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The ASLA calls on members to support new congressional funding for heat mitigation effort nationwide

2022-10-24T16:06:00-04:00

The American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) is now soliciting support for a new congressional effort aimed at bolstering heat mitigation strategies in vulnerable communities across the country.

The bill, formally titled H.R. 7534, was introduced by Democratic Arizona Congressman Ruben Gallego and would enhance the ability of landscape professionals to design solutions that will mitigate the effects of heat on urban areas across through the establishment of a new grant program to be administered by HUD and the EPA.

Project types that will be eligible for funding after the establishment of the new act include pavement cooling, shade structures, cooling centers, green roofs, drought-tolerant vegetation planting, and other techniques.

Earlier on Archinect: Op-Ed: A Unique Moment for Landscape Architects

Further technical assistance will be provided to communities that meet the criteria outlined in the bill’s Environmental Justice rider, with each applicant required to produce doc...

Rigorous Design and Socially Engaged Practice Go Hand-in-Hand at Washington University in St. Louis

2018-04-05T09:00:00-04:00

This post is brought to you by Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis

With its tree-lined streets and stately architecture, Shaw is among St. Louis’ oldest and most elegant neighborhoods.

It is also among the city’s most integrated. According to U.S. Census data, in 2010, Shaw’s population was 51.7 percent white and 41.9 percent black.

But neighbors can be feet away and worlds apart.

Building typologies in Shaw. Courtesy Cierra Higgins, Ashley Holder, Danning Liang, and Suyin Yao.

“In Shaw, segregation is social rather than spatial,” says Cierra Higgins, who is pursuing dual master’s degrees in architecture and urban design in the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis.

Last fall, Higgins spent months researching and exploring Shaw as part of Segregation by Design. The class—developed by Sam Fox School assistant professor Catalina Freixas and Mark Abbott of Harris-Stowe State University, with funding from The...

St. Louis, segregation and how history shapes the urban landscape

2017-03-24T20:32:00-04:00

Segregation is no accident.

Nearly five decades after the Fair Housing Act of 1968, American cities remain racially, culturally, spatially and economically divided. Entrenched conditions and persistent biases undermine the policies and priorities that would heal lingering wounds.

So argues Catalina Freixas, assistant professor of architecture in the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts. Last semester, Freixas and Mark Abbott, professor of history and director of the Center for Neighborhood Development at Harris-Stowe State University, launched “Segregation by Design.” Developed as part of The Divided City initiative, their class — which will be offered again next fall — explores both the historic roots and present-day reality of urban separation.

In this Q&A, Freixas discusses St. Louis, segregation and the hidden histories that shape our urban landscape.

You’re from Argentina but joined the Sam Fox School faculty in 2004. What drew you to the topic of American segregation?

My researc...