The American Society of Landscape Architects recently hosted its annual meeting and expo in San Diego, Calif., themed “Landscape Architecture Rising.” It was the largest exposition in the show’s history, showcasing the latest products and leading experts in outdoor design and sustainability.
A total of 5,583 attendees registered, making it the second largest meeting in ASLA history. Three sessions at this year’s event focused on designing healthcare environments:
• Developing Healthy Communities: Using realigned Army bases as case studies, this session illustrated the Health in All Policies framework whereby planners create supportive environments by linking public health and cross-sector policies. The framework encompasses policies on housing, transportation, education, employment, land use, the environment and agriculture.
• Designing Community Recreation Spaces for Health and Well Being: Applying the Research Evidence: By applying the Sustainable Sites Initiative in Evidence-Based Design, landscape architects reassert their value as preventive health facilitators. This session introduced participants to the current scientific evidence supporting healthy-lifestyle landscape design.
• Last Child in the Woods, Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder: With the advent of electronic and other artificial attachments, have children today lost a connection to nature? Noted author Richard Louv presented findings on how being out-of-doors and engaged with oft-forgotten flora and fauna is how humans are hard-wired to develop physically and cognitively.
For more details, visit http://www.asla.org/2011meeting.
