Register for Soak it Up today. Watch the pre-recorded presentations and tune in on Wednesday, May 7 at 8PM ET for a live 90-minute webinar with all of the panelists. 

The “sponge cities” concept for addressing climate change accelerated urban flooding championed by the Beijing-based landscape architect Kongjian Yu, the most recent winner of the Cornelia Hahn Oberlander International Landscape Architecture Prize, is the inspiration for Soak It Up, a global summit addressing contemporary environmental and social challenges – biodiversity loss, climate change, and social inequities – organized by The Cultural Landscape Foundation (TCLF) and with generous support from PlayCore. This is part of an on-going, broader program of both in-person and virtual Oberlander Prize Forums to raise the visibility of the honoree’s work and landscape architecture more broadly. 

During five pre-recorded presentations and a live, 90-minute moderated panel discussion with Q&A, Kongjian Yu and landscape architecture leaders from Germany, the Netherlands, Thailand, and United States will examine landscape architecture’s leadership role in the planning and design of water infrastructure as an integral part of creating places for people and nature to exist in balance.

Kongjian Yu will be joined by an esteemed panel of experts in landscape architecture, including:

• Herbert Dreiseitl, principal at Dreiseitl Consulting
• Jasper Hugtenburg, senior landscape architect and project leader at H+N+S Landscape Architects
• Mia Lehrer, FASLA, founder of Studio-MLA
• Kotchakorn Voraakhom, CEO and Founder of Landprocess and Porous City Network

The Virtual Event

TCLF has created a suite of five richly produced, skilfully edited videotaped interviews with landscape architects working at the intersection of water management and design, which when taken together provide a global cross-cultural picture of climate adaptive strategies. Their shared ambitions transcend distant geographies and distinct political, regulatory, and economic circumstances.

The five pre-recorded 40-minute presentations are organized around the following five common topics:

1. The origin stories of the speakers, specifically how they found their way to landscape architecture and when they realized this profession would be their life’s work;

2. How the practitioner got involved in water management issues, how their work developed over time, current water management challenges in their region, and unique geographic and cultural considerations;

3. The general approach to uniting design with water management and the aspects of water management with which they’ve been involved (e.g. rivers, coastal erosion, sea level rise, etc.);

4. A description of two to three specific projects that illustrate the speaker’s approach and design philosophy, and reflections on how they measure success in these projects; and,

5. Closing thoughts where the practitioner addresses the import of landscape architecture in addressing contemporary environmental and social challenges and why landscape architects should lead this charge.

The five presentations, and the closing panel discussion, will require pre-registration. This is a free event and a total of 4.5-5.0 CEUs (pending) will be offered.