New from THE DIRT, October 2026

A Nature First Approach Will Lead to Better Data Centers

View Web Version | Manage Your Communications Preferences Landscape Architects Advocate for Nature in Cities at the UN Convention on Biological Diversity “World leaders need to make much greater progress towards the global 2030 biodiversity targets. At the Biodiversity COP, we will push for increased investment in urban nature, which too often gets overlooked. We can leverage more urban parks and recreation areas, natural systems like rivers, and commercial and residential property to protect and restore more urban biodiversity,” said Aida Curtis, FASLA, PLA, Chair, ASLA Climate & Biodiversity Action Committee. | Read more A Nature First Approach Will Lead to Better Data Centers Keith Bowers: "As Artificial Intelligence (AI) becomes increasingly integrated into planning, design, engineering, and construction, we can begin by understanding the intelligence already present in nature and the accumulated knowledge derived from sustained relationships with place. We are exploring this as Nature Intelligence (NI), where AI is subservient to NI and is used only when it advances nature’s intelligence." | Read more AI Data Centers Are Reshaping Landscapes. But Who Is Designing Them? Minghao Zhao and Zhimin Ma: "The landscape comes last. Power and fiber decide the site. Rack count and cooling decide the building. Fire access, the substation, and circulation decide the layout. By the time the landscape arrives, everything else is placed, and what it inherits is the space in between." | Read more ASLA Reduced Its Greenhouse Gas Emissions by More Than Half in 2025 ASLA released the third annual assessment of the greenhouse gas emissions generated by its business operations. In 2025, the organization reduced its emissions by 56 percent against a 2022 baseline. | Read more Climate & Biodiversity News (October 2026) In the City of Brotherly Love, landscape architects are reimagining outmoded transportation infrastructure. OJB has partnered with Gensler to lead a $150-million redesign of the Avenue of the Arts. Andropogon Associates is transforming a half-mile of Washington Avenue into a green multimodal corridor. And HargreavesJones is leading the design of a 11.5-acre park that will cap a highway and create new green connections into the city. | Read more Go to THE DIRT 636 Eye Street NW Washington, D.C. 20001-3736 202-898-2444 info@asla.org | dirt.asla.org © 2026 American Society of Landscape Architects. All rights reserved Manage Your Communications Preferences | Unsubscribe