Heidi Peterson, a recent graduate of the IIT Chicago MLA program, has published an article, "In Chicago, New Parks are Civic Infrastructure", in ASLA's blog, The Dirt.
In the blog posting, Peterson discusses a panel led by IIT Architecture faculty member Marshall Brown at the ASLA 2015 Annual Meeting in Chicago. The panel used Daniel Burnham's urban plan as a starting point to review three new works of “civic infrastructure,” and included presentations by Sarah Astheimer, ASLA, James Corner Field Operations; Matthew Bird, ASLA, Michael Van Valkenburg Associates (MVVA); and Gina Ford, ASLA, Sasaki Associates.
From the posting: "In the Plan of Chicago, Burnham’s approach was an “integration of landscape and architecture,” creating hybrid places infrastructural in nature. The three new Chicago parks and landscapes discussed in the session – Navy Pier Pierscape by James Corner Field Operations, Maggie Daley Park by MVVA, and the Chicago Riverwalk by Sasaki – are also hybrids. All required a high level of performance, a “contemporary green and sustainable design,” as Astheimer put it."
The Dirt blog covers the latest news on the built and natural environments and features stories on landscape architecture. Published weekly, The Dirt explores design and policy developments related to land and water use, urbanization, transportation, and climate change.