2024 APRU SCL Conference

The Seventh Annual APRU Sustainable Cities & Landscapes Conference and Student Symposium took place in Manila, Philippines, in partnership with the University of the Philippines Los Baños. This past year’s event gathered 219 registered participants from 10 economies, which helped build on our initiatives for international collaboration on sustainable urban development and environmental resilience.

• Three UO students participated in the conference, presenting their research.
• Three UO faculty members attended, with two leading working groups.
• One UO staff member attended to support conference planning.

2024 Working Groups:

• Future Energy Landscapes and Smart Cities
• Civic Engagement and Community Design
• Urban Waterfronts
• Urban-Rural Linkages
• Indigenous Knowledge and Climate Justice
• Urban Landscape Biodiversity
• Water and Waste Management
• Food and Nutrition Security

2023 APRU SCL Conference

The Sixth Annual APRU Sustainable Cities & Landscapes Conference and Student Symposium was held in Quito, Ecuador, and San Cristóbal Island, Galápagos, in partnership with Universidad San Francisco de Quito (USFQ). The event welcomed 65 participants from 17 economies. 

• Four UO students attended the conference to present their research.
• Three UO faculty members participated, with two leading working groups.
• One UO staff member attended to support conference planning.

2023 Working Groups:

• Energy and Climate Justice
• Sustainable Urban Design 
• Urban Biodiversity
• Water and Wastewater

2022 APRU SCL Conference 

The first in-person Annual Conference since COVID took place in beautiful Honolulu, Hawaiʻi, hosted by the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. The event brought together 83 attendees from 11 countries.

• Five UO faculty members attended.

2022 Working Groups:

• Children, youth, and environments
• Civic engagement and community design
• Future energy landscapes
• Landscapes and human health
• Pandemics, humanitarian emergencies, and health
• Smart cities
• Sustainable urban design
• Urban landscape biodiversity
• Urban-rural linkages
• Vulnerable, resilient, and climate justice communities
• Water and wastewater

2020 APRU SCL Conference

The Fourth Annual Conference, hosted by the University of Auckland, was held entirely online due to COVID-19. A key highlight of the event was the student symposium, which featured presentations from 24 PhD students, showcasing their research and insights.

2020 Working Groups: 

• Children, youth, and environments
• Food nutrition security
• Future energy landscapes
• Indigenous knowledge and wisdom
• Landscape and human health
• Smart cities
• Sustainable urban design
• Transitions in urban waterfronts
• Urban-rural linkages (UO co-lead)
• Vulnerable, resilient, and climate-just communities
• Water and wastewater (UO lead)

2019 APRU SCL Conference

The Third Annual Conference, hosted by the University of New South Wales in August 2019, brought together representatives from 24 different universities.

• Four faculty members were from the University of Oregon.
• Four students from University of Oregon participated in this event.

APRU SCL launched a partnership with the Mayors Academy for Sustainable Urban Development in the Asia-Pacific. This initiative, led by the United Nations University Institute for Advanced Study of Sustainability (UNU-IAS) in collaboration with UNESCAP, UN-HABITAT, and United Cities and Local Governments-Asia Pacific (UCLG-ASPAC), aims to support sustainable urban development efforts. University of Oregon faculty member, SCL Working Group leader, and Steering Committee member Yizhao Yang has been actively involved in the Mayors Academy since its initial connection with the SCL program in 2019.

2019 Working Groups: 

• Sustainable urban design
• Vulnerable communities
• Food and nutrition security
• Transitions in urban waterfronts
• Landscape and human health
• Urban renewable energy
• Infrastructure ecologies
• Smart cities
• Urban biodiversity
• Water and wastewater (UO lead)

2018 APRU SCL Conference

The Second Annual Conference, hosted by the University of Hong Kong in September 2018, brought together over 110 attendees from across the Pacific Rim. 

• Four faculty members were from the University of Oregon.
• Six students from University of Oregon participated in this event. 

2018 Working Groups:

• Productive cities, infrastructural ecologies 
• City-landscape sustainability 
• Urban biodiversity 
• Urban renewable energy 
• Sustainable urban design 
• Urban water and sanitation 
• Urban-rural linkages 
• Transitions in urban waterfronts 
• Vulnerable communities
• Landscape and human health 
• Waste
• Smart Cities

2017 APRU SCL Conference

The First Annual Conference, held in Portland in September 2017, brought together over 120 attendees from 14 countries. Participants and delegates were welcomed by Michael H. Schill, President of the University of Oregon; Christoph Lindner, Dean of the UO College of Design; Christopher Tremewan, APRU Secretary General; and Bart Johnson, APRU SCL Steering Committee Chair and Head of the UO Department of Landscape Architecture. 

• 10 University of Oregon faculty attended.
• 12 UO students participate in the event and working groups. 

2017 Working Groups:

• Containing Urban Expansion Using “Boundaries” in the Era of Rapid Urbanization
• From Urban Agriculture to new Urban Commons: Productive Landscapes and Infrastructural Ecologies
• Redrawing Our Urban Waters
• Resolving Conflicts of “Greens”: Energy Planning for Sustainable Landscape Conservation
• Sustainable Transportation in an Era of Autonomous Vehicles
• Sustainable Urban Design
• The Chengdu Plain and Dujiangyan Irrigation District, Sichuan, China: A Case of City-Landscape Sustainability in Comparative Perspective
• The Future of Urban Water and Sanitation
• Transitions in Urban Waterfront Operation and Development
• Urban Biodiversity