Oberlander Form IV Soak it Up: Los Angeles, CA

Water, water management, and climate change accelerated urban flooding are of paramount import and concern to residents and decision makers in Southern California. The Cultural Landscape Foundation (TCLF) in partnership with the University of Southern California (USC) and the SWA Group are gathering leading industry, non-profit, and academic professionals for a daylong conference on Friday December 5, 2025, at USC’s Bovard Auditorium that will focus on landscape architecture’s leadership role in addressing critical water management issues. The American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) Southern California chapter is a partner in education.

This event is part of the programming associated with the Cornelia Hahn Oberlander International Landscape Architecture Prize, a biennial honor with a $100,000 award. The work of the current laureate, the Beijing-based landscape architect Kongjian Yu, which centers on the “sponge cities” concept for mitigating urban flooding, is the impetus for this conference. The concept has captured the attention of urban planners, elected officials, and other key decision-makers around the world.Recognizing the unprecedented and more frequent climate events that have taken place in Southern California (and internationally); public and private sector interest in exploring sponge cities as a water management tool; the need to tame the Los Angeles River; and, perhaps most critically, the successful voter’s measure that approved “Measure W,” which generates $300 million annually to capture and treat stormwater for water security and improve water quality, Los Angeles is an ideal laboratory to explore advancing water-management and design strategies through a contemporary landscape architecture lens. Taken together, positioning Los Angeles municipalities to become “Water First” cities where water infrastructure is an integral part of creating nature-based solutions for people and nature to co-exist.

Panels will look at how the Los Angeles River and water sources, more broadly, have been managed, and the current challenges and solutions being implemented; and at global strategies and perspectives offered by international leaders in the field, including Oberlander Prize winner Kongjian Yu. The daylong event will be preceded by a Thursday evening reception and opening keynote and followed on Saturday by mobile workshops.

Speakers Include: Gerdo Aquino, FASLA, PLA, SWA • Lauren Bon, Environmental Artist and Activist, Director, Metabolic Studio, Los Angeles, CA • Evelyn Cortez-Davis, Director of Strategic Initiatives, Water Executive Office • William “Bill” Deverell, Huntington–USC Institute on California and the West • Adriaan Geuze, FASLA, IR, RLA, OALA, Founding Partner, Principal, West 8, Rotterdam, The Netherlands • Christopher Hawthorne, Senior Critic, Yale School of Architecture • Jessica M. Henson, RLA, ASLA, AICP, Partner, OLIN • Alison B. Hirsch, PhD, FAAR, University of Southern California, School of Architecture • Chelina Odbert, Co-Founder and Executive Director, Kounkuey Design Initiative • Kush Parekh, Principal, Studio-MLA • Julia Prince, RLA, ASLA, AIA, Associate, Design Workshop • Alexander Robinson, FAAR, Associate Professor, USC School of Architecture and Founder/Principal, Office of Outdoor Research • Maura Rockcastle, ASLA, PLA, Co-Founder and Principal, Ten x Ten, Minneapolis, MN • Matt Romero, ASLA Associate Principal, Studio-MLA • Mario Schjetnan, FASLA, Managing Director, Grupo de Diseño Urbano, Mexico City, Mexico • Patrick Sisson, Freelance journalist • Kongjian Yu, FASLA, Professor, Peking University; President, Turenscape

Info: Mario Schjetnan, FASLA, Managing Director, Grupo de Diseño Urbano, Mexico City, Mexico
Kongjian Yu, FASLA, Professor, Peking University; President, Turenscape
Adriaan Geuze, FASLA, IR, RLA, OALA, Founding Partner, Principal, West 8, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Maura Rockcastle, ASLA, PLA, Co-Founder and Principal, Ten x Ten, Minneapolis, MN
Chelina Odbert, Co-Founder and Executive Director, Kounkuey Design Initiative
Patrick Sisson, Freelance journalist

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