LAF's 2026 CSI Program, Part 1

^{recording from webinar On October 13, 2026}

Webinar 1: Places That Reconnect: Measuring Landscape Performance with LAF's 2026 CSI Program

The Landscape Architecture Foundation's Case Study Investigation (CSI) program supports faculty-student research teams who work with designers to assess and document the performance of exemplary landscape projects as Case Study Briefs. In this first of three webinars, three teams from the 2026 CSI program present the projects they evaluated, which all restore and support ecological function while strengthening and remaking people's connections to place and to nature. 

For each built landscape, a representative from the design firm will share background information about the project and design, followed by the CSI academic team presenting their research process and most compelling findings from their efforts to quantify environmental, social, and economic benefits.

Want to see more of the 2026 CSI teams?
Check out the other webinar in the series: Places That Reveal on Oct 14 and Places That Change Perspectives on Oct 22.

Learning Objectives

1. Understand how the Landscape Architecture Foundation's Case Study Investigation program is furthering landscape performance research.
2. Explore specific metrics and methods used to evaluate the environmental, social, and economic performance of landscape projects.
3. Learn about the goals and sustainable features of exemplary landscapes.

Continuing education credits 

This course is approved for 1.0 Professional Development Hour (PDH) through the Landscape Architecture Continuing Education System (LA CES) and meets the health, safety and welfare requirements (HSW). 1.0 LA CES (HSW) may be earned upon completion of a short quiz following the webinar. 

1. View the full webinar above.
2. Complete the short quiz by following the link below. (You must score 75% or higher.)
3. Wait ~2 weeks to receive your confirmation email once the quizzes are graded and results submitted to LA CES.

Quiz for CEUs

Presenters and Projects

The University of California, Santa Barbara North Campus Open Space, Goleta, CA
CSI Research Fellow: Aaron Liggett, PhD, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo
Student Research Assistants: Hannah Huntley and Morgan McNeff
Firm representative: Kimberly True, True Nature Design

Arverne East Nature Preserve, Far Rockaway, NY
CSI Research Fellow: Myla F.J. Aronson, PhD, Rutgers
Student Research Assistant: Brooke Lyn Belmonte
Firm representative: Laura Starr, Starr Whitehouse

Portal de El Yunque Rain Gardens, Río Grande, Puerto Rico
CSI Research Fellows: Luis A. Pérez Rivera and Michelle Lee Delgado Wallace, Universidad Ana G. Méndez 
Student Research Assistants: Sahyly Meléndez Figueroa and Samary Cruz Ponce
Firm representative: José Juan Terrasa-Soler, Marvel