CPPLA Virtual Field Study Program: Resilience Hubs in the Public Realm - 2021

VIRTUAL FIELD STUDY

LA 4621L LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE CAPSTONE STUDIO SPRING | 2021 COLLEGE OF ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN | CAL POLY POMONA

MONDAY | WEDNESDAY | FRIDAY FEBRUARY 15. 17. 19. 2021 Resilience Hubs in the Public Realm | Los Angeles

PRESENTED BY: CAL POLY POMONA | LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE

VIRTUAL FIELD STUDY PROGRAM RESILIENCE HUBS IN THE PUBLIC REALM | LOS ANGELES SCHEDULE AT A GLANCE DAY 1 1:15PM-2:15PM

Monday, February 15, 1pm-6:15pm

BRENDAN SHANE | TRUST FOR PUBLIC LAND

2:30PM-3:30PM DR. FRANCISCO ESCOBEDO | LA URBAN CENTER/USFS 3:45PM-4:45PM KRISTIN BAJA | URBAN SUSTAINABLITY DIRECTORS NETWORK 5:00PM-6:00PM RONNELL HAMPTON | LA FOOD POLICY COUNCIL + GROWING GREATNESS

DAY 2

Wednesday, February 17, 1pm-6pm

1:00PM-2:00PM NATALIE HERNANDEZ | CLIMATE RESOLVE APRIL SANDIFER | SLATE-Z 2:15PM-3:15PM

KOFI BOONE, FASLA | NC STATE UNIVERSITY

3:30PM-4:30PM KATE ORFF, FASLA | COLUMBIA GSAPP/FOUNDER, SCAPE JOHANNA LOVECCHIO | CENTER FOR RESILIENT CITIES AND LANDSCAPES

4:45PM-5:45PM SARAH MOOS THOMPSON, PLA, ASLA | BIONIC

DAY 3

Friday, February 19, 1pm-6pm

1:00PM-2:00PM DR. LUCY JONES | DR. LUCY JONES CENTER FOR SCIENCE AND SOCIETY

JOHN BWARIE | DR. LUCY JONES CENTER / STRATISCOPE 2:15PM-3:15PM

CARL ELEFANTE, FAIA, FAPT | QUINN EVANS ARCHITECTURE

3:30PM-4:30PM EMILIANO RODRIGUEZ NUESCH | PACIFICO 4:45PM-5:45PM NORMA VEGA | AMERICAN RED CROSS 2

VIRTUAL FIELD STUDY PROGRAM RESILIENCE HUBS IN THE PUBLIC REALM | LOS ANGELES DAY 1

Monday, February 15, 1pm-6:15pm

OPENING REMARKS

1:00PM-1:15PM

Ray Senes / Instructor, Landscape Architecture-Cal Poly Pomona

BRENDAN SHANE

1:15PM-2:15PM

Trust for Public Land / Climate Director-Washington, DC "Urban Greening to Build Resilient Hubs and Communities” https://www.tpl.org/how-we-work/climate-smart-cities

DR. FRANCISCO ESCOBEDO

2:30PM-3:30PM

LA Urban Center / US Forest Service Social Scientist “Transdisciplinary and Socio-Ecological Research on Urban Forests” https://laurbanresearchcenter.org/

KRISTIN BAJA

3:45PM-4:45PM

Urban Sustainability Directors Network / Climate Resilience Program Director “Resilience Hubs: A Holistic Approach to Shifting Power to Communities” https://www.usdn.org/index.html#/

RONNELL HAMPTON

5:00PM-6:00PM

LA Food Policy Council / Policy Manager + Growing Greatness / Founder “Building Resiliency Hubs with Community Led Projects” https://www.goodfoodla.org/ https://www.growinggreatnessnow.com/

CLOSING REMARKS 3

6:00PM-6:15PM

VIRTUAL FIELD STUDY PROGRAM RESILIENCE HUBS IN THE PUBLIC REALM | LOS ANGELES DAY 2

Wednesday, February 17, 1pm-6pm

NATALIE HERNANDEZ CLIMATE RESOLVE APRIL SANDIFER SLATE-Z

1:00PM-2:00PM

Climate Resolve + SLATE-Z - Los Angeles

Natalie Hernandez: Associate Director, Climate Planning & Resilience April Sandifer: Program Manager, South LA Transit Empowerment Zone "A Community Resilience and Access Plan for Baldwin Hills Conservancy”

https://www.climateresolve.org/ https://slatez.org/

KOFI BOONE, FASLA

2:15PM-3:15PM

NC State University / Professor and University Faculty Scholar Department of Landscape Architecture & Environmental Planning “Notes on Resilience” https://design.ncsu.edu/people/kmboone/

