Author and Contributor Bios
Galen Newman
Dr. Galen D. Newman is Associate Professor and Interim Department Head in the Department of Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning at Texas A&M University. He also serves as the Director of the Center for Housing and Urban Development. Dr. Newman’s research overlaps the fields of community resilience, land use science, urban analytics, landscape performance and advanced visualization. He has published over 70 peer reviewed articles in high-quality journals and has received over 31 million dollars in interdisciplinary funded research projects.
Zixu Qiao
Zixu Qiao has a Master of Landscape Architecture from Texas A&M University. She is a professional landscape architect, guest speaker at University of Guelph, and the founder of Land.Space Architecture. Her work includes research, design, and planning on a variety of site planning and landscape architecture projects in the US and China. Her design is committed to improving cities’ economic and environmental sustainability, resilience, and quality of life. She founded Land.Space Architecture in 2019, an online educational platform committed to improving young professionals’ visualization skills in landscape architecture.
Rui Zhu
Rui Zhu is a fourth year PhD student studying in the Urban and Regional Sciences program in the Department of Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning at Texas A&M University. She has a Master and Bachelor’s degree in Landscape Architecture. Her research interests include urban regeneration, community resilience, and landscape performance.
Zhihan Tao
Zhihan Tao is a a fourth year PhD student studying in the Urban and Regional Sciences program in the Department of Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning at Texas A&M University. He has a Master degree in Landscape Architecture from Texas A&M University. His research interests include community resilience, green infrastructure performance, and resilient strategies against environmental hazards.
Kate Orff
Kate Orff is a Professor at Columbia University where she directs the Urban Design Program at the Graduate School of Architecture Planning and Preservation. She is also co-Director of the Center for Resilient Cities and Landscapes (crcl.columbia.edu). Her teaching and practice at SCAPE (www.scapestudio.com) integrate work across water, climate, justice, and community engagement.
Traci Birch
Traci Birch is an Urban Planner and Assistant Professor in the School of Architecture at Louisiana State University. She also serves as the Managing Director for the LSU Coastal Sustainability Studio, a multi-disciplinary center focused on designing resilient ecosystems in the Louisiana coastal zone. Dr. Birch’s research focuses on the fields of ecosystem management, urban planning, community resilience, and cultural adaptation. Her work has an applied focus, working closely with stakeholders in neighborhoods, cities, and regions to develop strategies that improve quality of life and reduce risk for coastal residents.
Haley Blakeman
Haley Blakeman holds the Suzanne L. Turner Professorship, and serves as the undergraduate coordinator, in the Robert Reich School of Landscape Architecture at Louisiana State University. Haley received her BLA from Louisiana State University and her Master of Urban and Regional Planning (MURP) from the University of New Orleans. Haley’s research focuses on civic engagement and empowerment, strengthening neighborhoods, and alternative transportation networks. She is a licensed landscape architect and a certified planner, with over 20 years of professional experience.
Anne Loes Nillesen
Dr. Anne Loes Nillesen is founding director of the Dutch design office Defacto Urbanism. She specializes in urban research and design in the domain of climate adaptation and flood risk management. She founded the ‘Climate Adaptation Lab’ and ‘Delta Interventions’ graduate studios at Delft University of Technology Faculty of Architecture. Her PhD research explored the relation between urban design and flood risk strategies. Anne Loes worked on several complex urban adaptation projects such as the Dutch, Bangladesh and Mekong Deltaplan, the Netherland long sea level rise strategy and river vision, and local scale adaptation strategies for Houston, Khulna, Amsterdam, The Hague, Rotterdam, and Kigali. For more information, see www.d.efac.to
Brett Milligan
Brett Milligan is professor of Landscape Architecture and Environmental Design at the University of California, Davis. He is a founding member of the Dredge Research Collaborative, a nonprofit that explores the human alteration and design of sedimentary processes and landscapes through transdisciplinary design. He is director of Metamorphic Landscapes, a California-based research lab prototyping adaptation to conditions of accelerated climatic and environmental change through ethnography, fieldwork, and applied design. Recent projects include Franks Tract Futures in the CA Delta, and the Public Sediment Team’s Unlock Alameda Creekfor the Bay Area Resilient by Design Competition. Brett is also currently a designer and scholar in residence at the Exploratorium Museum.
