Common Lecture

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Date of lecture: September 24, 2025

2025 Strom Memorial Lecture 

The Wisdom of Place 

Throughout time, people have shaped their environments according to their first-hand experiences and instinctive understandings of natural phenomena; landscape design was informed by the concept of genius loci, or “spirit of place.” Recognizing and honoring the genius loci is the first step in preserving the ecological integrity of place while creating spaces for human use and enjoyment. Our research presents a survey of global myths, legends, and folklore based on a deep understanding of the genius, or spirit, of the land. It offers a new framework for their application and interpretation. In this age of profound climate disruption and ecological upheaval, the time is ripe to reconsider and honor the sanctity of the land, to reimagine the role of the earth spirits in bringing forth a new era of landscape consciousness and care.  

BIOGRAPHIES 

Chip Sullivan is an artist and professor emeritus of Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning at the University of California, Berkeley, who has devoted his career to promoting landscape architecture as an art form. Chip has earned national and international recognition for his expertise in landscape representation as well as innovative energy-conserving design. He is a Fellow of the American Academy in Rome, the American Society of Landscape Architects, and the Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture.  

Elizabeth Boults is a licensed landscape architect and educator with over 25 years of professional and academic experience. Her areas of focus are landscape history, representation, and site design. She is a SITES (Sustainable Environmental Design) Accredited Professional who maintains a landscape design practice founded on promoting environmental consciousness and ecological narratives. Elizabeth holds a leadership position with the American Society of Landscape Architects. She is a senior lecturer in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences at the University of California, Davis.

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Abstract

This talk focuses on the environmental impacts of photography (and AI). The audience will hear about the role of image makers in the climate change discourse. Moreover, selected photography projects from students who have taken my Directed Projects: Climate Change class in the Department of Photo & Imaging at NYU Tisch School of the Arts will be presented. 

Bio

Gesche Würfel is Visual Artist. She holds an MFA in Studio Art from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (USA), an MA in Photography and Urban Cultures from Goldsmiths, University of London (UK), and a diploma in Spatial Planning from the Technical University Dortmund (Germany).

Würfel’s research examines urban and natural landscapes from a socio-political perspective. “The Absence and Presence of the Berlin Wall”, exploring the state of German reunification, was presented at the Künstlerhaus Bethanien in Berlin, Germany, in spring 2022 as a culmination of her artist residency. “Forests in the Anthropocene” visualizes the consequences of human-made climate change and was exhibited at the Tracey Morgan Gallery in Asheville, NC, in 2021. Other exhibition venues include the Tate Modern, the Contemporary Art Museum Raleigh, the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, the Blue Sky Gallery, the Goldsmiths Center for Contemporary Art in London, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Singapore International Photography Festival, and the Pingyao International Photography Festival.

Würfel formerly taught at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for seven years. Additionally, she has taught classes and workshops in the U.S., the UK, and Germany, including at the Berlin Summer University of the Arts, Goldsmiths College, and the New York Botanical Garden. While based in London, she worked as the assistant to world-renowned architecture photographer Hélène Binet.

Würfel is the author of The Absence and Presence of the Berlin Wall (DISTANZ 2025) and Basement Sanctuaries (Schilt Publishing 2014). She is a recipient of numerous grants, including the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), the Federal Foundation for the Study of the Communist Dictatorship in Eastern Germany, the NYU Tisch School of the Arts, the North Carolina Arts Council, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council. Würfel is represented by Tracey Morgan Gallery.

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Date of lecture: September 17, 2025

PANEL DISCUSSION & BOOK PRESENTATION

Since the 2021 German-US conference CLIMATE BRIDGE, the political leadership of both countries changed. How do the new governments impact climate politics? How do politics affect scientific and professional cooperation between Germany and the US?

Climate change is creating new challenges for spatial and environmental planning on both sides of the Atlantic. Planning and policy must balance moderating climate change impact from rising temperatures, extreme precipitation, and sea level rise with social equity and environmental justice. Climate Bridge compares New Jersey and the German Ruhr region to build an international perspective on how to enact climate action at the government-public interface.

The first section of the book compares international environmental planning approaches and outlines different approaches to common problems. The second section presents case studies that highlight adaptation strategies for uncertainties caused by climate change. Finally, the closing section reminds us of our dependence on ecological systems for physical, mental, and emotional well-being.

Contributors to this landmark volume include planners, designers, scholars, public administrators, and decision-makers on both sides of the Atlantic. Together, the chapters bring interdisciplinary approaches and diverse perspectives to the environmental, economic, political, and social dimensions of planning and design in the context of climate change.

