WE ARE BECOMING AWARE
OF OURSELVES...
My passion is grounded in ecological urbanism and landscape ecology which are interdisciplinary fields that use diverse frameworks for understanding built and natural landscapes.
Ecology begins as the vision of a better world – it is often an abstract idea of the interrelations that are often unclear and must be made concrete and visible. Technology places ecologies within motion. My designs serve to bring awareness in the realisation of abstract ideas – in our case nature, ecology, and culture.
Details
My career has focused on having a positive impact in our built environment. My academic career includes degrees in Landscape Architecture and Ecological Planning: a Master’s from the University of Michigan, School of Natural Resources and Environment and a PhD from the University of Edinburgh, College of Humanities and Social Science.
A licensed Landscape Architect, I have practiced for nearly 20 years with firms such as Hargreaves Associates, EDAW, CRJA, and Charles Anderson Atelier before serving as the Sumer M. Margetts Endowed Professor of Landscape Architecture. I have led and completed numerous internationally recognized and award winning projects such as the Olympic Sculpture Park.
I was the Developer and Director of UC Berkeley Extension’s Sustainable Environmental Design & Stewardship Program as well as Director of the Green Space Institute and Executive Director of the non-profit 501-c-3 Center for Green Infrastructure Design. I am currently Director of the interdisciplinary Green Infrastructure Performance Lab at Dalhousie University in Canada focussing on the UN's Sustainable Development Goals.
Current issues at the forefront of my thought and artistic exploration ask how does the spatial pattern of urbanization in our expanding metropolitan areas affect ecological health and human experience ?
Education
The University of Edinburgh Edinburgh, Scotland
PhD, Doctor of Philosophy by Research 2018
College of Humanities and Social Sciences
Dissertation : The eco-spatial benefits of green infrastructure: Examining landscape fragmentation within interstitial peri-urban green spaces and its impacts upon human wellbeing
The University of Michigan Ann Arbor, MI
MLA, Masters of Landscape Architecture 1992
Horace A. Rackham School of Graduate Studies
School of Natural Resources & Environment
Thesis : Grand Island National Recreation Area: A Master and Management Plan
The University of Connecticut Storrs, CT
BSLA, Bachelor of Science in Landscape Architecture 1990
College of Natural Resources
Awards : Distinguished Graduate; CT Garden Club Scholarship; Student CT-ASLA Honor Award
Continuing Education
Statistical Literacy - SCOIL07001 (2012)
Postgraduate Research Methods - CACE11001 (2012)
Introduction to Research Design - EDPS 6030 (2010)
Interpreting Research - PRT 6550 (2010)
Environmental Ethics - HUM 6900 (2009)
Introduction to GIS - GEOG 3140 (2009)
Successfully concluded modules
Research Administration Training Series (RATS) - Research Investigator Certificate
University of Utah (2010)
Developing Green : Integrating Sustainability with Success
Urban Land Institute (2009)
Landscape Ecology in Theory and Practice: Application to the Study and Management of Forests
United States Forest Service (2008)
Green Infrastructure - Land Conservation Workshop
The Conservation Fund (2008)
Academic Experience
Assistant Professor
Department of Plant, Food, and Environmental Sciences
Landscape Architecture
Director, The Green Infrastructure Performance lab
Dalhousie University, Canada 2018 -
Assistant Lecturer
Department of Landscape Architecture
School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture
The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh UK 2013 - 2015
Adjunct Professor
Department of City and Metropolitan Planning
College of Architecture + Planning
University of Utah Salt Lake City UT 2008 - 2012
The Sumner S. Margetts Swaner Professor of Landscape Architecture
Endowed Professorship
Department of Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning
College of Humanities and Social Sciences
Utah State University Logan UT 2007 - 2008
Focus : Green Infrastructure Planning and Design
Research : How Community Values Shape Spatial Planning Methodologies
Director, The Green Space Institute
Department of Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning
Utah State University Logan UT 2007 - 2008
Research : Sustainable Growth and Open Space Conservation
Program Director
Sustainable Environmental Design and Stewardship Program
Department of Landscape Architecture
University of California at Berkeley - Extension Berkeley CA 2005 - 2007
Monitored and oversaw the program sequence. Review instructor's qualifications
and course material. Marketed the program. Participated in program review and
budget meetings. Coordinated guest lectures and partnerships. Community
outreach and participated in local events representing the program.
