2026 Deb Mitchell Research Grant Awarded

The Landscape Architecture Foundation (LAF) is pleased to announce the 2026 recipient of our $25,000 research grant.

The LAF Research Grant in Honor of Deb Mitchell is awarded annually to support a research project that is relevant and impactful for the professional practice of landscape architecture. This year's winning proposal is Depaving: Interventions and Innovations to Scale a Critical Climate Practice.

One of the most pressing challenges—and opportunities—for urban climate adaptation is addressing the vast extent of pavement across streets, sidewalks, parking lots, and even schoolyards. Decades of planning policies, including minimum parking requirements and roadway expansion, have contributed to widespread pavement, with significant impacts on public health, biodiversity, and spatial equity. Today, roughly one-third of urban land is paved, contributing to flooding, degraded waterways, and urban heat island effects—burdens that disproportionately affect low-income communities and communities of color. As climate change intensifies heat and rainfall, the need for wide-scale depaving is increasingly urgent. It represents a fundamental landscape challenge and a defining design opportunity for landscape architecture.

Starting in fall 2026, Principal Investigators Mary Pat McGuire and Ted Labbe will:

• document the current state of depaving practice across community organizations, municipalities, and design firms;
• analyze successful project models to understand how depaving moves from idea to implementation;
• identify tools and frameworks needed by designers and partners to initiate, guide, and implement depaving projects more effectively; and
• translate research findings into practical guidance that supports adoption by landscape architects, municipalities, and community-based organizations. 

Through case study analysis, a national practitioner survey, semi-structured interviews, and a cross-sector virtual workshop, the researchers will generate a robust evidence base translated into field-ready guidance through a Depaving Practice Toolkit as well as associated publications and presentations. Ultimately, the researchers aim to generate cross-sector knowledge exchange and a national network of practitioners, municipalities, nonprofits, and educators, helping to build shared language and momentum for continued collaboration and depaving implementation.

“What set this project apart was its ability to translate a familiar challenge into a widely applicable, actionable framework. The jury was especially compelled by its scalability and its potential to influence everyday decision-making across the profession – a great fit for the Deb Mitchell Research Grant,” said Lauren Leighty, PLA, LAF Vice President of Research and Vice President and Campus Planning Studio Leader at SmithGroup. "We look forward to seeing this impressive team’s process and results."

Project Abstract 

Urban pavement represents one of the largest yet least mobilized opportunities for climate adaptation in cities. Vast areas of streets, oversized parking lots, schoolyards, and other excessive hardscapes intensify urban flooding, extreme heat, ecological degradation, and public health inequities. The deliberate removal of unnecessary pavement—depaving—has not yet been codified as a repeatable, design-led best practice within green infrastructure or municipal infrastructure planning. This research asks: What actionable models of practice, partnership, and design decision-making would enable landscape architects and their partners to more effectively initiate, guide, and implement depaving in urban contexts? Through a national survey, case study analysis, interviews, and a cross-sector workshop, this research will identify barriers, opportunities, and emerging models that advance depaving from exception to norm. The research will culminate in an open-access practitioner toolkit, webinar, presentation, and professional publications that provide guidance on site identification, design and engagement frameworks, approvals, construction, and evaluation. This project aims to scale depaving as a trusted, community-centered, and climate-responsive adaptation approach.

Principal Investigators

Mary Pat McGuire, PLA, is a licensed landscape architect and Associate Professor at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. She founded Depave Chicago through design research on stormwater, urban landscapes, and community engagement. Her work spans academia and practice, supported by major grants, with leadership roles in regional water initiatives and publications across academic and public media.

Ted Labbe is Finance and Partnerships Manager at Depave and has been involved since 2008. He leads grant writing, partnerships, policy advocacy, and hands-on depaving. A trained habitat biologist, he has worked with tribes, nonprofits, and state agencies, focusing on land use, wildlife conservation, and stormwater impacts on aquatic ecosystems.