Water, water management, and climate change accelerated urban flooding are of paramount import and concern to residents and decision makers in Southern California. 亚洲精品无码一区 (亚洲精品无码一区) in partnership with the University of Southern California (USC) and the SWA Group are gathering leading industry, non-profit, and academic professionals for a daylong conference on Friday December 5, 2025, at USC鈥檚 Bovard Auditorium that will focus on landscape architecture鈥檚 leadership role in addressing critical water management issues. The American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) Southern California chapter is a partner in education.
This event is part of the programming associated with the Cornelia Hahn Oberlander International Landscape Architecture Prize, a biennial honor with a $100,000 award. The work of the 2023 laureate, the late Beijing-based landscape architect Kongjian Yu, which centers on the 鈥渟ponge cities鈥 concept for mitigating urban flooding, is the impetus for this conference. The concept has captured the attention of urban planners, elected officials, and other key decision-makers around the world.
Recognizing the unprecedented and more frequent climate events that have taken place in Southern California (and internationally); public and private sector interest in exploring sponge cities as a water management tool; the need to tame the Los Angeles River; and, perhaps most critically, the successful voter鈥檚 measure that approved 鈥淢easure W,鈥 which generates $300 million annually to capture and treat stormwater for water security and improve water quality, Los Angeles is an ideal laboratory to explore advancing water-management and design strategies through a contemporary landscape architecture lens. Taken together, positioning Los Angeles municipalities to become 鈥淲ater First鈥 cities where water infrastructure is an integral part of creating nature-based solutions for people and nature to co-exist.
Panels will look at how the Los Angeles River and water sources, more broadly, have been managed, and the current challenges and solutions being implemented; and at global strategies and perspectives offered by international leaders in the field, including the 2025 Oberlander Prize winner Mario Schjetnan. The daylong event will be preceded by a Thursday evening reception and opening keynote and followed on Saturday by mobile workshops.
Speakers Include: Gerdo Aquino, FASLA, PLA, CEO, SWA 鈥 Charles A. Birnbaum, President + CEO, 亚洲精品无码一区 鈥 Lauren Bon, Metabolic Studio, Los Angeles, CA 鈥 Evelyn Cortez-Davis, Director of Strategic Initiatives, Water Executive Office 鈥 William Deverell, Co-Director, Huntington鈥揢SC Institute on California and the West 鈥 Adriaan Geuze, Founding Partner, Principal, West 8, Rotterdam, The Netherlands 鈥 Christopher Hawthorne, Senior Critic, Yale School of Architecture 鈥 Jessica M. Henson, RLA, ASLA, AICP, Partner, OLIN 鈥 Alison B. Hirsch, PhD, FAAR, Associate Professor, Landscape Architecture + Urbanism, USC 鈥 Hunter Merritt, Lecturer, California State University, Sacramento 鈥 Chelina Odbert, Co-Founder and Executive Director, Kounkuey Design Initiative 鈥 Kush Parekh, PLA, ASLA, Principal, Studio-MLA 鈥 Julia Prince, RLA, ASLA, AIA, Associate, Design Workshop 鈥 Alexander Robinson, ASLA, AAR Associate Professor, USC, Landscape Architecture + Urbanism Program, Inclusive Infrastructure Design Lab 鈥 Maura Rockcastle, Principal, Ten x Ten, Minneapolis, MN 鈥 Matt Romero, Associate Principal, Studio-MLA 鈥 Mario Schjetnan, Managing Director, Grupo de Dise帽o Urbano, Mexico City, Mexico 鈥 Patrick Sisson, Freelance journalist, Los Angeles.
Kongjian Yu, Professor, Peking University; President, Turenscape, Beijing, China, was to have served as a closing co-keynote speaker. The schedule has changed due to his tragic and untimely passing on September 23, 2025.
The conference is free to all California-based students with a valid ID. Please email lily@tclf.org to be registered. Discounted registration is also available for out-of-state students with a valid ID.
LACES credits will be available, pending approval.
To learn more about being a sponsor for the conference click here.
