Common Lecture

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New Brunswick, New Jersey lies in the heart of the I95 Corridor between Boston and Washington, the most densely populated region of its size in the US. The city has even given itself the nickname “Hub City” in recognition, at least in part, of its location at a convergence of major highways. With all this density and development, it’s no surprise that to many who live in the area the idea of wildlife seems distant and alien. Wildlife belongs to wild places, and New Brunswick is certainly anything but that. But if you look closely, and listen, you’ll find a surprisingly rich diversity of animal life within a short bike or bus ride. In this presentation, I will share some of my experiences observing and photographing wildlife in the area and discuss how those observations connect with specific components of our very familiar local landscapes.

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Date of lecture: October 1^st, 2025

The lecture also emphasizes the role of educators and practitioners in thinking systemically, acting responsibly, and fostering “wall-less studios” where students engage directly with communities and decision-makers. Such approaches underscore the potential for guiding urban transformations toward futures that are resilient, equitable, and profoundly human.

BIO

Her teaching and research focus on urban resilience, blue–green infrastructure, and sustainable land-use planning, and she has mentored students across the Middle East and the United States. In practice, she has advised municipalities in Jordan and contributes to national initiatives through her role on the Economic Development and Modernization climate change and planning development teams of Jordan’s Royal Court. Her work has been recognized with the Shoman Prize for Researchers in Urban Planning and the Second Prize for the design of King Abdullah II Urban Park in Irbid, Jordan.

RESEARCH

Dr. Gharaibeh’s scholarship advances climate resilience through integrated approaches to landscape architecture and planning. She has published widely in international, peer-reviewed journals on urban growth modeling, climate-adaptive design, ecological connectivity, and regional economic resilience. Her pioneering application of artificial intelligence to urban growth assessment is widely cited, offering innovative tools for data-driven planning.

Alongside her academic research, Dr. Gharaibeh has led applied projects on urban redevelopment, heritage conservation, and climate adaptation for municipalities in Jordan. Her recent work explores rain gardens, blue–green corridors, and spatial planning frameworks for resilience, in collaboration with national agencies, the United Nations, and international academic networks. Recognized for bridging science, design, and community engagement, she continues to pursue cross-disciplinary partnerships that deliver practical and equitable solutions for climate-resilient urban futures.

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Fictional Terrain

At Jaemee Studio, I am interested in deliberately blurring the boundaries between two disciplines: objects and landscape. Landscapes may be abstracted, condensed, or reconfigured into discrete physical objects, and conversely, objects can expand into the immersive, spatial experiences that landscapes offer. This reciprocal transformation creates a sense of ambiguity where distinctions begin to fade, often forming a hybrid design language that straddles fiction and function, memory and materiality, the intimate and the collective. These experiments occasionally evoke subtle moments of disjunction and architectural uncanny, opening alternative ways of experiencing landscape. Several built and unbuilt projects, ranging from temporary art installations to speculative urban scale proposals will be shared to illustrate how these approaches have been explored and developed in my studio practice.

Bio

Haemee is a teaching instructor at Rutgers University. With Jaemee Studio, she exhibited public art installations across the U.S, Canada, Europe, and Asia. Haemee holds a Master of Landscape Architecture from Harvard GSD and a Bachelor of Landscape Architecture from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She is a registered landscape architect in New Jersey.

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Bio

Nicholas Tufaro is a licensed Professional Planner, Licensed Landscape Architect in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, and a Certified Floodplain Manager. Presently employed in his 21st year as a Principal Planner in the Middlesex County Division of Sustainability and Resilience, Nick’s career has spanned a half century in diverse private and public practice of professional design and planning, scaled from residential to regional master planning. Presently, Nick is charged with reviewing projects and developing programs to address responsible long-range planning policy and environmental planning for land use development, open space initiatives, and master plan issues in Middlesex County. These duties include primary responsibility for regional watershed-based planning as expressed in the Manalapan Brook Watershed Protection and Restoration Plan, analysis and partial authorship of the pending Middlesex County Wastewater Management Plan, and responsibility for integration of Green Infrastructure principles in all related elements of the pending Middlesex County Master Plan Updates.

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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.