Yunmi Park
Dr. Yunmi Park Ph.D., AICP, is an Assistant Professor at Ewha Woman’s University and she completed her Ph.D. in Urban Regional Science at Texas A&M University. Several years of professional planning experiences and academic research led her to focus on urban design and planning, urban shrinkage and revitalization, land-use planning, and spatial analytics.
Jiyeon Shin (Contributor of Yunmi Park)
Jiyeon Shin is a graduate student in the Architectural & Urban Systems Engineering of Ewha Woman’s University. She has done several pieces of research with Dr. Yunmi Park and her research interests are focused on spatial analysis of urban environmental problems, socioeconomic and spatial factors causing environmental inequality, and environmental planning-community development.
KongJian Yu
A recipient of Doctor of Design at Harvard GSD, Yu is Professor and founding dean of Peking University College of Architecture and Landscape, founder and design principle of Turenscape. He is a strong advocator of “ecological security patterns” and “sponge cities” that have been adopted by the Chinese government for the nationwide ecological campaign. His projects have won numerous international design awards including 14 American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) Excellence and Honor Awards. He was elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects. He has also received the 2020 IFLA Sir Geffrey Jellico Award and the 2021 John Cobb Common Good Award.
Amy Whitesides
Amy is the Director of Resilience and Research at Stoss Landscape Urbanism where she brings her background in landscape architecture, science communication, ecology, and biology to projects across a wide range of scales. At Stoss, Amy leads waterfront planning efforts focused on resilient public open space. Recent projects include the Boston Urban Forest Plan, Climate Ready East Boston, Charlestown, Downtown and The North End, as well as design efforts at waterfront sites including Moakley Park, Suffolk Downs, and 776 Summer Street. Amy is also a design critic at the Harvard GSD where she teaches design studios centered on response to climate-based risk along the Massachusetts shoreline.
Hong Wu
Dr. Hong Wu is an Assistant Professor of Landscape Architecture at Pennsylvania State University. She is a co-chair of the Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture’s Geo-spatial and Digital Analytics Track, a co-chair of Penn State’s University Water Council, and the Director of the Penn State Stormwater Living Lab. Wu specializes in urban sustainability, watershed stewardship, green stormwater infrastructure, and landscape performance.
David Myers
Dr. David N. Myers is Associate Professor and Director of Landscape Architecture in the Department of Plant Science and Landscape Architecture at the University of Maryland. His research and teaching focus on the application of landscape ecological principles to the built environment including green infrastructure, community greening, and greenway planning and design. He has received funding from Chesapeake Bay Trust, National Park Service, Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission: Montgomery County and Prince George’s County and the Maryland Department of Environment.
Isaac Hametz
Isaac Hametz is Principal and Research Director at Mahan Rykiel Associates. He collaborates with clients and strategic partners to study, imagine, and shape landscapes that enrich the human condition and support vibrant natural systems. His work emphasizes ecological integrity, economic uplift, and cultural identity. He leads the Design with Dredge program and manages the firm’s design research portfolio including partnerships, projects, and publications. Prior to joining Mahan Rykiel Associates, Isaac founded and ran two non-profit organizations that utilized landscape as vehicle for civic engagement and design activism.
Sani Limthongsakul
Dr. Sani Limthongsakul currently serves as an Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture in the Department of Architecture at Kasetsart University, Thailand. Her initial interest in water sensitive planning and management has led to the current research focus in flood resilience and climate adaptation utilizing nature-based solutions within peri-urban areas.
Supreeya Wungpatcharapon
Dr. Supreeya Wungpatcharapon is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Architecture at Kasetsart University based in Bangkok, Thailand. Her practice and research interests are focused on participatory design and community engagement in housing and community development, urban green infrastructure, and built environment for well-being.
