Project Implementation

WED-A09: Still Paying for Robert Moses: Landscape Architecture Leadership on NYC Waterfronts

Wednesday, September 16, 2026

8:30 AM - 9:45 AM PT

1.25 PDH, LA CES/HSW

Speaker(s)

Gentry K. Lock, ASLA (she/her/hers)

Principal, Landscape Architect
Stantec
New York, New York
Lena Ferguson, AICP (she/her/hers)

Project Director, Capital Program
New York City Economic Development Corporation
New York, New York
Caitlin J. DiDonato, PE (she/her/hers)

Principal
Stantec
New York, New York

Robert Moses–era highways still dictate how New Yorkers experience their waterfront. Landscape architects are leading the redesign of NYC's waterfront esplanades — holding the line on trees, public space, and climate resilience while rebuilding beside active highways and aging infrastructure.

Learning Outcomes:

Understand how landscape architects lead infrastructure projects while preserving tree canopy and planting under strict safety, structural, and regulatory constraints.
Learn how section-based design thinking resolves conflicts between highways, drainage, elevation, and human-scale waterfront experience.
Identify strategies for maintaining landscape design intent during complex technical coordination adjacent to active highways.
Apply corridor scale design approaches to advance equity, resilience, and long-term public investment along urban waterfront greenways.