The Oregon Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) announced its 2023’s Recognition Awards and Design Awards winners in November at the ASLA Oregon Design Awards Soiree.

The Recognition Awards celebrate the spirit of the landscape architecture profession in Oregon by recognizing people and organizations for their service to the profession, professional leadership, community leadership and careful stewardship.

The Design Awards program recognizes the firms, individuals and agencies responsible for outstanding works of landscape architecture and environmental planning in Oregon and beyond.

New this year was The Climate Champion Green ribbon. The ASLA Climate Action Plan calls for all landscape architecture projects to achieve zero embodied and operational emissions and increase carbon sequestration; provide significant economic benefits in the form of measurable ecosystem services, health co-benefits, sequestration, and green jobs; address climate injustices, empower communities and increase equitable distribution of climate investments; and restore ecosystems and increase and protect biodiversity.

Awards voted on by soiree attendees include:

• “I wish this was my project” awarded to South Park Blocks, by MIG with Mayer Reed;
• “I wish this was in my neighborhood” awarded to Wade Creek Park, by GreenWorks; and
• People’s Choice awarded to the Beaverton Downtown Loop Complete Street Concept Plan, by the city of Beaverton and Walker Macy.

Recognition awards include:

• Outstanding emerging professional: Taylor Bowden;
• Outstanding firm: PLACE;
• Distinguished practitioner: Allison Rouse; and
• Tom McCall Award Winner: Depave.

Design Awards include:

• Woodmont Natural Park, by Mackenzie, received an Award of Excellence (general design) and Climate Action Committee Green Ribbon Award;
• Los Angeles Countywide Parks and Recreation Needs Analysis Plus, by MIG, received an Honor Award (analysis and planning/research) and Climate Action Committee Green Ribbon Award;
• Still Waters Run Free, by GreenWorks, received an Honor Award (general design);
• EWEB Roosevelt Operations Center, by PIVOT Architecture and The Satre Group, received a Climate Action Committee Green Ribbon Award (general design);
• Oregon Experience Laboratory, by the Fuller Initiative for Productive Landscapes at UO, received an Honor Award (small budget/big impact and/or pro bono) and Climate Action Committee Green Award Ribbon Award;
• Rockwood Village, by PLACE, received an Honor Award (multi-family residential);
• Honoring Old Camp: A Community-Driven Conceptual Master Plan for the Burns Paiute Tribe, by University of Oregon students Cameron Coronado, Tressa Cummings, Grace Graham, Sarah Phillips, Candi Rosario and Jenna Witzleben; received an Honor Award (student project); and
• Willamette River Outlook, by Dorae Hankin, received an Honor Award (student project).

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With an eye toward updating the way it honors landscape architecture efforts in the state, the Oregon chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects earlier this month presented a revamped approach to its longstanding design awards program.

Instead of recognizing design work on recent projects, as the chapter has in the past, the group’s 2016 Honor Awards paid tribute to the outstanding service, stewardship, leadership and design efforts of industry professionals, firms and organizations. The first recipients of the new honor awards were selected with the idea of honoring “the best in our profession and our community,” said Laurie Matthews, president of ASLA Oregon.

Devin Young was the recipient of the Outstanding Emerging Professional Award, which honors outstanding efforts and contributions by an industry professional with five years or fewer in the industry.

The Lord & Schryver Award was presented to Elisabeth “Liksa” Chan, Roxi Thoren and Anne Godfrey, representing the University of Oregon’s Department of Landscape Architecture. The award, which is named for the two women who opened Oregon’s first women-owned landscape architecture firm, honors the contributions and achievements of women in landscape architecture.

The Tom McCall Award, honoring outstanding community stewardship efforts related to Oregon’s natural environment, was presented to the nonprofit organization Friends of Trees.

ASLA Oregon also presented the Olmsted Brothers Award, which pays tribute to outstanding landscape architecture in Oregon that has lasted 25 years or more, to the Halprin Open Space Sequence. Created in 1960, the sequence links Lovejoy Plaza with Pettygrove Park and the Ira Keller Fountain along an eight-block pedestrian mall lined with trees and bounded by Southwest Lincoln and Clay streets and Southwest First and Fourth avenues.

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Designing landscapes to serve a diverse population is a complicated process, but one that can benefit entire communities. But some observers say that process in the Portland-metro area needs to be better at including minority populations.

Randy Gragg, director of the John Yeon Center for Architecture at the University of Oregon, said the city and Multnomah County need to be more inclusive.

“We have not done a very good job and could improve our game a lot,” he said.

The solution may be for government officials to do more of what community groups have done – go into neighborhoods to reach people instead of relying solely on input gathered at public meetings.

Changing demographics and input collection

Portland is becoming more and more diverse. From 2000 to 2010, its nonwhite population grew from 25 percent to 28 percent, according to , which cited data from Portland State University’s Population Research Center.