Pudtan Chantarangkul
Pudtan Chantarangkul is a lecturer in the Department of Landscape Architecture at Kasetsart University. Her research experience and background cover Low Impact Development, Green Infrastructure, sustainable landscape architecture construction, soil bioengineering applied in low income housing, and green urban design guidelines to reduce urban heat island effects. Her research is primarily conducted at the micro-scale. In the beginning of her career, she was a part of the vernacular architecture research team known as the “Holistic Study for the Adaptability in Different Contexts of Tai-Lao in the Central Region Basin of Thailand.”
Maria Debije Counts
Maria Debije Counts is Principal of Studio Counts, President of Landscape Skills Inc. and Adjunct Professor at Florida International University. Her urban planning, landscape architecture, and architectural research focus on advancing landscape-based solutions to sea level rise, flooding, and accessibility through topographic manipulation and planted form. She leads grant-funded research, studios, and design projects to address human experience and engagement at the scale of the site in both public and private sectors.
Alexander Felson
Alex Felson is at The University of Melbourne as Elisabeth Murdoch Chair of Landscape Architecture. He was formerly at CIRCA as the Deputy Executive Director and Director of Resilience Design. He now serves as an affiliated staff on the Connecticut Connections Coastal Resilience Plan – a US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) National Disaster Resilience (NDR) grant. Dr. Felson is a senior certified ecologist and a registered landscape architect who founded the Urban Ecology and Design Lab and runs Ecopolitan Design.
Jeff Carney
Jeff Carney is Associate Professor in the School of Architecture and Director of the Florida Institute for Built Environment Resilience (FIBER) at the University of Florida. He is a registered architect and certified city planner working at the interface of housing, neighborhoods, and ecosystems with a focus on climate change adaptation. Jeff’s work in Florida is focused on the resilience of communities achieved through transdisciplinary and community engaged design processes. His current projects include a HUD funded effort to design post-disaster modular housing, and projects to assist the City of Port St. Joe and Jacksonville to reduce flood risk that balance health, environment, and housing needs.
Mike Volk
Michael Volk is a Florida registered Landscape Architect, partner at Volk Design Consultants, LLC, and Research Assistant Professor in the University of Florida Center for Landscape Conservation Planning, Department of Landscape Architecture. He has a Master Degree in Landscape Architecture from the University of Florida and a degree in Architecture from the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture. Michael’s work with the Center for Landscape Conservation Planning (http://conservation.dcp.ufl.edu/) includes applied research with conservation partners throughout Florida on land use, regional conservation planning, and urban green infrastructure; the impacts of sea level rise on natural resources and coastal communities; and climate change adaptation strategies and information needs for landscape architecture students and professionals (https://dcp.ufl.edu/landscapechange/). Michael is also a partner with Florida Resilient Cities (https://dcp.ufl.edu/frc/), an initiative which works with communities across Florida to be more prepared for and resilient to increased risk and future changes.
Yi Luo
Dr. Yi Luo is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Landscape Architecture at the University of Florida. She received her Bachelor of Architecture from Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Master of Landscape Architecture from Utah State University, and Ph.D. in Urban and Regional Science from Texas A&M University. Her research interest includes landscape performance evaluation, evaluation metrics and methods, stormwater management/green infrastructure, and therapeutic landscapes. Before pursuing her Ph.D. at Texas A&M University, Dr. Luo practiced architecture and landscape architecture and has been a licensed Professional Landscape Architect in the state of Utah since 2009.
Bill O’Dell
Bill O’Dell is the Director of the Shimberg Center for Housing Studies at the University of Florida. The Shimberg Center conducts research into housing policy and planning, with a special focus on housing affordability for Florida residents. The Center provides data and applied research to a variety of stakeholders involved in shaping housing policy in Florida. Its current research focuses on documenting housing market conditions and affordable housing needs in Florida’s counties, cities and neighborhoods; preserving Florida’s affordable rental housing; supporting the development of energy efficient and healthy homes; and examining the impact of climate change on Florida’s affordable housing stock and delivery system. The Center maintains the Clearinghouse COVID 19 Workforce & Housing Indicators application and the COVID-19 page with links to information about the CDC’s eviction moratorium, mortgage forbearance programs, the OUR Florida rental assistance program, county and local rental assistance programs, and legal assistance providers; it is also extensively involved in eviction tracking and prevention activities. The Center also produces the Florida Housing Data Clearinghouse, which provides public access to data on housing needs and supply for Florida’s cities and counties.
