2026 President-Elect Candidate Forum: My Strategy for ASLA

President-Elect candidates share their strategies for positioning ASLA as a lead partner in multi-disciplinary coalitions addressing the built environment.

Ahead of the 2026 ASLA election, we asked the President-Elect candidates to share their vision for the Society. They discuss their primary motivations for seeking the presidency and how they plan to lead the profession forward.

This week's question: Collaboration with allied professions-such as architecture, engineering, and planning-is essential for large-scale impact. What is your strategy for positioning ASLA as a lead partner in multi-disciplinary coalitions addressing the built environment?

Christopher J. Della Vedova, FASLA, PLA

Jennifer L. Nitzky, FASLA, PLA, ISA, AIA

Get all the information on the ASLA 2026 National Election.

Meet the 2026 President-Elect Candidates

Christopher J. Della Vedova, FASLA, PLA
President & CEO, Confluence, Inc.

What is your strategy for positioning ASLA as a lead partner in multi-disciplinary coalitions addressing the built environment?

My strategy for positioning ASLA as a lead partner in multidisciplinary coalitions begins with recognizing that our greatest strength lies in our local chapters and the daily professional relationships among our members. Many of us already operate within multidisciplinary teams, within universities, public positions, and firms large and small; our members are increasingly leading these integrated teams. We must leverage these existing work-level relationships into broader coalitions that advance the future of the built environment.

By developing chapters into regional coalition hubs, we empower landscape architects to serve as facilitators across disciplines with architects, engineers, planners, and public health experts as a part of their own communities. When our chapters lead on-the-ground collaborations to address local challenges-such as urban heat, coastal resilience, stormwater management, or equitable park access-they demonstrate our profession's capacity to integrate complex systems. These local alliances generate the momentum and relationship building that can be leveraged to reinforce our developing national ASLA partnerships, moving us toward formal joint work plans with allied organizations such as the AIA, APA, ACEC, AGC, NALP, and NSPE. The goal is collaboration that is consistent and structural, not episodic.

Another leverage point for accelerating this work is ASLA's educational platform. We should intentionally design our education offerings as a coalition-building engine-bringing allied professionals into ASLA learning opportunities as faculty, panelists, and co-authors, not just as guests. I recently attended the SKILL ED program, "Pulse Check: Building Resilience to Market Volatility," which incorporated AIA members on the panel, modeling what this can look like: shared problem definitions, shared language, and practical takeaways that strengthen relationships across disciplines. The goal would be to expand this approach into recurring cross-disciplinary tracks (resilience and risk, housing and community health, transportation and public realm, water and ecology) and to create new opportunities for chapters to co-host programs with local allied organizations. In this model collaboration becomes routine and ASLA can become the shared learning platform for the built environment. This also brings the potential for additional revenue for the organization.

To lead coalitions, we must be the place where policymakers, allied professionals, and the public go first for evidence-based guidance on landscape performance for the built environment. That means organizing research and case studies around outcomes-heat reduction, flood mitigation, biodiversity, safety, and lifecycle cost-so the value of landscape architecture is clear and comparable. It also means translating our research, such as the work our Climate and Biodiversity Action Fellow(s) produce, into tools that everyone can use and understand.

When we build strong coalitions locally and connect them through national coordination, ASLA becomes the profession that turns complex challenges into actionable solutions. We are systems integrators, bridging gaps among ecology, infrastructure, and people. As such, we are the group that can frame the whole picture to bring together the professional silos for results. Success is achieved when allied professions and government agencies instinctively call ASLA first to lead the work.

Jennifer L. Nitzky, FASLA, PLA, ISA, AIA
Design Principal, Studio HIP Landscape Architecture

What is your strategy for positioning ASLA as a lead partner in multi-disciplinary coalitions addressing the built environment?

The challenges shaping today's built environment-climate adaptation, public health, housing, and environmental justice-are too complex for any one profession to solve alone. There is real strength in numbers, and a collective voice has the power to amplify meaningful change. ASLA's recent collaboration with seven peer organizations to ensure compliance with historic preservation laws at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts demonstrates how aligned advocacy can elevate both impact and visibility. Working across disciplines not only strengthens our influence but also fosters more creative and effective solutions.

My own experience reinforces this. Several years ago, I was fortunate to be selected for the Urban Design Forum's Streets Ahead program, where I collaborated with planners, architects, artists, and civic leaders to envision a more vibrant, equitable public realm. The experience was energizing! Discussions were enriched by different points of view, and our end product was a well-developed framework plan to inspire our City to think big about the future of our streets. This experience and other Urban Design Forum programs continue to shape how I approach partnership-building-seeking out connections beyond our profession to drive more impactful work.

I firmly believe that ASLA is a leader in solutions-based dialogues with the ability to bring together other like-minded organizations to inspire creative solutions. Landscape architects inherently operate at the intersection of ecological, social, and infrastructural systems. This makes ASLA uniquely suited to bridge disciplines and be the magnet that draws us all together.

My strategy is to advance proactive, intentional, and scalable coalition-building. Building on successful models like ASLA's regional "Groundwork: Conversations on Disaster Recovery," we can expand issue-based convenings to include a broader network of allied professionals-scientists, public health experts, developers, educators, and civic leaders-creating forums that are both interdisciplinary and action-oriented. These convenings should move beyond dialogue to generate tangible outcomes: shared policy agendas, collaborative research initiatives, and pilot projects that demonstrate the value of integrated design. By aligning on regionally specific challenges, ASLA can position landscape architects as essential partners in delivering visionary, implementable solutions. In doing so, we reinforce our role as trusted conveners and leaders.

In addition, we must extend our presence beyond our own platforms. Landscape architects should be actively engaged in allied conferences and forums as speakers, contributors, and active participants-bringing our perspective into conversations where decisions are being shaped. This includes strategic partnerships with organizations in planning, public health, transportation, and development to ensure our voice is embedded early in project and policy formation. We should not only invite others to our table-we should also show up at theirs-locally, regionally, nationally, and internationally. This outward-facing approach expands our influence, builds lasting relationships, and positions ASLA as a visible and valued partner across disciplines.

By cultivating and strengthening relationships across disciplines and sectors, ASLA can move from participation to leadership-ensuring that landscape architects are not only part of the conversation but also help define the solutions that shape our collective future.