Portland’s population in 2015 was about 9 percent Hispanic or Latino, 7 percent Asian, 6 percent African-American and 1 percent Native American, with lesser numbers for Pacific Islanders and others, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Recent immigrants to Portland include families from: Ukraine, Romania, China, Vietnam, Somalia, Afghanistan, Turkey, Bhutan and the former U.S.S.R, to name but a few, said demographer Charles Rynerson, a research associate at the PSU center.

Connecting with people in so many different cultures can be difficult. Metro’s normal public input collection process for a park, for example, is to form a stakeholder advisory committee and then hold four public meetings. But that isn’t enough to reach underserved populations, said Olena Turula, a landscape architect and project manager for Metro.

However, Metro is beginning a study to determine the best ways to reach minority populations. The effort is expected to require 18 months.

“We’re just a little ways into it,” Turula said, “but it’s about taking time to build relationships with people.”

The city of Portland, meanwhile, also is seeking new ways to reach people in ethnic neighborhoods, such as connecting with community leaders and local groups. But the city’s outreach process still relies heavily on evening open houses – and not everyone can attend meetings at night, according to Laurie Matthews, president of the American Society of Landscape Architects’ Oregon chapter. Plus, people in some cultures distrust authority and aren’t comfortable in those settings, she added.

“This is one of the most pressing issues facing landscape architects today,” she said. “I have high hopes that Portland will make some significant changes and be a leader in terms of public process and design in terms of equity and diversity.”

Portland Parks & Recreation is trying to be more inclusive in its efforts, bureau director Mike Abbate said. A recent symposium by ASLA Oregon impressed him.

“It just tells me people in the design professions are trying to figure out what it means to design a thing equitably for communities,” he said.

Abbate said the parks bureau is connecting to minority populations in several ways, often through churches and community centers, and through sports like soccer and basketball.

“We have to go out to those folks, have relationships with leaders and mentors and entice them to bring people in,” he said.

Diane Jones Allen, a landscape architect and principal at DesignJones LLC in New Orleans, spoke at the ASLA forum and said the old methods of holding open houses or initial design charettes do not work very well.

“A charette means you come in and stick pins on a map but at the end (what is built) is nothing like what you really wanted,” she said. “It’s better to get to know the community members first and then keep them in the entire design process. It’s a longer process but you have to have a commitment.”

Walker Macy works on a lot of public projects, said Chelsea McCann, a landscape architect at the firm. Over time, it has discovered that to collect public input, there are better ways than holding meetings, she said. For instance, by first engaging community leaders and groups Walker Macy is able to reach more people.

“It’s a lot more legwork, but diversity of feedback is much improved,” she said.

Diving into communities to serve all populations

The success stories of spaces designed for diverse populations are mostly community-driven. Lee Dayfield, the driving force behind development of in Gresham, said she knew how important it was to consider the surrounding Rockwood neighborhood, which has a large Hispanic population.

Months of community outreach, led by planning and design firm MIG Inc., started with a declaration of cooperation by community members and 17 partners, including Human Solutions, the city of Gresham and the Audubon Society, to devise a plan.

One of the group’s preferences was for covered picnic tables, though Gresham city councilors were hesitant to approve that aspect because they were worried the tables would attract “ne’er-do-wells,” Dayfield said. She finally told the councilors that they would never know if the plan would work unless they at least tried, she said.

“You can’t not build things out of fear,” she said.

The park, which is owned by city, has covered picnic tables, walking trails, a nature play area, many educational programs and a 50-plot community garden. It brings different cultures together, Dayfield said.

“We have people from all over the world (visit the park),” she said, “and the most amazing thing is that some of them have seeds from their own country, from Taiwan and Africa, and with Russians and Asians and Hispanics.”

Gresham Mayor Shane Bemis praised the volunteer and collaborative effort to create the park.

“Not only is Nadaka a great example of community involvement in design, it is a perfect example of the community really leading the way throughout the project,” he said.

MIG Inc. also led much of the public outreach for the in North Portland. Landscape designer Madeline Carroll worked with the Community Cycling Center to gather input from even the youngest members to inform design, said Christina Frank, a landscape architectural designer with MIG.

“The kids were involved, even after the park was built,” Frank said. “She engaged the kids with thinking rules of engagement, making it safe for everyone.”

Another collaborative design in the works is the one for Cully Park, said Tony DeFalco, eco-district coordinator for community group Verde.

DeFalco said he has renewed hope that the landscape architecture community can help create a Portland that has more inclusive outdoor spaces – whether public, private or nonprofit – that reflect neighborhoods’ heritage and history.

Donita Sue Fry of the Native American Youth and Family Center knows about valuing her heritage. For years, she’s been involved in planning for Cully Park, on a site that formerly held a Native American culture. That inclusion might not have happened without community input like hers, she said.

“Native American history is American history and when we are not acknowledged in public spaces and trails we are perpetuating institutional racism,” she said.

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