KATE ORFF, FASLA JOHANNA LOVECCHIO

3:30PM-4:30PM

Center for Resilient Cities and Landscapes: Columbia University

Kate Orff: Director + Professor, Columbia GSAPP/Founder, SCAPE Johanna Lovecchio: Associate Director, Center for Resilient Cities and Landscapes - Columbia Univeristy, New York

“Towards Resilient Cities and Landscapes” https://crcl.columbia.edu/ https://www.scapestudio.com/

SARAH MOOS THOMPSON

4:45PM-5:45PM

Bionic/ Senior Associate, San Francisco “Inventing Landscapes: Strategies for Community & Climate Resilience” https://bioniclandscape.com/

CLOSING REMARKS

5:45PM-6:00PM

Andy Wilcox / Professor + CPPLA Department Chair

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VIRTUAL FIELD STUDY PROGRAM RESILIENCE HUBS IN THE PUBLIC REALM | LOS ANGELES DAY 3

Friday, February 19, 1pm-6pm

DR. LUCY JONES JOHN BWARIE

1:00PM-2:00PM

Dr. Lucy Jones Center for Science and Society

Dr. Lucy Jones: Founder and Chief Scientist - Dr. Lucy Jones Center John Bwarie: Deputy Director - Dr. Lucy Jones Center / CEO Stratiscope "How to Work with Experts and Expert Information to Build a More Resilient Society” http://drlucyjonescenter.org/

CARL ELEFANTE, FAIA, FAPT

2:15PM-3:15PM

Quinn Evans Architecture / Principal Emeritus “Urbanism’s Relevance Revolution” https://www.quinnevans.com/

EMILIANO RODRIGUEZ NUESCH

3:30PM-4:30PM

Pacifico: Creative Risk Communications/ Director “A Creative Approach to Risk and Resilience” https://pacifico.la/

NORMA VEGA

4:45PM-5:45PM

The American Red Cross / Chief Strategy & External Relations Officer - Los Angeles Region “Resiliency, Disaster Response and Social Equity: My journey to the American Red Cross” https://www.redcross.org/

FINAL REMARKS

5:45PM-6:00PM

Ray Senes / Instructor, Landscape Architecture-Cal Poly Pomona

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*from Resilient Los Angeles Report, 2019

SPEAKER BIOS + TOPICS

VIRTUAL FIELD STUDY PROGRAM RESILIENCE HUBS IN THE PUBLIC REALM | LOS ANGELES SPEAKER BIOS + TOPICS APRIL SANDIFER April Sandifer is a native Angeleno who is passionate about social and environmental justice. After decades of watching her great grandmother work tirelessly fighting for her South LA Community, she is excited to have the opportunity to give back. As Program Manager, she supports

SLATE-Z’s

efforts to promote neighborhood revitalization, educational excellence, and economic empowerment to help realize the tremendous promise and potential of South Los Angeles. Prior to joining SLATE-Z, April worked with key leaders in the land use and real estate profession as manager of the Urban Land Institute in Los Angeles (ULI LA). During her career, April has been involved with a number of non-profit organizations most notably the Loyola Marymount University Center for Urban Resilience (CURes) as Operations Manager. Through her work at CURes, she collaborated with such organizations as the Friends of Ballona Wetlands, the Bay Foundation, Heal the Bay, and the Department of Beaches and Harbors on multiple community-based science and educational programs. April received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Urban Studies and her Master's Degree in Urban Ecology both from Loyola Marymount University. She is a proud double Lion and continues to live in Los Angeles.

