May 7, 2024 May 7, 2024 ASLA staff 1 Comment by Roger Grant, PLA, ASLA Unity Park, a world of synthetic turf / image: Roger Grant Any family trip is an opportunity to explore a new playscape, and a recent trip to Unity Park in Greenville, South Carolina, was an eye-opening experience at one of the most ambitious children’s playscapes in the Southeastern US. The park was designed by MKSK for the City of Greenville, and it opened in May of 2022 with a cost of approximately $80 million. It is considered a milestone in social progress , as it merges a historically underfunded and predominantly African American community park with the adjacent historically white community park. At 60 acres, the park is bisected by the ecologically restored Reedy River, and it has a wide variety of amenities, including a sequence of children’s play areas, lawns, trails, a feature pedestrian bridge, parking, and a large former warehouse building repurposed as a collection of restaurants and office spaces. At the time of my visit, I was not aware I was walking into such a large, complex, and historically significant project. I was simply on a brief visit to experience and take observations of an exciting playscape. Continue reading → Children’s Outdoor Environments Roger Grant Rural Chinatowns and Hidden Sites May 2, 2024 May 2, 2024 ASLA staff Leave a comment by Barbara Wyatt, FASLA Terrace, Utah / image: used by permission, Utah Historical Society Rural Chinatowns and Hidden Sites Conference June 18-21, 2024 | Salt Lake City, Utah Deadline to register: May 31 The landscape of Chinatowns is much wider than many would imagine—and many were in some of the nation’s most rural areas. At the Rural Chinatowns and Hidden Sites Conference, presentations about rural Chinese settlements from coast to coast will be explored by archaeologists, historians, preservationists, and descendants of workers who lived in these remote settlements. Some rural Chinatowns have left few aboveground remains, and others are ghost towns.” The conference will also explore the Chinatowns that were once evident in many cities and towns but were abandoned—sometimes by violent acts of discrimination. In many places, these lost communities are being interpreted, memorialized, and commemorated and the contributions of early Chinese residents to a town’s settlement and development are being acknowledged. Both urban and rural places present fascinating stories of boom and bust, angst and exclusion, and triumph and resilience—and raise innumerable preservation and planning questions and opportunities. The conference will consist of two days of presentations and discussions and a day devoted to field trips, with two options: a day-long trip to Terrace, Utah, a ghost town associated with Chinese railroad workers, or a slightly shorter trip to the Golden Spike National Historical Park, which celebrates Chinese workers—among others— associated with the construction of the transcontinental railroad. Continue reading → Historic Preservation Barbara Wyatt Words of Wisdom for Our 2024 Landscape Architecture Graduates April 30, 2024 April 30, 2024 ASLA staff Leave a comment by Chloe Gillespie, Associate ASLA, Magdalena Aravena, PLA, ASLA, Jennifer Ng, PLA, ASLA, Adrian Alexander, Associate ASLA, Megan Barnes, Lexi Banks, Associate ASLA, Gretchen Wilson, PLA, ASLA, LEED, WEDG, Emily Siler, Associate ASLA, Kim Case, PLA, ASLA, CSI CDT®, and Dr. Bo Zhang, ASLA Images courtesy of Adrian Alexander, Chloe Gillespie, Emily Siler, Kim Case, Lexi Banks, Magdalena Aravena, and Megan Barnes Congratulations, Class of 2024! All your hard work is paying off and you are getting your degree! For many of you, this has been a day you have been dreaming about for years, and now it is finally here. So many of you were not able to have a proper high school graduation, making this year extra special. This is your time to shine and come up into the profession ready to put your new knowledge and skills to work. To help get you started, the ASLA Student Support and Engagement Committee has collected some words of wisdom to share with you from recent graduates, current students, and seasoned professionals. We hope you find meaning in these words and you can rely on them as you establish your career. Throughout your career in landscape architecture, there will be great days and there will be rough patches you will have to learn how to manage and adapt to. But for you, that is nothing new: you navigated your way through college during a global pandemic. Figuring out how to be flexible and persevere are skills that are learned the hard way, but they are invaluable skills to have. And it’s okay to change—iteration is a part of design. We hope these words of advice encourage you and inspire you as you emerge into the extraordinary world of landscape architecture. Congratulations again, Class of 2024! Keep up the great work! Continue reading → Education and Practice Adrian Alexander , Bo Zhang , Chloe Gillespie , Emily Siler , Gretchen Wilson , Jennifer Ng , Kim Case , Lexi Banks , Magdalena Aravena , Megan Barnes Transit Oriented Districts: Urban Design Experience April 25, 2024 April 25, 2024 ASLA staff Leave a comment by Taner R. Özdil, Ph.D., ASLA, Kal Almo, ASLA, AIA, Lauren Patterson, PLA, ASLA, Jenny Zhang, Associate ASLA, Tyler Smithson, ASLA, and Brent Raymond, ASLA, OALA, FCSLA, MCIP RPP Mockingbird Station, Dallas, TX / image: Taner R. Ozdil Transit Oriented Districts have been helping reinvigorate towns and cities across the United States and Canada. Beyond the limiting definition of Transit Oriented Development (TOD), Transit Oriented Districts (TODts), are typically defined as the whole area within half a mile of a transit station and are seen as desirable choices for development in metropolitan areas to accommodate the concerns surrounding population growth. TODts are typically characterized by higher development density and a varied mix of land uses, offering sustainable development options to counteract some of the negative effects of urban sprawl, declining urban cores, and congestion...