Programme / Speakers

28 October 2026 (Wed)

Kate ORFF

Kate Orff, FASLA, is the founder of SCAPE and Professor at Columbia University. Through her practice in New York, New Orleans, and San Francisco, Kate has redefined the role of landscape architecture and urban design in shaping resilient communities. A recipient of the MacArthur Fellowship (2017) and the ASLA Firm Award (2025), Kate’s work continues to inspire new approaches to ecological and socially engaged design. She is the co-author of Petrochemical America (2012) with Richard Misrach and the author of Toward an Urban Ecology (2016), both of which have influenced global conversations on the environment and urbanism.

29 October 2026 (Thu)

Stig. L. ANDERSSON

Stig L. Andersson is a world-renowned designer, writer, and thinker and a leading voice in the aesthetics and practice of nature-based design. Stig L. Andersson founded the nature-based design studio SLA in 1994. Having studied nuclear physics, Japanese culture, and chemistry before becoming an architect, Andersson graduated from the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, School of Architecture in 1986. From 1986-1989, Andersson moved to Japan with Japanese ministerial research funds. Andersson was particularly interested in Japanese culture’s relationship with substance, space, and changeability – fields he has integrated and developed in his own practice since 1994. Stig L. Andersson is SLA’s founding partner. Beginning as a (purely) landscape architectural practice, SLA has developed into an international interdisciplinary organisation working with nature-based design, landscape architecture, and city planning. Renowned for his sensuous and poetic work, Andersson combines deep philosophical knowledge of the aesthetics of nature with cutting-edge biological and urban design. He is currently a professor at the Beijing Forestry University and has held previous professorships at the University of Copenhagen and Aarhus Architecture School. He is a much sought-after lecturer and teacher at universities and architecture schools in Europe, Asia, and North America and the author of several articles, essays, and books, amongst them The Empowerment of Aesthetics (2014) and Critique of the Aesthetic Feeling of Nature (2024). Stig L. Andersson has received numerous national and international awards, including The European Landscape Award, The Eckersberg Medal, Nykredit’s Architecture Prize, The Topos Award, The Rosa Barba International Landscape Architecture Award, Ny Carlsbergfondets Honour Prize, and the C.F. Hansen Medal – the highest national honour given to a Danish architect, awarded by Queen Margrethe II of Denmark.

Jungyoon KIM

Jungyoon Kim, Associate Professor in Practice of Landscape Architecture at the GSD, is a practicing landscape architect, registered in the Netherlands and in Massachusetts, the U.S. She founded PARKKIM with Yoonjin Park in Rotterdam in 2004, relocated to Seoul in 2006, and opened in Boston in 2025. PARKKIM has completed projects of diverse scales and natures, ranging from corporate landscapes to civic venues. Current ongoing projects include the Suseongmot Lake Floating Stage in Daegu, Korea, for which PARKKIM won the international invited competition in 2024; the project is scheduled for completion in 2027.

LI Dihua

Dihua Li is Associate Professor of College of Architecture and Landscape Architecture and Vice Dean of Graduate School of Landscape Architecture, Peking University. He has multiple academic and practice backgrounds on urban ecology and landscape planning. His research interests extend from ecological engineering, urban and rural sociology, urban planning, to biodiversity conservation and urban economics. His researches have been widely published in a number of renowned journals. Prof. Li is also the Executive Editor-in-Chief of Landscape Architecture Frontiers, Editorial BoardMember of Modern Landscape Architecture, Secretary General of Urban Ecology Professional Committee of the Ecological Society of China, Secretary of the Academic Working Committee of Beijing Institute of Landscape Architecture, Member of Urban Ecological Planning and Construction Committee of Urban Planning Society of China and Past Director of Soil Science Society of Beijing.

Lara ZUREIKAT

As Founding Associate Director of the Center for the Study of the Built Environment (CSBE) in Amman and Principal of LZLA Studio, Lara has pioneered the design of native, water-conserving landscapes. She created Jordan’s first model water-conserving park for the National Gallery of Fine Arts and has led extensive public programs promoting drought-tolerant flora in design. Her collaborations span local and international projects, including the Palestinian Museum Hub in Birzeit, the Amman Master Plan, and the Destination Hotel in AlUla, Saudi Arabia. Rooted in a deep connection to place, Lara’s work integrates natural processes to create meaningful and sustainable landscapes. In 2019, she was awarded the prestigious Aga Khan Award for Architecture for her work on the Palestinian Museum. Featured in Architectural Digest, The Architectural Review, Hauser, and Wallpaper, Lara continues to inspire with her vision for resilient and culturally grounded landscapes.

