SPOTLIGHT

Larine Y. Cowan
Make a Difference Award

The Larine Y. Cowan Make a Difference Award was presented to ESLARP Director Laura Lawson and FAA Dean Robert Graves earlier this month during the 24th Annual Celebration of Diversity breakfast on November 11, held at the I Hotel. Presenting the award to ESLARP was Interim Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Robert Easter, and Menah Pratt-Clarke, Interim Assistant Chancellor and Director of the Office of Equal Opportunity and Access.

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 ESLARP in Action Blog

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Laura Lawson

Laura Lawson

Associate Professor
Department of Landscape Architecture
ljlawson@illinois.edu
217.244.5408








Department of Landscape Architecture Faculty Profile

My main teaching area is community-based design.  Through the landscape architecture spring studio workshops (LA 335/438), my students and I have worked on neighborhood plans and park designs. Partners have included SENDO, 41st Street Neighborhood Action Coalition, the Emma Wilson King Foundation, and the East St. Louis Parks District.  I have also directed independent studies and thesis research related to East St. Louis and community partners' needs.

ESLARP Director

2008-present

 

Courses

Semester   Course            Description                                           Community Partner(s)
Spring 06    LA 336/438     Design Workshop                                41st St. Neighborhood Action Coalition/SENDO/East St. Louis Parks District
Spring 05    LA 336/438     Design Workshop Studio                   41st St. Neighborhood Action Coalition/SENDO/Emma L. Wilson King Family Foundation
Spring 03    LA 336/438     Interdisciplinary Studio Workshop    SENDO
Spring 02    LA 338             Interdisciplinary Studio Workshop    SENDO

 

Partners

• 41st Street Neighborhood Action Coalition
• South End New Development Organization (SENDO)

 

Publications Related to ESLARP Teaching and Research

• Lawson, Laura and Janni Sorensen. "When Overwhelming Effort Meets Underwhelming Prospects: Sustaining Community Open Space Activism in East St. Louis." Insurgent Public Space. Edited by Jeff Hou. (in review at Metropilis Press, 6/2008)

• Lawson, Laura. “Parks as Mirrors of Community: Design Discourse and Community Hope for Parks in East St. Louis.” Landscape Journal 26 (Spring 2007).

• Edwards, Mary and Laura Lawson. "The Evolution of Planning in East St. Louis."  Journal of Planning History, Vol. 4.4.  November 2005.

• Lawson, Laura. " Dialogue Through Design: The East St. Louis Neighborhood Design Workshop and South End Neighborhood Plan."Landscape Journal, 2005.

• Dearborn, L., Harwood, S., Lawson, L., 2004. Envisioning the Future in the South End Neighborhood: Work from an  Interdisciplinary Studio + Special Focus on AIA Education Honor Awards, Proceedings of the 92nd ACSA Annual Meeting, Miami, FL, March (pp. 635-637).

 

Awards

• Center on Democracy in a Multiracial Society Faculty Fellow, University of Illinois, 2006-7. Received for "Democracy in Place/Place-Making in Action: Re-Visioning the Nieghborhood Public Landscape in Urban Communities."

• Arnold O. Beckman Research Award, 2004-05.
  
  • Received for “An Analysis of Parks and Open Space in East St. Louis, Illinois.”

• American Institute of Architects Education Honor Award, 2004 (with Lynne Dearborn and Stacy Harwood). 
  
  • Received for “Envisioning the Future in the South End Neighborhood,” a plan produced by the East St. Louis Neighborhood Design Workshop, 2002-03.  Award given to teaching team.