April will speak with Natalie Hernandez on a community resilience and access plan for Baldwin Hills Conservancy. (also see Natalie Hernandez on p. 10)

BRENDAN SHANE Brendan Shane is Climate Director for

The Trust for Public Land (TPL), leading efforts to leverage

the power of parks and land protection to build more climate resilient communities. The Trust for Public Land’s climate program works nationwide with communities of all sizes, across a wide range of landscapes to address the increasingly dangerous impacts of climate change through natural and nature-based practices. Brendan previously served as Regional Director for North America and Deadline 2020 Program Director for C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group and as Chief of Policy and Sustainability for the District of Columbia Government and Environmental Director for the Anacostia Waterfront Corporation. He is a watershed hydrologist and attorney, with a BA in government from Franklin & Marshall College, MS in geology from the University of Maryland, and JD from the Georgetown University Law Center.

Brendan will speak on urban greening to build resilient hubs and communities with TPL.

CARL ELEFANTE, FAIA, FAPT Carl is a Principal Emeritus at

Quinn Evans Architecture in Washington, DC. Throughout his

career, he has championed the concept of sustainable stewardship. As an architect, preservation specialist, and sustainability advocate, he has pioneered design concepts that reflect a breakthrough combination of historic and environmental preservation. His commitment to sustainable practices is evident throughout his portfolio, ranging from iconic buildings to complex Modern-era structures. His work also includes heritage plans for campuses and multi-building sites.

Carl believes that the imperative of sustainable, ethical stewardship applies to all types of historic structures. His leadership and ideas have challenged and advanced the architectural profession and enhanced the experience of all those who visit the buildings that he has helped modernize.

Carl is a member of the College of Fellows, The Association for Preservation Technology and the American Institute of Architects. He recieved his Bachelor of Architecture, University of Maryland, 1980.

Carl will speak on urbanism’s relevance revolution addressing climate change as the driver for wholesale transformation of the built environment, which affords the next generation of designers opportunities to address intransigent and interlocking social, economic, and environmental problems.

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VIRTUAL FIELD STUDY PROGRAM RESILIENCE HUBS IN THE PUBLIC REALM | LOS ANGELES SPEAKER BIOS + TOPICS EMILIANO RODRIGUEZ NUESCH Emiliano directs

Pacifico, a creative communications agency focused on urban resilience and

disaster risk reduction. A partner of the 100 Resilient Cities network, Pacifico applies creative communications and participatory design to help cities reduce risk posed by climate change, earthquakes, floods and other disasters. Their latest projects include building coastal resilience in New Orleans, applying participatory design in Buenos Aires and reducing flood risk in Santiago de Chile. Pacifico also works in citizen science projects with the US Geological Survey, the California Institute of Technology and the Dr. Lucy Jones Foundation engaging communities on issues such as sea-level rise and seismic risk. Emiliano has been a guest speaker for the California Energy Commission, the US Geological Survey, the Aid Forum in Washington, as well as at four previous SXSW conferences. He directed the Toxic Tours initiative for Greenpeace Mexico, which was awarded a Gold Lion at the Cannes Festival of Creativity. He also worked in Japan on four editions of the Final Fantasy series of video games. His work has been awarded at international festivals, including Cannes, IAB Mixx and NY Festivals.

Emiliano will speak on Pacifico's creative approach to risk and resilience, highlighting some of their local resilient initiatives as well as those in other locations and contexts all around the world.

DR. FRANCISCO ESCOBEDO

USDA Forest Service’s Pacific Southwest Research Station and the Los Angeles Center for Urban Natural Resources Sustainability.

Dr Escobedo is a Research Scientist with the

Most recently he was a Professor of Socio-ecological Systems at the Universidad del Rosario in Bogota, Colombia (2016-2020) and an Associate Professor of Urban and Community Forestry at the University of Florida (2006-2105). He has a PhD in Environmental Policy and an MS in Watershed Management.

Dr Escobedo will speak on the topic of transdisciplinary and socio-ecological research on urban forests.

JOHANNA LOVECCHIO Johanna Lovecchio is the Associate Director of the

Center for Resilient Cities and Landscapes.

She specializes in urban climate adaptation planning and public infrastructure project design that is forward-looking and conscious of community-based and ecosystem resilience. Most recently, Johanna led a year-long engagement with Tel Aviv-Yafo – “Urban Heat, Equity, Resilience, and the Future of the Public Realm” – which assessed city-wide vulnerability to heat impacts and generated community-based urban design concepts to be piloted by the municipality. Prior to joining CRCL, Johanna worked as a Senior Analyst and Program Manager at HR&A Advisors, where she scaled resilience capacity-building models, including the National Disaster Resilience Competition and Global Resilience Academy programs, developed city- and district-wide climate adaptation plans, such as the Lower Manhattan Climate Resilience Study, and supported the design and evaluation of transformational urban resilience infrastructure investments. As City Planner at the New York City Department of City Planning, she researched planning opportunities in post-industrial, waterfront communities impacted by Hurricane Sandy. Johanna holds a Masters of Urban Planning from the Robert F. Wagner School of Public Service and dual Bachelor of Arts degrees in Environmental Studies and Metropolitan Studies from the New York University College of Arts and Sciences.