Cleary Larkin
Dr. Cleary Larkin, R.A., is Acting Director of the University of Florida’s Historic Preservation program and an Assistant Scholar is the Department of Urban Planning. From 2019-2021, Dr. Larkin was Program Coordinator for the Florida Resilient Cities (FRC) program at the Florida Institute for Built Environment Resilience (FIBER), where she was part of the project team focused on the recovery of Port St. Joe, a historic mill town in the Florida panhandle that was damaged by Hurricane Michael in 2018. Her current research focuses on the impact of climate change on heritage and preservation as a social justice practice.
Tamiyo Kondo
Dr. Tamiyo Kondo is Associate Professor in the Graduate School of Engineering at Kobe University. She engages in housing recovery and post-disaster recovery planning studies after Hurricane Katrina and the Great East Japan Earthquake. Her recent article “Maladaptation, Fragmentation, and Other Secondary Effects of Centralized Post-Disaster Urban Planning: The case of the 2011 cascading disaster in Japan” reveals urban sprawl, risks of landslides, urban fragmentation, and significant internal relocation with explanations of how and why.
Jules Bruck
Dr. Jules Bruck, RLA is Professor and Founding Director of Landscape Architecture at the University of Delaware. She also serves as the Director of the UD’s Mangone Climate Science and Policy Hub and the Principal of the Delaware Sea Grant funded Coastal Resilience Design Studio. Dr. Bruck’s research interests relate to coastal resilience, green infrastructure, community engagement through citizen science, and public perception of sustainable landscape practices such as designing for ecosystem services.
Emma Ruggiero
Emma Ruggiero is a Master student in the Department of Plant and Soil Sciences at the University of Delaware (UD). She holds a Bachelor of Science in Landscape Architecture with a minor in Biology from UD. Emma has worked on several design projects focused on coastal resilience and flood mitigation throughout Delaware as part of the Coastal Resilience Design Studio. Her research interests include nature-based infrastructure design, living shorelines for coastal protection, and regenerative landscape design. She recently completed a Master’s thesis exploring feasibility of a living shoreline installment on a remote site experiencing ship wake on the Delaware River.
Anna Wik
Anna Wik is a registered professional landscape architect in Delaware and Pennsylvania and an Associate Professor in the Department of Plant and Soil Sciences at the University of Delaware. She has designed, documented, and managed construction of many landscape projects in the Delaware Valley region, working with community and non-profit partners including Delaware State Parks, Delaware Historical and Cultural Affairs, Delaware Historical Society, Philadelphia Parks and Recreation, Philadelphia Water Department, the Lenape Indian Tribe of Delaware, and numerous community groups. Anna’s courses investigate the relationship between the cultural practice of design and the built environment. She is passionate about equitable design and is interested in historical, social and cultural influences upon the urban and rural landscape. Other research areas include children’s outdoor learning environments, coastal resilience related to cultural landscapes, and edible forest gardens. Anna earned her Master of Landscape Architecture from the Rhode Island School of Design.
Karishma Joshi
Karishma Joshi works as an Associate Landscape Designer at Carducci Associates in the San Francisco – Bay Area. She is a registered Architect with the Council of Architecture in India. She earned her Bachelor’s in Architecture with a merit award from the University of Pune and a Master of Landscape Architecture with a certificate in Sustainable Urbanism from Texas A&M University. She was named the LAF Olmsted Scholar for Texas A&M University in 2020. Karishma’s work as a landscape designer focuses on developing innovative design solutions, based on a green infrastructure-based approach to mitigate the effects of sea-level rise, storm surge-inundation, and flooding, especially in underrepresented or marginalized communities.