Editor Team

WOLFRAM HÖFER is a professor and the director of the Rutgers Center for Urban Environmental Sustainability in the Department of Landscape Architecture at Rutgers University. FRANK GALLAGHER is an associate professor of professional practice in the Department of Landscape Architecture at Rutgers University. ARIANNA LINDBERG is an assistant teaching professor in the Department of Landscape Architecture at Rutgers University. ANGIE OBERG is chief climate officer in the Rutgers Office of Climate Action. SEBASTIAN SCHLECHT is the founder of lala.ruhr and a lecturer at Technische Universität Dortmund.

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Date of lecture: April 16,2025

Abstract

For over 55 years, Design Workshop has been planning and designing places of timeless beauty, untold value, environmental benefit, and positive social impact. DW Legacy Design represents our commitment to critical thinking and delivering projects that contribute to a healthier, more verdant, and just world. The lecture will provide an overview of Design Workshop and its history, design culture, and performance based design and will highlight recent work in equity, resiliency, and economic development.

Bio

Jim is passionate about designing places that honor nature, people, and culture. His career has taken him across the globe, from North America, Asia, and the Middle East, and these professional experiences have sharpened his design capacity and his appreciation for working in diverse natural and urban environments.

He has broad expertise but is best known for his planning and design of thoughtful urban environments, including transit-oriented and mixed-use districts, commercial corridors and streetscapes, urban parks and plazas, workspaces, as well as sustainable new communities.

Jim received his Bachelor of Science in Landscape Architecture with honors from California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo, and a Master of Urban Design from the University of Colorado Denver, where he was recognized as the Outstanding Graduate Student in the College of Architecture and Planning.

He’s presented at national conferences and lectured at several universities including University of Colorado, Colorado State University, Iowa State University, Arizona State University, University of Calgary, and a few universities in China.

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Date of lecture: April 2nd,2025

Abstract

Pippa Brashear, RLA, is Resilience Principal and Partner at SCAPE. A leading national expert on resilience planning and design for climate adaptation, Pippa works with multi-disciplinary teams to develop landscape strategies and next-century infrastructure that integrate environmental, economic and social benefits. She leads both planning and built work teams within the firm, bringing an ecological and people-driven approach to SCAPE’s projects—informed by systems thinking; an understanding of natural and nature-based systems; engineering methods; and social and environmental equity.

Pippa holds a Master’s in Landscape Architecture and Master’s in Urban Planning with Distinction from the Graduate School of Design (GSD) at Harvard University. She also holds a Bachelor’s of Arts, cum laude, in Environmental Science and Public Policy from Harvard College.

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Abstract

Despite the fundamental role soil plays in the making of the built environment, designers and engineers typically approach it as a technical object—a problem to solve. This lecture will share the design methodologies, representational strategies, and theoretical frameworks that have emerged from engaging creatively with soil dynamics in both research and practice.

An analysis of the mixing and circulation of manufactured substrates in the New York metropolitan area reveals how soil is shaped as much by design decisions, real estate trends, and commodity flows as by traditional processes of soil formation, or pedogenesis. Tracing these social and political relationships helps to denaturalize soil, opening space for alternative approaches that integrate community engagement and long-term management strategies.

The second part of the lecture will explore the intersection of design and pedogenesis through projects located marginal landscapes, ranging from a drought-stricken agricultural region in northeastern Spain to a former chemical manufacturing complex in Switzerland and oil extraction sites in the American Midwest. These projects approach soil as an active and evolving medium, serving to test the participatory design and maintenance strategies that could support these extensive and gradual interventions. Embracing the slow and unpredictable process of pedogenesis challenges conventional notions of authorship and control, encouraging designers to engage in longer-term, collaborative processes of landscape transformation.

Biography

Luke Harris is a registered landscape architect and doctoral candidate at the Institute of Landscape and Urban Studies at ETH Zurich. His research examines the metabolism of designed urban substrates in the New York metropolitan area. He is a founding member of the collective Office of Living Things, which develops community-based design strategies to foster dynamic living systems. Previously, he practiced at Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, where he focused on planting design and landscape infrastructure projects. He is a committed and innovative educator, with experience teaching design studios and seminars at the ETH Zurich and Politecnico di Milano.

His work has been published in Landscape Research Journal and OASE Journal of Architecture, as well as in several edited volumes, including Researching Otherwise: Pluriversal Methodologies for Landscape and Urban Studies, which won the 2024 Deutsches Architekturmuseum Book Prize. He is a co-organizer of the 2025 NSL Colloquium at ETH Zurich, Beyond Maintenance: Responsive Practices for Changing Landscapes. He holds a BA in International Studies from Macalester College and an MLA from the University of Virginia, where he received the Stanley and Helen Abbott Award for excellence in landscape architecture and the Benjamin C. Howland Traveling Fellowship.

