Climate Action

FRI-A02: Connected Landscapes: Corridors for Climate, Biodiversity, and Community

Friday, September 18, 2026

9:00 AM - 10:15 AM PT

1.25 PDH, LA CES/non-HSW

Speaker(s)

Kelly G. Homan

Assistant Professor
Auburn University
Auburn, Alabama
Nathan Heavers, ASLA

Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture
Temple University
Princeton, New Jersey
Giuseppina Irene Curulli, ASLA (she/her/hers)

Associate Professor of Practice
Virginia Tech
Blacksburg, Virginia

Corridors operate as multi-functional landscape systems that connect habitats, neighborhoods, economies, and cultural narratives. How do landscape architects research and practice at the corridor scale through university and agency partnerships? This session explores projects that span industrial river transformations, urban forest plans, and statewide habitat networks advancing vulnerable species conservation.

Learning Outcomes:

Analyze how cultural heritage, ecological restoration, and flood adaptation can be integrated within corridor/greenway projects to reinforce both environmental performance and place identity.
Evaluate governance and policy mechanisms that enable corridor-based transformation of former industrial waterfronts into resilient, publicly accessible landscapes.
Assess how corridor design at large scales can be used to foster habitat connectivity for species of greatest conservation need.
Evaluate the practical significance of university-agency partnerships in managing public lands and analyze the evolving design and maintenance requirements of forest corridors within these collaborative frameworks.