City Shaping with Horticulture – The Cultural Landscape Foundation and the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society Host Civic Horticulture May 17

Media Contact: Nord Wennerstrom | T: 202.255.7076 | E: nord@tclf.org

City Shaping with Horticulture – The Cultural Landscape Foundation and the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society Host Civic Horticulture May 17

Nationally Recognized Speakers Address Horticulture’s Role in the Urban Core

Conference is Centerpiece of Events Including May 16 Pre-Conference Reception Previewing the PHS Civic Landscapes Plan and PHS Pop Up Garden  & May 18-19 What’s Out There Weekend Philadelphia

Washington, DC (March 20, 2013) – The Cultural Landscape Foundation (TCLF) and the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society (PHS) will host the conference, Civic Horticulture, Friday May 17, 2013 at the University of the Arts, Gershman Hall, Levitt Auditorium in Philadelphia, PA. Nationally recognized speakers will examine how the concept of civic horticulture, which bridges aesthetics and economics along with natural, cultural and ecological systems, has been successfully used as part of Philadelphia’s city shaping and what other cities can learn from Philadelphia’s example. The conference is divided into three themes – The Street; The Productive Garden; and Parks and Plazas – that will address the following issues: health/lifestyle, environment, economy and sense of place. The conference will take place in tandem with the unveiling of the new civic landscapes plan for Philadelphia developed by PHS and PennPraxis. Receptions will precede and follow the conference, capped by two days of free tours on May 18-19. The Architect's Newspaper is the national media partner; sponsorship provided by Landscape Forms. American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) Continuing Educations Units (CEUs) will be available for the conference.

Two separately ticketed events will immediately precede and follow the conference – the first is a launch reception held in conjunction with the PHS Pop Up Gardens, temporary sites that transform Center City Philadelphia's vacant spaces into urban oases by re-using elements of the renowned PHS Philadelphia Flower Show. The second is a post-conference reception at the offices of OLIN, which is known for creating iconic and vibrant landscapes throughout Philadelphia, including the Barnes Foundation, the Rodin Museum, Independence Mall and Logan Square, along with significant projects across the country.

Conference speakers and panelists (in alphabetical order):

• Charles A. Birnbaum, Founder and President, The Cultural Landscape Foundation, Washington, DC
• Elena Brescia, Partner, SCAPE/Landscape Architecture PLLC, New York, NY
• David Brownlee, Shapiro-Weitzenhoffer Professor of the History of Art, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
• Raymond Jungles, Founding Principal, Raymond Jungles, Inc., Miami, FL
• Eric Kramer, Principal, Reed Hilderbrand LLC, Boston, MA
• Mia Lehrer, Principal, Mia Lehrer and Associates, Los Angeles, CA
• James F. Lima, President, James Lima Planning + Development, Tiverton, RI and New York, NY
• Keith McPeters, Principal, Gustafson Guthrie Nichol Ltd, Seattle, WA
• Nancy O’Donnell, Director, Landscape Design, Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, Philadelphia, PA
• Harris Steinberg, Adjunct Assistant Professor, City & Regional Planning, PennPraxis, The University of Pennsylvania School of Design, Philadelphia, PA
• Matthew Urbanski, Principal, Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, Inc., Cambridge, MA and New York, NY
• Susan K. Weiler, Principal, OLIN, Philadelphia, PA and Los Angeles, CA
• Henry M White, III, Principal, HM White Site Architecture, New York, NY
• Peter Wirtz, Director, Wirtz International nv, Belgium
• Thomas L. Woltz, Principal, Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects, Charlottesville, VA and New York, NY

Following the conference on May 18-19 is What’s Out There Weekend Philadelphia, featuring free, expert-led tours of more than two-dozen significant examples of Philadelphia’s landscape architecture, including hidden gems in Fairmount Park, the Beaux Arts grounds of the Rodin Museum and the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Colonial Revival parks and gardens near Independence Hall, the groundbreaking Modernist expressions of Society Hill, and the Postmodernist plazas of Venturi Scott Brown. The tours reveal the back story about city shaping, landscape architecture and the design history of significant landscapes all over the city. Many are places people pass daily, but do we know their background stories? The Presenting Sponsor is Bartlett Tree Experts, along with sponsors Landscape Forms, Le Pain Quotidien, the PA-DE Chapter of ASLA, OLIN, and Studio Bryan Hanes.

