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The City College ASLA-NY Student Chapter is hosting its 8th annual Rising Urbanist conference on Saturday, April 26th, starting at 9:45am.
$15 for ASLA Members. $25 for non-members. Free for students.
In the 2025 installment of Rising Urbanists, “Queering Landscapes”, We spotlight Queer perspectives, works, and spaces in Landscape Architecture and other related fields. The conference will delve into the many meanings of Queerness through social space, ecology, design, aesthetics and more. We will explore how practitioners in our field can integrate these concepts into our profession. In crafting this conference, we hope to encourage transdisciplinary
dialogue that bridges the gap between designers and the social and ecological systems we work with.
Keynote speakers:
Mel Michelle Lewis (she/they), author of Biomythography Bayou
David Rubin, Founding Principal (he/him), Land Collective
4.25 LACES CEUs – Pending
Sessions and Speakers:
9:45am: Coffee and Registration
10:20am: Opening Remarks
Marta Gutman, Dean (she/her), Spitzer School of Architecture
10:30- 11:45 am: Panel – Queer Placemaking and Activism
Panelists:
Timothy Leonard (he/him), National Parks Conservation Association
Mark Segal (he/him), PhD., Social Activist, Journalist, and Author
Kari Roynesdal (she/her), Urban Planner/Designer
Moderator: Sonia Uthuph (she/they), MLA ‘25
12:00- 1:00 pm: Keynote presentation – Queer Provocations: Nature, Culture, Place
Dr. Mel Michelle Lewis (she/they), Lead Coach & Consultant, The Art of Change Agency
2:15-3:15 pm: Panel – The Aesthetics of Decay
Panelists:
Wendy Andringa (she/her), Founder & Principal, Assemblage
Patrick Costello (he/him), Artist of ecological horticulture, installation, printmaking, and performance
Moderator: Lizette Avineri (she/her), MLA ‘25
3:30- 4:30 pm: Keynote Presentation – Empathy, Identity, and Landscape
David Rubin (he/him), Founding Principal, Land Collective
4:40 pm: Closing Remarks
5:30- 7:30pm: Happy Hour Winnie Said
About Rising Urbanists
Since 2017, the Student ASLA Chapter of City College has been organizing and hosting Rising Urbanists, a full day conference in which we examine a topic within our field of landscape architecture and urban planning from a framework of social and environmental justice. Our goal is to create an interdisciplinary space where people with varied backgrounds in practice and academia can have a challenging and productive discussion on the annual topic. We are proud of this tradition and are dedicated to continuing the legacy of this kind of student-led and organized space.
About Dr. Mel Michelle Lewis (she/they)
Lead Coach & Consultant, The Art of Change Agency
Dr. Mel cultivates critical voices and creative visions for sustainable practice,
structural change, environmental justice, and social transformation as a
thought leader and change agent. Previously, they provided strategic
guidance on social and environmental justice initiatives and creative visioning
for the future of clean water for people and nature as Vice President for
People, Justice, and Cultural Affairs at American Rivers. Rooted in the Gulf
South's folklore, dialect, foodways, music, art, and landscapes, Dr. Mel's
creative work explores nature writing themes in rural coastal settings through
the lens of Black, Creole, and Afrolndigenous knowledges. Their book
Biomythography Bayou is available via The Griot Project Book Series at
Bucknell University Press. Dr. Mel served as an Affiliated Researcher with the
Penn Program in Environmental Humanities at the University of Pennsylvania,
Associate Professor and Chair of Studio and Humanistic Studies (Maryland
Institute College of Art), Director of the Center for Geographies of Justice, the
Women, Gender, & Sexuality Studies Department, and Africana Studies
Department (Goucher College), and Chair of the Department of Ethnic Studies
(Saint Mary's College of California).
Link to bio: https://melmichellelewis.com
About David Rubin (he/him)
Founding Principal, Land Collective
David A. Rubin, PLA, FASLA, FAAR is the founding principal of DAVID RUBIN Land Collective, a landscape architecture, urban design, and planning studio committed to practicing socially-purposeful design. David’s visionary contribution to the field in “empathy-driven design” is a hallmark of the studio, earning increasing renown for fusing issues of social justice in cities with excellence in the design of public spaces. His projects have received awards and honors from the American Society of Landscape Architects and the American Institute of Architects, among others. David was recently appointed by the State Department to The Bureau of Overseas Building Operations (OBO) Industry Advisory Group to advise the U.S. government on best
practices in landscape architecture.
Link to bio: https://land-collective.com/