Johanna Lovecchio will speak with Kate Orff and discuss their work at the Center for Resilient Cities and in the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation at Columbia University. (also see Kate Orff on p. 9) 8

VIRTUAL FIELD STUDY PROGRAM RESILIENCE HUBS IN THE PUBLIC REALM | LOS ANGELES SPEAKER BIOS + TOPICS JOHN BWARIE

Stratiscope CEO John Bwarie has spent the past two decades building coalitions, creating messages that lead to direct actions, & creating plans to achieve targeted results related to natural hazard resilience. He worked for the LA Mayor & City Council, co-created the Great

Dr. Lucy Jones and many other leaders and organizations on community resilience and is often on media ShakeOut, and developed the SoCal Disaster Risk Reduction Initiative. He has advised explaining how people in communities can manage the disasters they face.

John will speak with Dr. Lucy Jones on how to work with experts and expert information to build a more resilient society. Long time collaborators, Lucy & John will explain their best practices in understanding and communicating the impacts of risks to those who can take action and how to build resilience to risks, as both a localized, personal issue as well as macro, societal issue. (also see Dr. Lucy Jones on p. 10)

KATE ORFF, FASLA

Center for Resilient Cities and Landscapes, an Associate Columbia Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, and Director of the Urban Design (MSAUD) Program. She coordinates complex, interdisciplinary Kate Orff is the Faculty Director of the Professor at the

studios centered on urban systems of the future with a focus on ecological infrastructure, global cities and climate adaptation. Kate is a registered landscape architect and a principal of

SCAPE,

an award winning, 30-person professional practice based in lower Manhattan. The firm has won national and local American Society of Landscape Architecture Awards for built projects, planning, and communications work. The work of the office has been featured on the cover of Landscape Architecture Magazine, Landscape Architecture Magazine China, and Topos, and in The New York Times, The New Yorker, and The Economist, among other publications.

Kate Orff and Johanna Lovecchio will discuss their work at the Center for Resilient Cities and in the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation at Columbia University. They will discuss projects and methods from the Resilience Accelerator Program and Water Urbanisms Studio, where research and student work are directly applied to projects and challenges on the ground. They will draw on lessons from heat vulnerability analyses and community-centered urban design engagement in Tel Aviv-Yafo and in Los Angeles County as well as student work that reimagines urban systems and community resilience in cities like Amman, Jordan and Varanasi, India.

KRISTIN BAJA Kristin Baja (‘Baja’) is the

Urban Sustainability Directors Network's Climate Resilience Officer and

is responsible for helping cities identify strategic ways to advance climate resilience planning and implementation and building their capacity to take proactive action. Baja focuses her time on supporting members and partners in working at the nexus of resilience, mitigation and equity while also helping center equity in their climate and sustainability work. She helps facilitate deeper relationships between local governments and stakeholders while helping to identify and shift focus to more collaborative and transformational action. Prior to USDN, Baja served as the Climate and Resilience Planner with the City of Baltimore's Office of Sustainability where she led the city's climate and equity work. She holds a Masters of Urban Planning and a Masters of Science from the University of Michigan. She is also an Aspen Global Change Institute Fellow, is an EPIC-N board member, and serves on several local and international advisory committees. In 2016, she was recognized by the Obama Administration as a Champion of Change for her work on climate and equity.

Kristin will speak on the topic of Resilience Hubs: A Holistic Approach to Shifting Power to Communities.

