
Decarbonizing the Design Process: A Phase by Phase Approach for Landscape Architects - 1.0 PDH (LA CES/HSW)
Recorded On: 03/06/2025
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The ASLA guide Decarbonizing the Design Process offers a phase-by-phase structure to decarbonize design through big ideas, strategies, and best practices. This webinar will explore the guide, with its high-level approach that can be implemented regardless of project type, scope, and scale.
As landscape architects and design professionals, our decisions shape the built environment—and with it, our planet’s future. The built environment is responsible for 42 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, making decarbonization a critical priority.
By integrating low-carbon strategies, addressing environmental impacts, and advocating for sustainable practices, we can lead the shift toward a more climate-positive future.
Join us to discover how thoughtful design choices at every phase can contribute to a more resilient and regenerative world.
Learning Objectives:
At the end of the course participants will be able to:
- Identify strategies to make intentional, informed, and low-carbon decisions at every design phase.
- Explore solutions for reducing emissions and increasing carbon sequestration within projects.
- Develop an understanding of how to integrate this guide into project workflow, as a design and advocacy tool.
Image Credit: 2020 Professional General Design Honor Award. Naval Cemetery Landscape, Brooklyn, NY. Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects / Max Touhey

Alejandra Hinojosa, Affil. ASLA
Sustainability Specialist III
LPA Design Studios
As Sustainability Specialist within LPA’s Sustainability + Applied Research (S+AR) Team, Alejandra is focused on process and progress. LPA Design Studios is a multidisciplinary firm that prioritizes an integrated approach to sustainability which allows Alejandra a unique window of opportunity effect change at a project, discipline, and firm-wide level. Her passion for environmentalism fuels her capacity to advocate for solutions that drive decarbonization and consider the triple bottom line: people, planet, prosperity. She serves on ASLA’s National Climate Action Committee and has been collaborating with her committee members to publish educational material focused on decarbonizing design and construction specifications.

Mariana Ricker, ASLA, PLA
Associate
SWA Group
Mariana Ricker is passionate about California landscapes and emphasizes the importance of site-specific, sustainable landscape design. She enjoys working in urban settings that engage diverse user groups and activate spaces essential to civic life.
In her work as a landscape architect, Mariana seeks to create memorable experiences, connect people to the environment, and provide elegant solutions to accomplish the project vision. At SWA, she works on a wide range of projects, from community parks to large-scale urban development and planning around the Bay Area and beyond. Mariana is committed to climate action within her project work and professionally. She is a member of the national ULI Sustainable Development Product Council, and currently sits on both national and local ASLA Biodiversity & Climate Action Committees.

Andrew Wickham, ASLA, PLA, LEED AP (Moderator)
Project Leader
LPA Design Studios
Andrew Wickham is a Project Leader at LPA, a national integrated design firm. Andrew leads designs at the intersection of built, cultural, and natural systems and is a champion of metric-driven design. His interest lies in how the blending of built and natural environments can enhance a user’s experience and reinforce values of equity, ecology, and curiosity. Andrew is a proven thinker and strategist, speaking at numerous conferences about the value of performative landscapes and human experience. He is currently Trustee for California Sierra Chapter of ASLA and co-chair of the Leadership and Communication sub-committee of the national Biodiversity and Climate Action Committee.
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