A leader in the field of landscape design and urbanism, Chris Reed has re-envisioned downtown areas and waterfronts in major cities, including Dallas, Detroit, Shanghai, and Green Bay. He is the founder and director of the landscape architecture firm Stoss, which specializes in urban design and landscape revitalization, and codirector of the master’s of landscape architecture in urban design degree program at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design.

Reed is interested in an interdisciplinary approach to landscape architecture, taking into account the many factors—ecological, political, economic, and social—that impact the development of a city or place. “For landscape architecture to be relevant as a discipline, it needs to do more than just check the sustainability boxes,” he said in an interview with the American Society of Landscape Architects. “It needs to set out a broader set of cultural, social, and environmental ambitions that allow the discipline to evolve with an evolving world. Design can enable us to address some of the bigger challenges acted out on the world stage.”

Reed’s current research looks at the impact of ecology on design and the way landscape systems can inform city-planning strategies, particularly with regards to addressing issues of climate change, social and economic inequality, and increasing cultural diversity. He is the coeditor of Projective Ecologies, a volume of research and drawing.