American Society of Landscape Architects Announces 2024 Student Award Winners

RDG Planning & Design is proud to announce that Emily Hemsath has been recognized by the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) with a 2024 Student Honor Award in Research, which acknowledges Hemsath’s work to identify and investigate challenges posed in landscape architecture. Hemsath’s project, Blight to Benefit: Vacant Lot Greening to Support Ecosystem Services, was conducted in her final year at Kansas State University and investigated the potential for design interventions on vacant lots to support the provision of ecosystem services to nearby residents. The award was presented on October 7, 2024, at the annual ASLA Conference on Landscape Architecture in Washington, D.C.

Hemsath’s project estimated the provision of ecosystem services by vacant lots using aerial imagery and free online tools. It found that the proposed design interventions improved the provision of ecosystem services across a system of 50 lots as a case and demonstrated a method to assess the landscape performance benefits of a project before its implementation. The awards jury noted Hemsath’s “research framework was relevant in urban environments nationwide to evaluate alternative development scenarios on vacant lands and to quantify the benefits they provide to human and natural communities, reframing the way these spaces are seen and valued.”

Dating back to 2005, the annual ASLA Student Awards recognize and represent the bright future of the landscape architecture profession in the categories of General Design, Residential Design, Analysis & Planning, Research, Communications, Student Collaboration and Student Community Service categories. The ASLA Honors and Awards Advisory Committee assembles juries that represent the breadth of the profession, including private, public, institutional and academic practice, and exemplify diversity in professional experience, geography, gender and ethnicity.