About this Event
The Michael Hough/OALA Visiting Critic in Landscape Architecture Lecture
What would it mean for a city to be ecologically robust and socially just? What would such a place be like? Through what means might such a vision be accomplished? And how might change be created and sustained?
These are not questions to be explored in the abstract. They call for action, research, for testing ideas in practice, engaging with real people, in actual places, to make discoveries from which principles can be drawn.
For the past four decades, Anne Whiston Spirn’s research and teaching has demonstrated how to combine concerns for environment, poverty, race, social equity, and educational reform and how university resources can be leveraged to address environmental and social challenges that confound society. These initiatives have resulted in real projects and programs in partnership with community residents and contributed to a revolution in water-quality management represented by Philadelphia's landmark, billion-dollar "green" infrastructure project.
About the Michael Hough/OALA Visiting Critic in Landscape Architecture:
The Michael Hough/OALA Visiting Critic in Landscape Architecture honours Michael Hough (1928–2013), the founder of the University of Toronto’s Landscape Architecture program and a pioneering landscape architect, ecological urbanist, and educator. In 2003, the Ontario Association of Landscape Architects (OALA) established an endowment to support the Visiting Critic appointment in Hough’s honour, which enriches the academic experience of students in the landscape architecture program through the creative input of visiting professors, practitioners and critics in the field.
Michael Hough was an early advocate for the ecological approach to landscape architecture, championing the integration of urban ecology into planning and landscape design. His approach extended beyond aesthetics to encompass ecological and biological principles, sound urban planning, and long-term development strategies. He articulated this vision through his influential writing, including his first book, City Form and Natural Process (1984), as well as through his advocacy for restoring the Don River’s natural outflow, which led to the creation of the successful Biidaasige Park. His influential projects included the landscapes of Ontario Place, University of Toronto Scarborough Campus, U of T’s University College Quad and the Earth Sciences Courtyards. Hough received the 2009 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Canadian Society of Landscape Architects, and his profound influence remains indelible today.
Event venue & nearby stays
John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design, 1 Spadina Crescent, Toronto, Canada
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