MON-A03: From Seed to Design: Enhancing Urban Biodiversity Through Local Networks

Monday, October 13, 2025

8:30 AM – 9:45 AM CT

1.25 PDH, LA CES/HSW, AICP, FL

Speaker(s)

Grant L. Thompson, ASLA, PLA, LEED AP (he/him/his)

Landscape Architect and Horticulturist
RDG Planning & Design
Des Moines, Iowa
Deb Hilbert (she/her/hers)

Assistant Professor of Arboriculture & Urban Forestry
SUNY-ESF
Syracuse, New York
Suzette Lopane, ASLA, PLA

Principal Planner (Urban Design)
Westchester County
White Plains, New York

As urban populations grow, enhancing biodiversity in landscapes is essential. This panel tackles systemic issues in the plant production supply chain, addressing barriers to native plant diversity and providing practical solutions through hyperlocal networks and new collaborative models.

Learning Outcomes:

Understand how biodiversity influences urban ecosystem stability and resilience, including the ecological and social benefits of diverse plant communities in a changing world.
Explore a model framework for understanding the plant supply chain and how human decision-makers at various levels affect the diversity and availability of plant species for urban landscapes.
Learn potential leverage points and strategies for altering the availability of diverse and native plant species in the nursery trade, and how to support these changes in their own regions.
Discover how a network of seed collectors, producers, and designers are collaborating to meet the demand for hyperlocal species, enhancing biodiversity in the built environment.