Maintenance as Motion: Designing Landscapes That Evolve and Endure - 1.25 PDH (LA CES/HSW) / 1.0 GBCI SITES-Specific CE

Recorded On: 09/17/2026

Landscapes are never finished—they are a work in progress. This session explores how early maintenance planning, stewardship models, and adaptive experimentation, as encouraged in SITES v2, shape landscapes that endure beyond opening day. Discover how to design for imperfect care, evolving ecologies, and community partnership without sacrificing beauty or ambition.

Learning objectives:

Identify key design decisions that influence long-term maintenance performance and integrate maintenance considerations into early project phases, as outlined in SITES v2's integrated design team and pre-design assessment credits.
Evaluate how governance structures, operational capacity, and funding models shape the long-term success of landscapes.
Apply stewardship-based strategies that support adaptive management, community participation, and landscape evolution over time.
Develop practical tools such as maintenance alignment meetings, documentation frameworks, and success metrics to align design intent with long-term care.

The GBCI course ID for this course is 0920034921, providing SITES-specific CE hours required to maintain SITES AP credentials. Participants will need to pass the exam at the end of the presentation in order to receive a certificate of completion. Participants will need to self-report CE hours through their credentials account on https://sitesonline.usgbc.org.

Ashley Langworthy, ASLA, PLA, AICP, LEED AP

Principal + Founder

Miasto

Ashley is the founder and principal of Miasto, a consultancy focused on creating civic life through thriving public realms and parks. Ashley has been in practice for more than 20 years and draws from her diverse experience in park management, ecology, economics, placemaking, real estate, and design. She works with cities, non-profits, and designers on park and public realm projects, creating plans and strategies for activation, management, maintenance, operations, governance, and ongoing revenue development.

John Pearson, ASLA, PLA

Senior Landscape Architect

RIOS

John is a landscape architect with 20 years of experience enhancing the public realm through socially and ecologically responsive design. His began his career volunteering in botanical gardens, developing expertise in plant care and California’s ecological character. He now integrates horticulture, urban design, and cultural context to create environments that foster connection, civic presence, and long-term stewardship. John leads large teams on complex sites from concept through implementation, with a portfolio spanning diverse climates and geographies. He also writes the weekly horticultural series “Hot Plant Tips” to share horticultural insights with fellow plant obsessives.

Maxwell Kanter

Founder

Saturate and Test Plot

Max Kanter is a Los Angeles, CA and Berlin, Germany based professional gardener and landscape consultant. He is the co-founder of Saturate, a California native plant garden maintenance company overseeing 125 private and public gardens in Los Angeles. He is also a co-founder and Treasurer of the Board of Trustees of Test Plot and serves as Secretary of the Board of Trustees of the Theodore Payne Foundation, LA’s premiere native plant nursery and education center. Max holds a BA in Geography from Middlebury College and speaks Spanish (C-level), German (C-level), and Portuguese (B1).