What’s Out There Weekend dovetails with the Web-based What’s Out There, the nation’s most comprehensive searchable database of historic designed landscapes. The database offers a broad and interconnected way to discover the breadth of America’s historic designed landscapes, while What’s Out There Weekend gives people the opportunity to experience the landscapes they might see every day in a new way.

“Philadelphia is in a leadership position in the use of horticulture for place making and city shaping,” said Charles A. Birnbaum, TCLF Founder and President. “What will distinguish this symposium is that it will put plant materials first in developing a strategy for holistic stewardship of our cities' streets, parks, plazas, and public gardens.”

“Since its founding and design by William Penn, Philadelphia has been a city that has grown and flourished around parks and green spaces,” said Drew Becher, PHS President. “PHS has been at the forefront in the transformation of the most treasured civic sites along the Benjamin Franklin Parkway and the city’s gateways. We look forward to unveiling the plan for the next seven sites that will be transformed by PHS and our partners over the next 10 to 15 years.”

About The Architect’s Newspaper
Founded in 2003, The Architect’s Newspaper has become one of the nation’s most read and respected architecture and design publications. The Architect’s Newspaper publishes three regional newspapers in the Northeast, Midwest, and West Coast. Last year, the paper had more than 1.5 million unique visitors to its website and blog (www.archpaper.com). The Architect's Newspaper serves up news and inside reports to a niche community of architects, designers, engineers, landscape architects, lighting designers, interior designers, academics, developers, contractors, and other parties interested in the built urban environment. The Architect’s Newspaper delivers quality news and cultural reporting through print, web, blog, newsletter, or twitter—all the news you want, in all the ways you want to get it.

About Landscape Forms
Landscape Forms, is the industry leader in integrated collections of high-design site furniture and advanced LED lighting. Since its founding in 1969 Landscape Forms has earned a reputation for excellent design, high quality products and exceptional service. The Landscape Forms U.S. headquarters and manufacturing facility is located in Kalamazoo, Michigan with sales offices throughout North America, the United Kingdom, Southern Europe, the United Arab Emirates and Asia. Landscape Forms collaborates with renowned industrial designers and consultancies, landscape architects, and architects to design and develop integrated collections of products that address emerging needs and help create a sense of place. The company has an installed base of products around the world. Clients include municipalities, transit centers, corporate, college and health care campuses; and familiar brand leaders such as Boeing, Cisco Systems, Disney, Sprint, American Airlines, Herman Miller and Nike. Landscape Forms was recently named by the Wall Street Journal as one of the Top 15 Small Workplaces in the US. Visit www.landscapeforms.com.

About Bartlett Tree Experts
For over a century, Bartlett Tree Experts (bartlett.com) has developed and implemented sustainable practices that help landscapes thrive. Founded in 1907, Bartlett is a research‐driven, family‐owned and operated tree care company with offices in 27 U.S. states, Canada, Ireland and Great Britain. Bartlett's services and products – all developed through our own tree research laboratory and experimental grounds ‐ improve the preservation, management planning and care for trees. Bartlett is the only private company in the National Plant Diagnostic Network, a consortium of government agencies and universities providing rapid diagnosis of plant pests and diseases.

About Le Pain Quotidien

Founded in Brussels in 1990, Le Pain Quotidien now has more than 170 locations in cities around the world and across the US. The bakery/cafe restaurants serve simple, elegant boulangerie fare - soup, salads, tartines, breakfast, homemade pastries, and handmade organic bread - made with organic ingredients whenever possible. The menu includes many vegan and vegetarian options. Le Pain Quotidien is committed to responsible business practices that are good for the community and the environment. For more information, please visit www.lepainquotidien.us.

About the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society (PHS)
The Pennsylvania Horticultural Society is a nonprofit membership organization, founded in 1827, devoted to gardening, greening and learning. A leader in community greening programs, PHS offers activities, events, workshops and publications for gardeners of all levels, and works with volunteers, government agencies, businesses and other organizations to plan, create and maintain treasured public landscapes and other community green spaces. For information, please visit PHSonline.org.

About The Cultural Landscape Foundation (TCLF)

The Cultural Landscape Foundation provides people with the ability to see, understand and value landscape architecture and its practitioners, in the way many people have learned to do with buildings and their designers. Through its Web site, lectures, outreach and publishing, TCLF broadens the support and understanding for cultural landscapes nationwide to help safeguard our priceless heritage for future generations.