Sustainable Design

Education Session - Panel Format

MON-D06 - The Changing Landscape of Mourning: Evolving Trends in Cemetery Design and Commemoration

1.5 PDH, LA CES/HSW, AIA/HSW, AICP, FL, GBCI CE, NY/HSW

Moderator(s)

• 

  Ricardo Austrich, ASLA

  Senior Associate
  Halvorson Design Partnership, Inc.

Panelists(s)

• EB

  Edward Bixby, II

  Proprietor
  Steelmantown Cemetery & Purissima Natural Burial Grounds
• 

  Melissa Unfred

  Founder
  The Modern Mortician
• 

  Craig Halvorson, FASLA

  Founding Principal
  Halvorson Design Partnership, Inc.

The role of cemetery landscapes is changing. Notions of the cemetery as the dominant landscape form for interment are being transformed as emerging societal, environmental, and global concerns become central to the conversation. This panel will discuss changing views on land use, design, cultural, and business models at play today.

* There will be a grief therapy dog present during this session.

Learning Objectives:

• Identify trends in cemetery design and commemoration practices in light of emerging societal, environmental and economic concerns.
• Reimagine the role cemeteries play in our urban greenspace networks.
• Explore the opportunities green burial and historic cemetery rehabilitation offer as well as the requirements for designing or reactivating these spaces.
• Examine the leadership role that landscape architects can play in this process.