Publications
academic journals / conference proceedings
Birbeck, D., et al., 2014
Space to Park: What Works Where
Research Partnership and Knowledge Exchange funded by the Arts & Humanities Council
The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) President’s Awards for Outstanding University-located Research (Nominated)
LeBrasseur, Richard, 2013
Synthesising An Integrated Green Infrastructure: Establishing a Conceptual Planning Framework in Urbanising Communities
Fábos Conference Proceedings on Landscape and Greenway Planning:
Pathways to Sustainability
LeBrasseur, Richard, 2013
Towards An Inclusive Green Infrastructure – Acknowledging Comprehensive Values in Urbanising Landscapes
ECLAS Conference Proceedings
Christine Sorensen, ed. Hamburg. HafenCity University
Pollock et al. 2007
Growing the Profession - A White Paper
ASLA Council on Education - April 2007
Publications
peer reviewed
LeBrasseur, Richard
“Why Nova Scotia has to take environmental racism seriously”
The Conversation - March 2020
LeBrasseur, Rick
"Going Dutch - Recognition and Reconversion of the American Landscape"
Urban Land - June 2007
LeBrasseur, Rick
Utah Planner - April 2007
LeBrasseur, Rick
"Ecological Services - Utilizing the Urban Landscape"
Northern California Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects
NCC-ASLA Newsletter 2006
LeBrasseur, Rick
"Everyday Nature - An Analysis and Requiem for Open Spaces in San Francisco"
SPUR Newsletter 2006
LeBrasseur, Rick
"Pio Pico State Historic Park - A Cultural Landscape Reinterpretation"
Landscape Architecture Magazine - June 2004
LeBrasseur, Rick
"Sedate Formalism Denies the City's Rich Urban Context"
Landscape Architecture Magazine - Perspective - Union Square, December 2003
LeBrasseur, Rick
"Sublime Neglect - Halprin's Water Garden After 30 Years"
Landscape Architecture Magazine - Critic at Large, July 2003
LeBrasseur, Rick
"Landscapes of Connection : Assessing the Olmsted Influence at 100 Years"
Washington Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects
LeBrasseur, Rick
"Land Matters"
Landscape Architecture Magazine - April 2002
le Brasseur, Richard
"The Nature of Humans impacting the Nature of Humans"
Landscape+Urbanism - April 2016
Keynote Speeches
Valuing Green Infrastructure
Keynote Conference Presentation - Utah APA Spring Conference
March 2009
Remapping Intellectual Spaces
UC Davis Humanities Institute, Keynote Speaker
4th Annual Intermountain Graduate Conference
April 2008
Enhancing Connectivity to the Natural Landscape in the Designed Environment
WASLA Fall Conference and Expo, Keynote Address Speaker
October 2002
Conferences
Invited Lectures
Panels
Digital review sessions: An assessment of digital tablets within the design review & desk critique
Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture (CELA)
Transform: Socially Embedded Collaboration
February 2020
Helsinki’s Fragmented Landscapes: Enhancing Human Well-Being Through Eco-Spatial Planning
What happens next?
Nordic Research Network
February 2015
Systems Thinking and the City: An eco-spatial methodological approach to recognising service infrastructures
All-Ireland Architecture Research Group
January 2015
Reconnecting Urbanisations: Transitional Landscapes and Service Infrastructures
Urban Forestry in Transition – Addressing the Needs of Changing Societies
Estonian University of Life Sciences, Tartu, Estonia
October 2013
Entropic Urbanisms
Future Connections: Pushing the Boundaries of Sustainable Development
The University of Edinburgh, UK
June 2013
The Spectrum of Interrelationships : Achieving Sustainable Development
through the Integration of Socio-Ecological Systems
International Conference on “Changing Cities”: Spatial, Morphological & Socio-economic Dimensions
University of Thessaly, Greece
June 2013
Towards An Inclusive Green Infrastructure:
Promoting Ecosystem Services in the United Kingdom's Urbanising Communities
Facing the Future - Exploring Challenges and Opportunities in Environmental Change Research
The University of Dundee, Scotland
April 2013
Integrated Green Infrastructure: Augmenting the Conceptual Spatial Planning Framework
SEMINARERUM: ECA Post Graduate Research Conference
The University of Edinburgh, Scotland
November 2012
Green Infrastructure Planning: Connecting Partners and Greenspaces
Planning for Growth and Open Space Conservation
The United States Forest Service (USFS)
June 2012
Salt Lake County Watershed Symposium
Panel Member (1 of 3)
September 2011
Integrating Sustainable Urbanism into a Green Infrastructure Network
International Low Impact Development Conference
Redefining Water in the City
April 2010
Stewards of the Landscape : Reconnecting Children to the Natural Environment
Montana State University - Landscape Architecture Department
May 2009
Green Infrastructure Planning for Sustainable Urbanism
US International Association for Landscape Ecology (US-IALE)
Coupling Humans and Complex Ecological Landscapes
