Seawalls, breakwaters, revetments, and piers line much of the urban waterfront, and they are among the most heavily engineered landscapes a design team will work on. They can also provide habitat for marine life when ecological goals are built into the structure from the start. This session follows a waterfront project through the design process, from concept to post-construction, and shows where ecological and engineering input belongs at each stage.

Drawing on constructed projects in the United States and Europe, Dr. Ido Sella explains how local conditions such as water levels, exposure, and existing habitats shape the ecological opportunity, and how habitat features are coordinated with engineering requirements during design. He then covers what it takes to deliver those features: physical model testing, durability and structural testing, construction documents, and integration with standard materials and construction methods. The session closes with monitoring evidence from completed projects, including comparisons against control surfaces, and what that evidence can and cannot tell a design team about ecological and engineering performance over time.

Learning objectives:

• Identify opportunities for nature-inclusive solutions within different types of hard-engineered waterfront infrastructure.
• Determine when ecological engineering input should be incorporated to reflect local conditions and support feasibility, permitting, and project delivery.
• Interpret evidence from constructed projects and monitoring programs when considering ecological engineering performance.

ASLA Online Learning Labs, available exclusively to ASLA members, allow you to learn from the best in the business. Tap into the knowledge of the people and companies that are transforming the future of our industry through emerging trends and techniques. Discover real world applications that will put your projects above the rest. 

This Online Learning Lab is brought to you by:

Image: Drone image of Huron Street waterfront project designed by SCAPE with ECOncrete Armor Blocks, New York City, NY / Ty Cole 

Make cultural humility a lifelong practice by connecting to long-term stewardship and ethical obligations to support change. Learn how landscape architecture can contribute to healing people and land through commitments that last beyond project delivery.

Learning objectives:

• Understand the importance of making cultural humility an ongoing part of professional practice.
• Evaluate projects using cultural humility indicators rather than relying solely on technical metrics.
• Develop a personal and organizational roadmap for practicing cultural humility over time.

Image: Tásmam Koyóm Cultural Park – Visioning Workshop, Maidu Summit Consortium, Chester, CA. NPS Rivers, Trails, and Conservation Assistance Program / National Park Service

Design is more than shaping places; it is about shaping relationships. Every project leaves an imprint on the land, on communities, and on future generations. 

Cultural humility is the discipline of approaching that responsibility with curiosity instead of certainty, reciprocity instead of extraction, and accountability instead of intention. 

Through this four-part webinar series, landscape architects are invited not simply to learn about Indigenous Peoples, but to transform how they practice in service of healthier lands, stronger communities, and enduring right relations.

Framework

Rather than presenting cultural awareness as a checklist, this webinar series will frame cultural humility as an ongoing professional practice change that transforms how landscape architects listen, build relationships, make informed decisions, and help steward land through co-creation.

Based on the philosophy of MIG's Native Nation Building Studio—design is relationship, planning is healing, and landscape architecture is an act of reciprocity—the series will center Indigenous leadership, trauma-informed engagement, inherent Indigenous sovereignty, and accountability rather than simply providing historical information.

Theme

Creating landscapes that heal communities through practice that understand relationships, not projects, as the foundation of lasting change for future generations.

The overall webinar series progression will be from awareness to understanding to reflection to practice, highlighting that cultural humility is never ending, and something that needs to become part of our professional practice.

Series Outcome

By the conclusion of the four-part series, participants should be able to:

• Explain why cultural humility is an ethical obligation in landscape architecture.
• Differentiate consultation, engagement, collaboration, and co-creation.
• Understand why relationship building is important part of our work.
• Apply trauma-informed principles to community engagement.
• Recognize Inherent Indigenous sovereignty and Indigenous self-determination as essential planning contexts.
• Integrate Indigenous knowledge respectfully through relationship rather than extraction.
• Evaluate projects using cultural humility indicators rather than relying solely on technical metrics.
• Develop a personal and organizational roadmap for practicing cultural humility over time.

This framing aligns with ASLA’s commitments to climate action, environmental justice, and ethical practice while contributing to healing people, place and relationships grounding in respect, reciprocity, and Indigenous leadership.

Images left to right: Chehalis Basin Local Actions Non-Dam (LAND) Alternative, State of Washington, Department of Ecology – Quinault Indian Nation Meeting, Taholah, WA. MIG, Inc. / MIG, Inc.; Iipay Nation of Santa Ysabel Tribal Community Plan - Kumeyaay Annual Gathering of Nations, MIG, Inc. / MIG, Inc.; Shasta Takelma Indigenous Garden at Southern Oregon University, Ashland, OR. Visioning Workshop. MIG, Inc. / Mohammad A. Zamani (MAZ); Tásmam Koyóm Cultural Park – Visioning Workshop, Maidu Summit Consortium, Chester, CA. NPS Rivers, Trails, and Conservation Assistance Program / National Park Service

Explore the cutting edge of technology in practice and tools for site analysis, visualization, design, and collaboration. Moving beyond the basics, Tech Day starts with a deep dive into Geospatial AI with Esri, where you will discover how to harness machine learning and satellite imagery to track shifting environments, from forest loss to urban sprawl, even when traditional data is unavailable. Learn to extract intricate landscape patterns using pre-trained and self-trained models, empowering you to make data-driven design decisions for ecological preservation and long-term land-use strategies. This session will be complemented by technical demonstrations from industry leaders SiteMarker, Land F/X, and Terravive. Tech Day provides the high-tech toolkit you need to master complex sites and redefine the boundaries of your practice. 

