Landscape architecture is at a pivotal moment in its history as a discipline, where design practice is becoming more reflective, adaptive, and scholarly. As the need for sustainable design grows, it has become imperative that professionals put their work under analytical review and set higher standards for their work to perform environmentally, socially, and economically.

Dependency on tropical hardwoods is unsustainable given current rates of use, ecosystem degradation, and slow renewal rates. Fortunately, there are new alternatives that are durable, beautiful, and renewable. In this session learn how to use and work with thermally modified, acetylated, and polymerized woods, fused bamboo lumber, and black locust.

Numerous environmental stressors impact the longevity of urban forests. Panelists expand on the value of canopy coverage, with topics including heat island reduction, storm water treatment, tree species selection, wildlife habitat, and human comfort. Learn from case studies and collaborations of successful planning, maintaining, and replenishing of urban forests.

Can we achieve extraordinary design, impact, influence, equity, and sustainability through SITES legislation? How can we do this? Learn from Rhode Island's historic Green Buildings Act, becoming the first state in the nation adopting LEED for Neighborhood Development and the highly strategic SITES guiding frameworks into public law.

This session addresses the design process that began at Glenstone in 2003 and evolved into an ongoing collaboration between people and living systems. The panel will describe how landscape architects, native plant consultants, and an organic-oriented in-house team achieved the ecologically diverse and vibrant landscape that continues to evolve today.

The session discusses the past, present, and future of fungi in landscape architecture, including emerging science regarding mycelium, soil microbiomes, and mycorrhizal relationships. The talk explores the opportunities and constraints of working with fungi in green infrastructure projects, mycoremediation, stormwater management, mitigating tree mortality, sequestering carbon, and community engagement.

Climate change has created increasingly volatile water that may overwhelm our stormwater systems. As a response to this threat, site design can create advantageous opportunities, from strengthening sustainability to improving social welfare. This panel explores designing for a changing climate through four projects of varying scale and geographic context.

Since its Green Infrastructure Plan in 2010, New York City has built thousands of green infrastructure projects. The Gowanus watershed in Brooklyn was one of the city's first combined sewer watersheds to pilot many green infrastructure practices. Find out about lessons learned from plans, implemented projects, and maintenance and education programs.

The carbon footprint from the billions of tons of concrete placed each year is substantial, resulting in nearly 8% of total global emissions. This session will provide attendees with tools to reduce the carbon footprint of concrete through use of high-volume cement substitutes, concrete mix optimization, and carbon sequestering technologies.

On sites dominated by infrastructure and impervious surfaces, landscape architects are expected to create successfully integrated, ecologically rich environments. Through a diverse selection of projects, this session will discuss how practitioners can design, implement, and advocate for resilient landscapes in spaces where ecology is feared, considered as an afterthought, or ignored altogether.