April 2009
Building Connections : Uniting Landscapes and Communities through Green Infrastructure
18th Annual Utah Society for Environmental Education Conference
September 2008
Making Life Better : Open Space Planning and Sustainable Communities
101st Annual Utah League of Cities and Towns Conference
September 2008
Safeguarding Green Infrastructure - Building Bridges Among Land Trusts,
Local Government Policy, & Public Vision
9th Annual Southwest Land Trust Alliance Conference
June 2008
Land Use Planning to Protect Open Space
Utah League of Cities and Towns
June 2008
Green Infrastructure : Linking Landscapes and Communities
Wasatch Front Regional Council
May 2008
Practicing Sustainably in the 21st Century
Lecture - NCC/ASLA Host Meeting
ASLA Annual Meeting, San Francisco CA
October 2007
Sustainable Environmental Design & Stewardship
Lecture - SPUR Lecture Series
January 2007
Research Funding
Grants
SSHRC Explorer Grant
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, Dalhousie University, 2019
Green Infrastructure Communities Initiative
$6,700
Academic Innovation Grant
Dalhousie University, 2019
Digital Design Feedback: Enhancing the Design Process thru Contextual Feedback
$2,400
Research Development Fund (RDF)
Dalhousie University, 2018
Green Infrastructure Performance Lab
$30,000
Devolved Researcher Grant
Edinburgh School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture
University of Edinburgh, Scotland, 2014
$1,200
George S. And Dolores Dore Eccles Foundation
The Wasatch Front Green Infrastructure Network Plan
The Center for Green Infrastructure Design, 2009 - 2012
$75,000
JEPS Foundation
Utah Green Communities Initiative
The Green Space Institute, 2008 - 2009
$5,000
George S. And Dolores Dore Eccles Foundation
Green Communities Education Project
The Center for Green Infrastructure Design, 2008 - 2009
$40,000
US Environmental Protection Agency
Community Based Asset Mapping
The Center for Green Infrastructure Design, 2007
$15,000
Curriculum Development
Program Developer and Program Director
Sustainable Environmental Design and Stewardship Program
Department of Landscape Architecture, College of Art and Design
University of California at Berkeley - Extension Berkeley CA 2005
Developed a 10 course curriculum which focused on a sustainable approach to the
design of our built environment. The Program taught the intricacies and responsibilities
of sustainable design and the student gained expertise in the emergent ecological
practices and principles as applied to local, regional, and international environmental
design. Key technical, ethical, and aesthetic aspects of sustainable design were
addressed.
Original Curriculum Content Courses
Sustainability in the Built Environment:
Conscious Landscape Architecture for the 21st Century
Ecologically Based Site Planning & Design:
An Integrative Approach to Design within the Natural Environment
Urban Ecology: Designing Environments with Systems
Green Infrastructure Planning & Design: Connecting Landscapes and Communities
Landscape Hydrology, Site Development & Water Resources
Sustainable Construction: Methods and Materials
Site Rehabilitation and Brownfield Restoration
Ecological Factors in Plant Selection & Design
Academic Service
Faculty Council Representative - College of Agriculture
LA Program Communication and Outreach, Director
CSLA Accreditation Committee
International Articulations Committee, Director
CSLA Faculty Liason
Dalhousie University, Landscape Architecture Program, 2018-
Master’s Thesis Committee
Lindsay Winkler, Utah State University, 2008
Jang Y. Chin, Utah State University, 2007
Senior Honor’s Project
Douglas Herrenbee, Shawn Trubador, Alison Meander
Utah State University, 2007
Curriculum Review Committee
Professorship Search Committee
LAEP Advisory Board
Utah State University, 2007-2008
ASLA Council on Education 2006 - 2008
Student ASLA Faculty Liaison
Dalhousie University, 2018 -
Utah State University, 2007-2008
UC Berkeley Extension, 2004-2007
ASLA Student Award Advisor
Utah State University, 2007-2008
UC Berkeley Extension, 2004-2007
LEED - ND : LEED for Neighborhood Development
US Green Building Council
Committee Member, Pilot Program Advisor
Affiliations
APALA - Antlantic Provinces Association of Landscape Architects
ECLAS - European Council of Landscape Architecture Schools
AESOP - Association of European Schools of Planning, Young Academics
LE:NOTRE - Thematic Network Project in Landscape Architecture
LI - Landscape Institute
ASLA - American Society of Landscape Architects Member 1996 - 2008
CELA - Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture Member 2007 - 2010
CLARB - Council of Landscape Architectural Registration Boards
EDRA - Environmental Design Research Association
AHRA - Architectural Humanities Research Association
TCLF - The Cultural Landscape Foundation Contributor 2003 - 2005
SPUR - San Francisco Planning and Urban Research Association Member 2004 - 2007