Landscape Architects Gather in Chicago for Annual Meeting on "Beyond Sustainability"

Chicago Mayor, President Obama`s Senior Environmental Policy Counsel among
Keynote Speakers
CHICAGO--(Business Wire)--
The largest annual gathering of landscape architects in the world begins today
with the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) 2009 Annual Meeting and
EXPO, running September 18-21, at McCormick Place in Chicago. Featured speakers
include Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley, President Obama`s senior environmental
policy counsel Lisa Heinzerling, the chief economist for the American Institute
of Architects Kermit Baker, as well as dozens of leading design and
sustainability experts.

The meeting and EXPO will draw more than 5,000 professionals to attend over 125
education sessions, as well as 400 exhibitors displaying the latest in outdoor
furnishings, green roofs, playground structures, living walls, planting
materials and more.

"Chicago serves as a model for landscape architecture and sustainability,
featuring some of the world`s best examples of green roofs, public parks and
urban streetscapes," said Angela Dye, FASLA and president of the Society.
"Landscape architecture can address a multitude of economic, environmental and
social problems facing large urban environments, and we are delighted to visit a
city that puts so many excellent design practices into use - especially on the
100th anniversary of the 1909 Burnham Plan."

Since 2000, ASLA has awarded Chicago nine national awards for landscape
architecture, including Lurie Garden in Millennium Park, Chicago City Hall Green
Roof, Spider Island Chicago Botanic Garden, Michigan Ave., One North Wacker
Drive and the Chicago campus of the Illinois Institute of Technology.

In 2006, ASLA awarded Mayor Daley the Olmsted Medal, the highest honor the
Society may bestow upon a non-landscape architect for his "environmental
leadership, vision and stewardship." This year, Mayor Daley will receive ASLA`s
LaGasse Medal in recognition of his management and conservancy of public
landscapes, and the City of Chicago and the Chicago Park District will jointly
receive the ASLA Medal of Excellence for the consistently excellent level of
achievement they have maintained for the past 10 years.

For more information and a schedule of events, visit www.asla.org/2009meeting.

About ASLA

Founded in 1899, ASLA is the national professional association for landscape
architects, representing 17,000 members in 48 professional chapters and 68
student chapters. The Society's mission is to lead, to educate, and to
participate in the careful stewardship, wise planning, and artful design of our
cultural and natural environments. Members of the Society use the "ASLA" suffix
after their names to denote membership and their commitment to the highest
ethical standards of the profession. Learn more about landscape architecture
online at www.asla.org.

American Society of Landscape Architects
Jim Lapides, 202-216-2371
Cell: 314-707-8823
jlapides@asla.org

Copyright Business Wire 2009