Research Triangle’s Influential Landscape Architecture Subject of Daylong Leading with Landscape Conference Friday, April 13, 2018, in Raleigh

Media Contact: Nord Wennerstrom | T: 202.483.0553  | M: 202.225.7076 | E: nord@tclf.org

Opening reception features remarks by noted novelist & playwright Ariel Dorfman - Weekend of free tours and a new online city guide complement the conference

Washington, D.C. (January 9, 2018) – The Cultural Landscape Foundation (TCLF) today announced that the conference Leading with Landscape IV: Transforming North Carolina’s Research Triangle is to be held Friday, April 13, 2018, in the auditorium at the James B. Hunt, Jr., Library, North Carolina State University, Raleigh. North Carolina’s Research Triangle—including Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill—is a rich tapestry of natural and cultural systems interwoven with campus landscapes (academic, corporate, and cultural), regional and urban parks, and residential communities that serve diverse populations. In the first quarter of the 21st century, the region is embracing its role as an incubator for fresh ideas in planning, design, and stewardship, with landscape architects often taking the lead. Following the conference, TCLF’s What’s Out There Weekend Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill, April 14-15, will offer free, expert-led tours of approximately 30 sites, including historic parks and projects currently underway. A What's Out There Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill guidebook and a GPS-enabled city guide (both produced in collaboration with the Master of Landscape Architecture program at NC State College of Design) to the city’s designed landscape legacy will be unveiled.  An opening reception will be held on Thursday, April 12 at the North Carolina Museum of Art and will feature remarks by the acclaimed novelist and playwright Ariel Dorfman, Walter Hines Page Research Professor Emeritus of Literature and Professor Emeritus of Latin American Studies at Duke University.  The summit will draw attention to local and regional work that represents the best planning and design initiatives that strike a balance with natural, historic, cultural, and ecological systems. The summit is supported by Premier Sponsors Sasaki and the Dix Park Conservancy, and by Event Partners the City of Raleigh, the North Carolina Museum of Art, and North Carolina State University’s College of Design. Early bird registration rates of $225 for the conference and $75 for the reception are now available through February 23. A select number of student tickets are available for $75; 6.5 LA CES® professional development hours available, and 6.5 CE Learning Units for AIA members. Complete information and registration, along with speaker bios and abstracts, is available at the conference website.

Although the idea of the ‘Research Triangle’ first began to form in the post-War era, the region’s history dates back centuries and includes periods of great achievement despite generations of racial strife. The conference will feature experts from throughout the U.S., the Netherlands, and the Triangle region.  It will include opening remarks followed by three panels: [1] a morning panel featuring an international roster of practitioners who will examine how the area’s campus landscapes are serving as incubators for innovative planning and design solutions; [2] an afternoon panel will showcase new projects that are re-evaluating the region’s monuments and memorials, as well as two revered public landscapes—Moore Square and Dix Park; and [3] a moderated closing panel, featuring Raleigh’s former chief planner, a nationally prominent design critic, and a leading advocate for the region’s cultural landscapes, will discuss and assess the day’s proceedings.

Confirmed participants include:

• Stephen Bentley: Assistant Director, City of Raleigh, Parks, Recreation and Cultural Resources Department, Raleigh, NC;
• Charles A. Birnbaum, FASLA, FAAR: President + CEO, The Cultural Landscape Foundation, Washington, D.C.;
• Kofi Boone, ASLA: Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture, North Carolina State University College of Design, Raleigh, NC;
• W. Fitzhugh Brundage, PhD: William B. Umstead Professor of History, Chair, Department of History, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC; 
• Chuck Flink, FASLA, PLA: President, Greenways Incorporated, Raleigh, NC;
• Gina Ford, FASLA: Co-founder and Principal, Agency Landscape + Planning, Cambridge, MA;
• Andrew A. Fox, PLA, ASLA: Associate Professor and University Faculty Scholar at North Carolina State University College of Design, Raleigh, NC;
• Adriaan Geuze, RLA, OALA, ASLA: Founding Partner and Design Director, West 8, Rotterdam and New York City, NY;
• Daniel P. Gottlieb: Director, Planning, Design, and Museum Park, North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, NC;
• Randolph Hester: Director, Center for Ecological Democracy, Durham, NC;
• Gary Hilderbrand, FASLA, FAAR: Founding Principal and Partner, Reed Hilderbrand LLC, Cambridge, MA;
• Mark Hough, FASLA: University Landscape Architect, Duke University, Durham, NC;
• Mark Johnson, FASLA: Founder, Civitas, Denver, CO;
• Alexandra Lange: Architecture Critic, Curbed, New York, NY;
• Nancy McFarlane: Mayor, City of Raleigh, North Carolina;
• Kate Pearce, AICP: Senior Planner for Dorothea Dix Park, City of Raleigh, Raleigh, NC;
• Mitchell J. Silver, FAICP, Hon. ASLA: Commissioner, New York City Department of Parks and Recreation; and
• TBD, Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, Inc.

The Conference in Perspective

Over the past fifteen years, TCLF has organized numerous conferences that examine urban planning and landscape architecture. Four recent conferences, Leading with Landscape III: Renewing San Antonio’s Brackenridge Park, Leading with Landscape II: The Houston Transformation, Second Wave of Modernism III: Leading with Landscape (Toronto) and Bridging the Nature-Culture Divide III: Saving Nature in a Humanized World (San Francisco), have taken multidisciplinary approaches to understanding the balance that exists between the stewardship of natural and cultural resources and the evolving identities of urban areas. Conference attendees include landscape architects and allied practitioners, urban planners and related municipal officials, stewardship advocates, educators, and other interested parties.

About The Cultural Landscape Foundation
The Cultural Landscape Foundation (TCLF) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit founded in 1998 to connect people to places. TCLF educates and engages the public to make our shared landscape heritage more visible, identify its value, and empower its stewards. Through its website, publishing, lectures, and other events, TCLF broadens support and understanding for cultural landscapes.

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