Tech Day: Wednesday, November 18, 2026

Mapping Change: How Machine Learning Reveals Shifting Landscapes
1:00-2:00 p.m. (Eastern)
1.0 PDH (LA CES/non-HSW)
ASLA Online Learning Lab presented by Esri

Tech Demo’s

• SiteMarker: 2:15 p.m. (Eastern)
• Land F/X: 3:00 p.m. (Eastern)
• Terravive: 3:45 p.m. (Eastern)

Tech Day registration is FREE for ASLA members. If you can't make it to the live event, Tech Day will be recorded and available afterwards on-demand.

Image: Lagos, Nigeria. Growth from 2013 to 2024 / Renia Kagkou, Esri, Satellite Data: USGS, Landsat 8

Unlock the secrets to success in the Planning and Design section of the L.A.R.E.. Explore exam sub-domains and discover the specific knowledge and skills vital for passing. Engage in insightful Q&A discussions led by experienced practitioners.

This webinar will look at the process of ornamental plant breeding from ideation to buying a mature plant for a project. We will review the basic science of plant breeding, what techniques are currently being used in ornamental plant breeding, and how plants are evaluated.

Learning objectives:

• Learn what motivates plant breeders to develop new ornamental plants.
• Review the basics of plant breeding and how new plants are evaluated and introduced to the horticulture trade. 
• Develop a system for evaluating new plants for your own practice and a timeline for including them in designs. 

ASLA Online Learning Labs, available exclusively to ASLA members, allow you to learn from the best in the business. Tap into the knowledge of the people and companies that are transforming the future of our industry through emerging trends and techniques. Discover real world applications that will put your projects above the rest. 

This Online Learning Lab is brought to you by:

Image: Plant evaluation in the Research & Development Greenhouse / Proven Winners® ColorChoice®

Biodiverse urban landscapes provide multiple benefits that are superior to those offered by traditionally designed spaces. Research has shown the health benefits of green spaces in cities, and current research explores the added benefits of biodiverse urban spaces. At the same time, multiple studies have demonstrated that in many cities, equitable access to nature is still a challenge to be addressed. This webinar explores these topics and offers a primer on how to increase equitable access to biodiversity through projects.

Learning objectives:

• Identify the equity issues related to access to nature in cities and apply that knowledge to their own projects.
• Understand the complexity of supporting biodiversity in urban and landscape design projects and their relationship to equitable access to nature.
• Identify legal and policy issues that shape access to nature and explain the implications for equitable access.  
• Identify how urban rivers concentrate both ecological degradation and disinvestment, and explain how their restoration can advance equitable access to biodiverse landscapes.  
• Apply principles of reciprocal stewardship to design and maintenance decisions that keep biodiverse landscapes accessible to surrounding communities. 

image: Blue River Greenway, Kansas City, MO / Sur Landscape Architecture

A free webinar series for ASLA members hosted by the ASLA Climate & Biodiversity Action Committee

The CBAC leads the implementation of the ASLA Climate & Biodiversity Action Plan. Join climate and biodiversity action leaders for a webinar series exploring innovative strategies for decarbonization, biodiversity conservation, and climate resilience.

This series is designed to expand knowledge within the profession to achieve the plan’s Vision for 2040 – All landscape architecture projects will simultaneously:

• Achieve zero greenhouse gas emissions and double carbon sequestration from business as usual.
• Protect, conserve, restore, enhance, and manage biodiversity
• Provide significant economic benefits in the form of measurable ecosystem services, co-benefits, and livelihoods.
• Address climate and biodiversity injustices, amplify the power of communities, and increase the equitable distribution of climate and biodiversity investments.

This webinar series is underwritten by

Image credit: ASLA 2020 Professional General Design Honor Award. The Native Plant Garden at The New York Botanical Garden. Bronx, New York. OEHME, VAN SWEDEN | OvS / Ivo Vermeulen

Play is more than just recreation; it's an essential part of healthy and thriving communities. In this session, we examine the changing landscape of play design and how new trends are turning outdoor spaces into destinations that promote wellbeing, inclusion and community connection.

This session establishes the importance of play and explores key trends in play and recreation design—such as adventure and awe, universal design, and the growth of outdoor fitness—and their positive effects on people of all ages and abilities. Attendees will learn how intentionally designed spaces promote development, support equity, and deliver measurable benefits to communities.

Learning objectives:

• Discuss the importance of play and outdoor environments in supporting individual and community development and why outdoor spaces foster unplugging. 
• Use data and research to demonstrate the importance of public play, recreation, and outdoor fitness spaces.
• Identify key trends in play design and how they promote equity, outdoor engagement, and developmental benefits.
• Explore how trends in play align with universal design principles and how to incorporate both in playspace design.

ASLA Online Learning Labs, available exclusively to ASLA members, allow you to learn from the best in the business. Tap into the knowledge of the people and companies that are transforming the future of our industry through emerging trends and techniques. Discover real world applications that will put your projects above the rest. 

This Online Learning Lab is brought to you by:

Image: At Jewett Park in Deerfield, Illinois, thoughtful design creates more than a playground—it creates a place where movement, exploration and connection come together. / BCI Burke

Theodore Roosevelt was transformed by the Badlands; this library transforms visitors. This session reveals how architects, landscape designers, and storytellers turned site, ecology, and history into an immersive, living landscape. Attendees will learn how bold collaboration, ecological design, and narrative-driven planning can create civic spaces that inspire, educate, and endure.

Learning objectives:

• Apply strategies for collaborative leadership that translate articulated design vision into built reality by aligning clients, architects, landscape architects, and construction teams to guide projects from concept to completion.
• Translate site analysis into design decisions by recognizing how subtle ecological, historical, and cultural qualities can drive innovative design solutions.
• Develop design strategies rooted in iterative, phased exploration while thinking at a systems level, moving beyond property lines and zones to create cohesive, contextually responsive landscapes that connect broader experiences.
• Incorporate land management and ecological stewardship as integral components of site planning, restoration, and long-term landscape performance.