Chicago Mayor, President Obama’s senior environmental policy counsel among keynote speakers

Chicago, — September 21, 2009 — The largest annual gathering of landscape architects in the world begins today with the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) 2009 Annual Meeting and EXPO, running September 18-21, at McCormick Place in Chicago . Featured speakers include Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley, President Obama’s senior environmental policy counsel Lisa Heinzerling, the chief economist for the American Institute of Architects Kermit Baker, as well as dozens of leading design and sustainability experts.

The meeting and EXPO will draw more than 5,000 professionals to attend over 125 education sessions, as well as 400 exhibitors displaying the latest in outdoor furnishings, green roofs, playground structures, living walls, planting materials and more.

“Chicago serves as a model for landscape architecture and sustainability, featuring some of the world’s best examples of green roofs, public parks and urban streetscapes,” said Angela Dye, FASLA and president of the Society. “Landscape architecture can address a multitude of economic, environmental and social problems facing large urban environments, and we are delighted to visit a city that puts so many excellent design practices into use – especially on the 100th anniversary of the 1909 Burnham Plan.”

Since 2000, ASLA has awarded Chicago nine national awards for landscape architecture, including Lurie Garden in Millennium Park , Chicago City Hall Green Roof, Spider Island Chicago Botanic Garden , Michigan Ave., One North Wacker Drive and the Chicago campus of the Illinois Institute of Technology.

In 2006, ASLA awarded Mayor Daley the Olmsted Medal, the highest honor the Society may bestow upon a non-landscape architect for his “environmental leadership, vision and stewardship.” This year, Mayor Daley will receive ASLA’s LaGasse Medal in recognition of his management and conservancy of public landscapes, and the City of Chicago and the Chicago Park District will jointly receive the ASLA Medal of Excellence for the consistently excellent level of achievement they have maintained for the past 10 years.

For more information and a schedule of events, visit www.asla.org/2009meeting.

About ASLA

Founded in 1899, ASLA is the national professional association for landscape architects, representing 17,000 members in 48 professional chapters and 68 student chapters. The Society's mission is to lead, to educate, and to participate in the careful stewardship, wise planning, and artful design of our cultural and natural environments. Members of the Society use the “ASLA” suffix after their names to denote membership and their commitment to the highest ethical standards of the profession. Learn more about landscape architecture online at www.asla.org.



Contact:

Jim Lapides
American Society of Landscape Architects
Tel.: (202) 216-2371, (314) 707-8823 (cell)
E-mail: Email Contact