conferences

Photo by Henry Domke, www.henrydomke.com

Annual ASLA Meeting & Expo, San Diego, CA, 10/30-11/2/2011

The annual ASLA (American Society of Landscape Architects) Meeting & Expo is coming up fast, and I’m really looking forward to it. As with every year, several sessions focus or at least touch on restorative landscapes, and I’ll share those with you in this post. Lots of other good stuff, too – see the full program on the ASLA website. Advance deadline is 9/16, so hurry up and register.

The ASLA Healthcare and Therapeutic Design Professional Practice Network will hold its annual meeting on Monday from 11:00-12:30. This is the best way to meet colleagues involved in this kind of work. In fact, the TLN was born from one of those meetings (see History on our website)!

In addition, our group MAY be having another meeting before the meeting, as we did last year in Washington, D.C. As a group, we walked around various sites on the Mall related to restorative landscapes. It was a great success, and though San Diego is far more spread out, we hope to visit a couple key sites the day before the meeting.

Here are some of the education sessions I’ll be attending. I have to attend the first one, on Sunday, 1:30-3:00 because I’m speaking at it, with my wonderful colleagues Jack Carman and Clare Cooper Marcus.

“Water in the Designed Landscape: Benefits, Precautions, and Recommendations”

We know water is an important landscape design element and that people are naturally drawn to it. But how does it affect us and why? Presenters will explore current research and the theoretical and practical implications for water features in the landscape, particularly to maximize benefits and minimize risk.

Learn about theories of why and how water‚ natural and designed‚ contributes to making spaces restorative. Evaluate a specific study on human reaction to the sound of water and its design implications. Explore safety concerns involving water features, especially in healthcare settings, and the latest design and maintenance findings.

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Gary Comer Youth Center Rooftop Garden, Chicago, IL. Image courtesy Hoerr Shaudt Landscape Architects

This year at Greenbuild (www.greenbuildexpo.org), Zolna Russell, Director of Sustainability at Hord Coplan Macht, Peter Schaudt, Principal at Hoerr Schaudt Landscape Architects and I (Naomi Sachs) will be presenting the Education Session “The Human Connection: Landscapes that Promote Health and Well-Being.” Competition for presentations was stiff – hundreds of proposals were submitted – and so it’s a testament to the growing interest in this field of restorative and therapeutic landscapes that our talk was chosen.

Greenbuild is in beautiful Toronto, Canada this year, from October 4-7. Early-bird registration ends MONDAY, so if you’re thinking about going, make that decision before Monday and save some money. Go to the Greenbuild site to register.

Here’s the blurb about our Education Session:

It is well known that humans benefit from exposure and connection to nature. LEED has acknowledged this and requires projects to create meaningful outdoor spaces. This seminar will explore the documented benefits of landscapes for health which are designed using evidence based design. Case studies of several landscape settings including healthcare, school environments and public spaces will demonstrate the principles and outcomes of evidence based design and specific characteristics which make projects successful.

We’ll be talking (on 10/5) about the characteristics, with examples and case studies, of restorative landscapes (any landscape, wild or designed, that facilitates health and well-being) and therapeutic gardens (a garden, in this case usually healthcare gardens, designed for a specific population and a specific site with a specific intended outcome). We’ll discuss restorative and therapeutic landscapes as addressed in the Green Guide for Healthcare, LEED for Healthcare, and SITES (the Sustainable Sites Initiative).

Our program was selected as one of Greenbuild’s “special sets,” which means we’ll have some sort of fancy stage set-up that facilitates more interaction with the audience and really shows off all of the beautiful images we’ll be showing. Should be fun!

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For the second year in a row, the Therapeutic Landscapes Network will be attending HEALTHCARE DESIGN.11, taking place November 13 – 16 at the Gaylord Opryland in Nashville, TN. Just like last year, we’ll be reporting live from the conference.

HEALTHCARE DESIGN.11 is a four-day conference devoted to evidence-based design for healthcare buildings. Developed in collaboration with design professionals who are engaged in the day-to-day championing of higher quality healthcare environments, this annual, multi-track learning event examines the many ways evidence-based design strategies can positively impact the safety, operation, clinical outcomes and financial success of healthcare facilities now and in the future.

If you design, build and operate healthcare facilities, or are a researcher, student or educator involved in the healthcare design field, this is a great conference to attend.

Register by July 29th to save on registration! Click here to register.

Click here to view the complete agenda, and here for more information.

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Rock Wall & Salt Marsh Panorama. Photo by Henry Domke, www.henrydomke.com

Design & Health World Congress & Exhibition
International Academy for Design and Health
July 6 – 10, 2011, Boston, MA
The Marriott Copley Place

There’s still time to register for what looks like an excellent conference: www.designandhealth.com/Events/World-Congress. For the conference program, go to this page http://www.designandhealth.com/Events/Congress-Programme-Boston-2011.aspx and click on the picture in the top right-hand corner (the one that says “Final program & call for registration”).

The Congress is organized by the International Academy for Design & Health in partnership with The American Institute of Architects, Academy of Architecture for Health, and supported by major academic institutions and healthcare industries worldwide.

I was going to list which sessions I thought would be of interest to our members, but there are so many – best to just look at the program and see what sparks your interest.

The Design & Health World Congress is the centerpiece for the Academy’s education, research, advocacy and business & professional networking activities.

Delivered in partnership with the leading professional bodies, academic institutions, health providers and industry sponsors, the congress is an opportunity to engage with the world’s foremost interdisciplinary network of thought leaders, including architects, designers, psychologists, physicians, nurses, health planners, policy makers and other key decision makers.

The scientific committee said: “A salutogenic approach to environmental design is one of the most cost-effective and enduring methods of reducing illness and improving health. Central to understanding this approach is the development of a scientific research base, which illustrates and explores the relationship between human health and the environment and, even more vitally, creates a case for the rigorous application of this knowledge in professional practice…Our mission is to spread awareness of this important message and its value as a foundation for improving population health and well-being.”