Nada Toueir
Dr. Nada Toueir is a Lecturer at the School of Landscape Architecture at Lincoln University in Christchurch, Aotearoa New Zealand. Her research focuses on the relationship between landscape architecture, culture, resilience, and landscape education. Her interests include fostering community resilience and drawing commonalities between cases at the national and international levels with a focus on place attachment, memory, informal social networks, and cultural identity to understand the intricate relationships that people build with their environment. Also, her interests span to landscape education and how educators can shape the future of teaching while using blended learning and hybrid forms of teaching (online and face-to-face), especially in studio environments.
Gill Lawson
Dr Gillian Lawson is an Associate Professor and Head of the School of Landscape Architecture at Lincoln University in Christchurch, Aotearoa New Zealand, but is originally from Australia. Her research interests are in landscape pedagogy, landscape visualization, and landscape sociology in Australia, New Zealand, and other Asia-Pacific countries. Further, she conducts work on water and plants as catalysts for improving the adaptation of our cities to climate change. Her work has focused on the sociology of education, social practices in public/private open spaces, green infrastructure, and waterfront communities in landscape planning and design with her PhD students.
Victoria Chanse
Dr. Victoria Chansemis the Program Director for Landscape Architecture at Te Herenga Waka-Victoria University of Wellington. She is a founding member of the Te Ātea – Spatial Justice Co-design Lab. Dr. Chanse focuses her research, teaching, and practice on solving problems associated with sea level rise, flooding, and stormwater. Her work focuses on participatory, community-based approaches to develop local responsive designs that consider community needs and landscape changes under different scenarios of sea level rise and stormwater management. Past and current projects have faced critical environmental concerns such as design and planning adaptations to sea level change, the use of green infrastructure in addressing stormwater issues, and engaging communities in addressing both equity and environmental problems. Prior to arriving in Aotearoa New Zealand, Dr. Chanse taught at the University of Maryland and at Clemson University in the United States.
Maria Rodgers
Maria Rodgers is a PhD candidate and teaching fellow in landscape architecture at Te Herenga Waka – Victoria University of Wellington. Her research examines the benefits of celebrating natural heritage in the urban realm in Aotearoa New Zealand. She is a member of the Te Ātea – Spatial Justice Co-design Lab. Ms. Rodgers is particularly interested in the use of plants by Indigenous people, planting design, participatory design, tactical urbanism, and cultural landscapes. Her thesis for her Master of Landscape Architecture investigated ways in which landscape architecture reveals and connects Māori and Pākehā to the land and to the past in rural Aotearoa New Zealand. Ms. Rodgers continues to teach studio and lecture courses in the landscape programme at Te Herenga Waka – Victoria University of Wellington.
Shivani Patel
Shivani Patel works as a Landscape Architect and an Architectural Designer in New Zealand. She has a Bachelor’s of Architectural Studies, Master of Landscape Architecture, and she is working towards a Graduate Diploma in Designed Environments from Victoria University of Wellington. As a landscape architect and an architectural designer, Shivani’s focus is on designing sustainable urban built environments and public spaces. Shivani’s interests include designing for urban adaptation to ambiguous sea-level rise and storm surges to create new forms of public spaces and coastal environments with the application of resiliency and adaptability. Her approach envisions guidelines for architectural built-form and open space resiliency parameters for the future of New Zealand that are informed by proactive multi-interdisciplinary strategies, cultural heritage, ecology, and infrastructural design to uncertainty and change.
Bruno Marques
Bruno Marques is the Associate Dean (Academic Development) and a Senior Lecturer in Landscape Architecture at Victoria University of Wellington and a Faculty of Architecture and Design Innovation in Aotearoa-New Zealand. His main research interests relate to the integration of Indigenous methods in participatory design and place-making in landscape rehabilitation and ecosystem services.
Dongying Li
Dr. Dongying Li is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning. Her research investigates human-environment relationships, environmental health, environmental psychology, and child development, as well as GeoDesign and geovisualization.