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VIRTUAL FIELD STUDY PROGRAM RESILIENCE HUBS IN THE PUBLIC REALM | LOS ANGELES SPEAKER BIOS + TOPICS KOFI BOONE, FASLA

Department of Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning at NC State University in the College of Design. Kofi Kofi Boone, FASLA is a University Faculty Scholar and Professor in the

is a Detroit native and a graduate of the University of Michigan (BSNR 1992, MLA 1995). His work is in the overlap between landscape architecture and environmental justice with specializations in democratic design, digital media, and interpreting cultural landscapes. Kofi’s teaching and professional work have earned awards including student and professional ASLA awards. He serves on the Board of Directors of The Corps Network as well as the Landscape Architecture Foundation where he is President-Elect. Kofi serves on the advisory board of The Black Landscape Architects Network. He has published work broadly in peer-reviewed as well as popular media. including The Conversation, Journal of Landscape and Urban Planning and Landscape Architecture Magazine.

Kofi will speak of notes on resilience - the need to build our capacity in the social capital areas of resilience and pointing to cases as well as emerging metrics.

DR. LUCY JONES

Dr. Lucy Jones Center for Science and Society, a Research Associate at the Seismological Laboratory of Caltech, and author of The Big Ones: How Natural Disasters have Shaped Us (Doubleday, 2018). With a BA in Chinese Dr. Lucy Jones is founder and chief scientist of the

Language and Literature from Brown University and a Ph.D. in Seismology from MIT, Dr. Jones furthers resilience to natural hazards through scientific research and collaborations with policy makers, including 33 years with the US Geological Survey, where she created the first Great ShakeOut. Dr. Jones has been active in earthquake research for decades, furthering earthquake risk reduction through seismological research and integrated disaster scenarios.

Dr. Lucy Jones will speak with John Bwarie on how to work with experts and expert information to build a more resilient society. Long time collaborators, Lucy & John will explain their best practices in understanding and communicating the impacts of risks to those who can take action and how to build resilience to risks, as both a localized, personal issue as well as macro, societal issue. (also see John Bwarie on p. 9)

NATALIE HERNANDEZ Natalie Hernandez is a specialist in environmental policy and community planning. Since being at

Climate Resolve, she has managed the “Ready for Tomorrow?” climate preparedness research,

co-authored the State’s Adaptation Planning Guide, led community outreach for an urban cooling project in Canoga Park, and provided technical expertise on various climate grant programs.

Natalie is knowledgeable about climate change government processes, funding, stakeholder engagement, and resilience. She has a strong passion for environmental justice and climate equity, which she attributes to growing up in Long Beach, a core hub of goods movement, air quality issues, and climate adaptation in the Los Angeles area. Her past experience includes positions at the California Natural Resources Agency, California Air Resources Board, Institute for Local Government, and USC Equity Research Institute (formerly USC PERE).

Natilie will speak with April Sandifer on Climate Resolve's and SLATE-Z's development of a Community Resilience and Access Plan to help guide the Baldwin Hills Conservancy in increasing the resilience of its Parklands and its benefits to disadvantaged communities (DACs). The presentation will give an overview of the organizations and a preview of the plan’s goals to promote resilience of the natural landscape and outline the steps the Conservancy can take to increase the resilience of the Parklands as a community resource.

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VIRTUAL FIELD STUDY PROGRAM RESILIENCE HUBS IN THE PUBLIC REALM | LOS ANGELES SPEAKER BIOS + TOPICS NORMA VEGA Norma Vega serves as the Chief Strategy & External Relations Officer providing strategic advice to the CEO on community engagement, government relations, diversity and inclusion, and crisis management. She developed the community organizing and engagement strategy for PrepareLA, the innovative resiliency-building initiative in LA’s most vulnerable communities that has been recognized locally and nationally, including its impactful work to reduce home-fire deaths and diversifying volunteer work in preparedness and disaster response. Ms. Vega has supported and deployed to

American Red Cross disaster responses to hurricanes, floods, mass shootings,

wildfires, earthquakes, and COVID-19. Additionally, she manages the relationships with national Latino organizations and leaders to activate them in times of disasters on behalf the National Red Cross to ensure equitable and culturally competent service delivery to the Latino community.

Ms.Vega worked in Washington, DC as a Senior Advocacy Consultant at the Ibarra Strategy Group – a government and public affairs firm where she handled intergovernmental support, external communications, Latino outreach, and political affairs. She also served as Executive Director of the Office of the Census 2010 in the Office of Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. In this capacity, she developed a highly successful citywide educational and community outreach campaign to ensure the complete count of L.A. residents that resulted in the highest participation rate of any comparable city. She began her career at the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) in various positions. Norma has dedicated her career to advocating and organizing for social justice issues and enhancing the quality of life for under-served communities. Ms. Vega graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Criminology, Law & Society from the University of California, Irvine. She was born in Mexico and raised in Los Angeles where she currently resides.