Gareth DOHERTY

Gareth Doherty is a landscape architect, educator, and researcher and Associate Professor at the National University of Singapore. Doherty’s work explores the intersection of environmental sustainability, social equity, and design. He adopts a human-centred approach to landscape architecture, integrating ethnographic fieldwork and participatory design methods to better understand and shape the relationships between people and their environments. His research challenges conventional design practices by foregrounding issues of identity, cultural space, and the human dimensions of climate change. Before joining the National University of Singapore, Professor Doherty spent over two decades at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design, where he held several leadership roles, including Director of the Master of Landscape Architecture Programme. His interdisciplinary teaching brings landscape architecture into dialogue with fields such as anthropology, urban planning, and area studies. He is also the founder of the Critical Landscapes Design Lab. Professor Doherty is the author of several influential publications, including Landscape Fieldwork: How Engaging the World Can Change Design (2025) and Paradoxes of Green: Landscapes of a City-State (2017), and his edited books include Roberto Burle Marx Lectures: Landscape as Art and Urbanism (2018). Doherty, co-edited Landscape Is…! (2025) and Is Landscape…? (2015), with Charles Waldheim and, with Mohsen Mostafavi, Ecological Urbanism (2010 and 2016). Doherty’s work continues to expand the scope of landscape architecture by engaging diverse narratives and advancing more inclusive and socially engaged design practices.

Mumbi MAINA

Mumbi Maina is an architect, researcher, and environmental designer. Her work focuses on climate-responsive urbanism, indigenous spatial intelligence, and the future of African coastal landscapes. As Vice President of Women in Real Estate (WIRE) Kenya and lecturer at the University of Nairobi, she explores how culture, ecology, and public space intersect within rapidly urbanizing African contexts, particularly along the Swahili coast. Through research, practice, and policy engagement, Mumbi contributes to international discourse on inclusive cities, climate adaptation, and the role of indigenous knowledge systems in shaping resilient environmental futures.

Seksan NG

Seksan NG is a landscape architect and founder of Seksan Design. After training and practicing in New Zealand for 12 years, Seksan returned to Asia, working with Belt Collins International in Singapore before founding Seksan Design in Kuala Lumpur in 1994. For over 30 years, Seksan has woven together the hard edges of architecture with the organic, evolving world of plants and landscape. His projects emphasize respect for the environment and human labor, reflecting an egalitarian lifestyle that is simple, uncluttered, and authentic. Rejecting the trend of global expansion, Seksan has chosen to work locally in Kuala Lumpur, embracing the nuances of context, weather, culture, and craftsmanship. This approach fosters deep collaboration with trusted clients, enabling bold experimentation and risk-taking in his designs.

ZHENG Xiaodi

Xiaodi Zheng is a tenured professor and landscape architect at Tsinghua University in Beijing, China. She serves as Vice President of the Chinese Society of Landscape Architecture (CHSLA) and its IFLA Asia-Pacific delegate starting from 2018. She holds a B.Arch. degree and PhD from Tsinghua University, plus MLA from Harvard University. Before academia, she worked for five years at OLIN and SWA Group in the US and obtained Pennsylvania landscape architect registration. The primary focus of her research over the last seventeen years centers on sustainable landscapes and brownfield regeneration. In 2019, she co-founded the Center for Brownfields Research at Tsinghua University School of Architecture with Prof. Niall Kirkwood of Harvard University, aiming to connect academia, practice, cross-disciplinary research and policy-making. She also heads Tsinghua’s Faculty Affairs Office and is Deputy Director of the Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Eco-Planning and Green Building. Her accolades include the Huaxia Construction Science and Technology First Prize, CHSLA Science and Technology Second Prize, Beijing Outstanding Young Teacher Award and CELA President’s Award. She has published widely on the subject of brownfields and her projects were exhibited at the 2022 Shenzhen Bi-City Biennale and 2023 Venice Architecture Biennale China Pavilion.

30 October 2026 (Fri)

Speakers

Technical Tours

AIPH Workshops

Speakers

Meet our distinguished speakers at the IFLA World and Asia-Pacific Regional Congress 2026!