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Date of lecture: March 5th,2025

Abstract

This presentation introduces community design , which questions top-down decision-making
processes and empowers voiceless communities. We will learn about community design
concepts and methods through the virtual engagement case with a Black neighborhood in North
Carolina that has historically confronted displacement and gentrification.
The site is a 45-acre mall that recently changed hands and closed. The developer conducted
community participation and a survey about how to reuse the site, which resulted in a bubble
diagram. Wary of the developer’s intentions, the neighborhood initiated its own process, but the
realities of COVID-19 made it harder to gather community voices. Therefore, the neighborhoods
formed a seven-neighborhood council and sought a way to envision community objectives in
spatial.
The design team supported the community by leading engagement via publicly accessible
online tools and translating community visions into spatial alternatives. Engagement practices
included setting priorities, connecting goals with physical locations, simulating each member’s
vision using a design game, and synchronized sketch sessions. The alternatives, consolidated
by group decision-making, are being used in negotiations with the developer. These efforts last
for these days. In 2024, the City organized a Planning Committee to develop planning policy
guidance to support the neighborhoods.

Charleston “Dong-Jae” Yi, Ph.D.
Adjunct Faculty, NCSU
Dong-Jae Yi is an adjunct faculty of the Department of Landscape Architecture and
Environmental Planning at North Carolina State University. DJ worked as an architecture
designer in South Korea and moved to Raleigh for a higher degree. He focuses on community
participation and the meaning of space in his work. His designs integrate environmental
elements and community narratives through an equitable and creative participatory process to
create meaningful spaces that are both functional and empowering to communities.

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Date of lecture: February 26,2025

Abstract

This talk explores the integration of landscape planning and design with sustainable, community-driven action to address climate resilience and social equity. Focusing on participatory approaches, it highlights strategies that empower community leaders and residents to make informed decisions about their local landscapes. By examining the physical, social, and cultural dimensions of the landscape, the talk demonstrates how inclusive visioning can shape actionable goals and adaptive strategies that reflect community priorities. The outcome is a framework that supports long-term, incremental change, enabling communities to build resilient and meaningful landscapes as resources and opportunities emerge.

The talk also examines how individual adoption of specific practices can significantly contribute to broader watershed restoration goals. By analyzing barriers and motivations behind adoption, this research evaluates how program and intervention designs can be optimized to improve adoption rates and better quantify outcomes. Comparing programs with varying strategies to overcome adoption barriers, this work provides insights into designing more effective community-based sustainability initiatives.

Short Bio

Mahsa Adib is a Ph.D. candidate in Landscape Architecture at the Pennsylvania State University. She holds a Master of Landscape Architecture from Iowa State University and a Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Engineering from Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Iran. As a member of Penn State’s Hamer Center for Community Design and Stormwater Living Lab, Mahsa collaborates with multidisciplinary researchers, municipalities, and community stakeholders to advance climate resilience through co-designed, nature-based solutions. Her research enhances environmental education and civic engagement in urban stormwater management, providing action-driven strategies for equitable green stormwater infrastructure adoption. Mahsa’s interdisciplinary work includes projects like the Baltimore Social-Environmental Collaborative, where she co-develops climate action plans for underserved Baltimore neighborhoods.

Through her teaching experiences at Penn State and Iowa State University, Mahsa has cultivated a dynamic, student-centered approach that prioritizes hands-on, collaborative learning and the integration of diverse perspectives. She is dedicated to empowering students to critically navigate complex challenges while equipping them with the skills to develop innovative, socially responsive design solutions. Her commitment to fostering an inclusive, engaging, and impactful learning environment has been recognized with Penn State’s Landscape Architecture Outstanding Teaching Award.

Recognized for her leadership in sustainability, Mahsa serves as the College of Arts and Architecture’s Sustainability Graduate Fellow. As a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Fellow and Well-being Ambassador, she advances initiatives that promote inclusivity and equity within academia and beyond.

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Date of lecture: February 19, 2025

Abstract

MKW + Associates has been designing outdoor spaces for over 60 years.  During that time, we have focused a part of our practice on creating spaces for children to learn, play and hopefully evolve into well rounded adults. Our talk will focus on the design processes that we were a part of for two different spaces designed for children. One is a public playground located near a major urban public housing development. The other is a Children’s Garden in a large private botanical garden. Each project had its own set of challenges and constraints as well as opportunities.  We will share an overview of the design process for each project and resulting landscapes.