Norma will speak on stories of resiliency, disaster response and social equity, outlining her journey to the American Red Cross.

RONNELL HAMPTON Ronnell Hampton works as a Policy Manager with the

Los Angeles Food Policy Council. In this

position, Ronnell leads LAFPC's policy development as the staff liaison to the Food Waste Rescue & Prevention, Good Food Economy, and Regenerative Urban Agriculture Working Groups. He facilitates policy development using a collective impact approach to manage community organizing by cultivating relationships with impacted people, community organizations, and government agencies at the local, state, and federal levels. By leveraging strategic approaches to policy development and implementation that centers racial, social, economic, and environmental justice, Ronnell moves the Good Food for All Agenda forward. In addition to the policy works Ronnell facilitates project management for the brick and mortar transformation of storefronts in South Los Angeles, participating in the Healthy Neighborhood Market Network Program. Ronnell interprets and understands business development needs, project design goals, and project features. He facilitates these outcomes by collaborating with business owners, architect firms, contractors, and other stakeholders. Ronnell Hampton graduated from CSU Dominguez Hills with a B.A. in Negotiation Conflict Resolution and Peace-building, and a Minor in Africana Studies.

Ronnell went on to receive his Masters in Urban Sustainability from Antioch University in 2017.

Ronnell is also certified in computer-aided drafting design and is currently pursuing an Architectural Drafting and Design certification. Ronnell's goal is to make a material changes in the built, systemic, and natural environments. In 2017, Ronnell started

Growing Greatness, an

organization committed to social and environmental justice. Growing Greatness provides consultation and customized trainings for small to midsize organizations. Trainings include DEI, Social Justice, Policy and Organization Development.

Ronnell will speak on the topic of building resiliency hubs with community led projects.

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VIRTUAL FIELD STUDY PROGRAM RESILIENCE HUBS IN THE PUBLIC REALM | LOS ANGELES SPEAKER BIOS + TOPICS SARAH MOOS THOMPSON, PLA, ASLA Sarah specializes in identifying design strategies that use open space to create community and climate resilience. Sarah brings expertise to projects in the early stages of conceptualization, entitlements, project management, and community engagement. As a Senior Associate at

Bionic,

Sarah is involved in the project management, design and technical execution of projects including the design of public parks, plazas, campuses, streetscapes, waterfronts, and public access sites.

Sarah was the project manager for the India Basin Waterfront Park, a 27 acre waterfront park and mixed-use development in San Francisco that recently received entitlements. The design was developed in collaboration with the community and incorporates an 11 acre waterfront park and accessible shoreline, fields and play areas, public plazas, on-structure landscapes, streetscapes, 1200 units, on-site stormwater and blackwater management, and unique encounters with the Bay.

Resilient By Design Bay Area Challenge to develop a resilience vision for the City of San Rafael. Sarah managed a creative Recently, Sarah led a large multi-disciplinary team for the

and extensive community engagement process to reach people on their terms. Bionic received a 2019 ASLA national award for the project’s extensive community engagement. Sarah has been recognized as an up-and-coming designer for her urban design proposals and was selected as a Curbed Young Guns Finalist. Her proposals on activating remnant spaces, urban ecology, and urban forestry have been featured in Landscape Architecture Magazine, the University of Pennsylvania’s Scenario Journal, and the San Francisco Urban Forest Master Plan. She was awarded the SPUR Piero N. Patri Fellowship to pursue her public open space network proposal for the Southeastern Waterfront of San Francisco.

Sarah will speak on the work of Bionic. Bionic invents landscapes. The firm’s mandate is simply to “enable life.” Sarah Moos Thompson, PLA, ASLA, senior associate at Bionic, will present the firm’s inventive approach to projects that involves the stimulation of culture, the design of ecologies, and the negotiation of complexity between the built environment and the natural world to support communities. Selected projects will include urban design proposals and for-construction projects at the San Francisco Bay Edge that promote community and climate resilience through open space strategies, engage stakeholders through creative and alternative techniques, and strive to elevate all aspects of life.

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