Bios

Allen Juba

Mr. Juba, a principal with the firm since 2001, is a landscape architect and urban designer experienced in all aspects of the profession.  He is responsible for directing the firm’s projects and is the managing Principal for the firm.  His work includes the design of municipal parks and recreation areas, cultural institutions, downtown revitalization and streetscapes, waterfront parks, sports facilities, housing site development and college and university campuses.  His responsibilities range from developing concept and schematic design direction to quality review and construction administration.  His expertise in overall design, design detailing and planting design is evident throughout much of the firm’s work.  Allen led the design and management of Hudson River Park- Segments 6 and 7 between 25^th and 59^th Streets in New York City.  

Current projects include the Allen and Pike Street Malls in Lower Manhattan, NY, Capital Park at the Statehouse in Trenton, NJ and Juvenile Justice Facilities in New Jersey.

Allen graduated from Rutgers University-Cook College in 1983 with a BS in Landscape Architecture.

Jim Welsh

Mr. Welsh is a principal with the firm and has spent the last 25 years of his practice focused on leading landscape architecture projects for public agencies and private clients in New Jersey and New York. He also managed the landscape design program for major urban development projects in China and the Middle East. Local projects ranged from master planning to design and construction phase services. Projects varied in scale from less than ¼ acre urban plazas to 200-acre waterfront parks.

Current projects include Capital Park at the Statehouse in Trenton, NJ, Ramsey High School in Ramsey, NJ and Challenge Playground in Queens, NY.

Jim graduated from Rutgers in 1991 and returned to teach Landscape Architecture Construction I from 2001 to 2002.

Main Content

Date of lecture: March 26,2025

Abstract

Sustaining biological diversity and ecosystem services in the human dominated landscape of Rwanda: Looking forward through the past

The plight of Rwanda’s exceptional wildlife and diverse landscapes – from lush volcanic slopes to rolling shrubby savannah to wetlands – has been deeply intertwined with the nation’s socio-economic and political dynamics. Rwanda’s conservation story and its social and economic transformation journey is a tale of resilience, homegrown leadership and solutions and innovation.

The country’s progressive approach has seen the transformation of its national parks from once cultivated, mining and poaching-devastated lands to thriving ecosystems, home to mountain gorillas, chimpanzees, lions, rhinos, and elephants. Today, wildlife conservation is a national pride.

My presentation will share progress, challenges and lessons learned in restoring and managing Rwanda’s national parks over the past 30 years and the role wildlife conservation has played in economic and social transformation of the country after 1994 Genocide against Tutsi.

Bio

Dr. Michel Masozera was raised in Zaire now Democratic Republic of Congo but longed to return to his home country of Rwanda. He was able to fulfil that dream by working for WCS where he assumed a number of leadership positions in Rwanda for almost two decades until 2017. For the majority of that time, he was Director of the WCS Rwanda Program, leading the team that oversaw the creation of the Nyungwe National Park in 2004, one of the largest remaining montane forests in Rwanda and the wider Albertine Rift Region. He was awarded the National Geographic/Buffett Award for Leadership in African Conservation in 2004, following the creation of Nyungwe National Park.

He also spearheaded efforts to strengthen formal transboundary collaborations between Rwanda and Burundi in the conservation of the Nyungwe-Kibira landscape, mobilizing both political and donor support for this initiative. Using the knowledge and experience he gained from his PhD in ecological economics, he helped guide the Science for Nature and People Partnership (SNAPP) and MacArthur Foundation to develop a natural capital accounting project that played a pivotal role in helping the Government of Rwanda fulfil key conservation policy commitments.

Dr. Michel Masozera is currently the Director of Policy and Partnerships for Africa at the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS). The goal of this position is to enhance WCS Africa’s influence and impact in international and regional policy fora, and to capitalize upon bilateral and multilateral funding opportunities such as GCF and GEF. Prior to this position, Michel worked for WWF International from 2017 to 2020 as Deputy Wildlife Practice Leader and Innovation Lead for Africa, working primarily on the strategic design, implementation and evaluation of WWF’s wildlife conservation portfolio across the African continent.

He has over 25 years of experience working at the intersection of climate change, biodiversity conservation and sustainable development in Africa. He is a specialist in wildlife ecology and conservation, community-based natural resource management, program design and project management, protected area governance, and sustainable tourism development.

Dr. Masozera has a particular interest in inclusive conservation and the capacity building of civil society organizations and young African professionals. He holds an M.Sc. degree in Forest Resources and Conservation from the University of Florida, Gainesville, and a Ph.D. in Natural Resources from the University of Vermont.  He is a board member of several organizations including the Akagera Management Company (AMC), which is a joint venture between the Rwanda Development Board (RDB) and African Parks for the management of Akagera National Park.