Fábos Medalists

Fábos Medalist for the Year 2025 Trophy

Jenny Tang

Ms. Tang is a principal and co-founder of ECOLAND Planning and Design Corporation in Beijing, China, a multi-disciplinary planning and design firm with extensive expertise and built projects. The firm holds China’s Class A license qualification for urban and rural planning, landscape architecture, and architecture, as well as ISO9001 quality management system certification. Ms. Tang has over three decades of experience in urban and environmental landscape planning and design. Since her MLA academic journey at the University of Massachusetts Amherst in the U.S., her professional career quickly ascended. She took on significant roles, including Vice President and Representative for the Asia-Pacific Region at EDSA of Florida from 2001 to 2005, and Principal Planner at the Hollywood City Planning Department in Florida, where she was responsible for the Design Review Board and Historic Preservation Board, the update and revision of the City's Landscape Design Manual, and the A1A Beautification Landscape Project for the City of Hollywood, Florida.

She has led various large-scale projects in community planning, urban design, cultural tourism, and municipal development, with particular expertise in providing innovative solutions for complex land development projects. Ms. Tang continues to influence and inspire through her work, ensuring that each of her projects not only meets and exceeds the expectations of clients from both the private and public sectors but also addresses urban ecological challenges in a cost-effective manner. She has been instrumental in pushing the boundaries of landscape architecture in China, integrating international standards while addressing local environmental and cultural contexts. As a key contributor, her team’s notable projects include the award-winning Suining South Riverside Urban Greenway in Sichuan, the Luxelakes Eco-City in Chengdu, the Shougang Capital Steel Complex Landscape Design, the Water System Design for Universal Beijing Resort, and Heiqiao Park in Beijing.

Many of her team’s projects have received prestigious international honors for their ecologically sound and culturally sensitive designs, including the ASLA General Design Award, ULI (Urban Land Institute) Asia Pacific Awards for Excellence, LI (Landscape Institute) Dame Sylvia Crowe Award, BALI (British Association of Landscape Industries) International Award, IFLA (International Federation of Landscape Architects) Outstanding Project Award, WAF (World Architecture Festival) The Rural Landscape of the Year Award, and 1st Prize from the Chinese Society of Landscape Architecture.

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Fábos Medalist for the Year 2022 

 

Robert L. Ryan

Presentation

Greenway are for People: Building Connections for the Future

Ryan, Ph.D., FASLA is the Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning Department Chair. His courses have an interdisciplinary framework integrating landscape architects, planners, and allied professionals in order to give students the skills to deal with the increasingly complex interdisciplinary environmental problems. His course, People and the Environment, shows students from a variety of disciplines how to apply environment and behavior research to design and planning. He also teaches a sustainable green infrastructure seminar that has an emphasis on climate change adaptation.

Ryan's research addresses the question: what motivates people to become engaged in sustainable landscape design, planning and management practices that benefit the environment and how does that affect their attitudes and behaviors in the landscape? His studies in urban parks, rural and suburban landscapes, and national forests have shown that people’s connection to nearby nature or landscape is critical to developing better land stewardship. A key part of this work has been to understand the landscape patterns that are both ecologically beneficial, as well as perceived as beautiful by local residents. In addition, his research has shown that place attachment can help promote connections between local residents and urban parks, particularly those undergoing ecological restoration. His research focuses on visual resource management, greenway and green infrastructure planning, and sustainable site design.

Recently, his research focuses on using urban green space to ameliorate the challenges facing inner-city residents in cities. He has also studied local residents' attitudes toward landscape water conservation and stormwater management practices in the Ipswich River Watershed.

Fábos Medalist for the Year 2019 

Luis Ribeiro

Degree in Landscape Architecture Instituto Superior de Agronomia / Universidade Técnica de Lisboa. PhD from the University of Massachusetts, USA (1997) in which he defends a dissertation on 'The Cultural Landscape and the Uniqueness of Place: a greenway heritage network for landscape conservation of Lisbon Metropolitan Area'. He is a founding partner of TOPIARIS (1988), coordinating large scale projects in different geographical contexts, such as the Municipal Master Plan for M’Banza Congo in Angola (2013) and the Sovereigns Park in Luanda, Angola. He works regularly with Island Planning Corporation in landscape design projects, such as “Citè de La Democratie”, in Libreville, Gabon, and in competitions for residential projects in Switzerland. He is an expert in restoration of historical gardens, and has coordinated relevant projects, such as the Tropical Botanical Garden of Lisbon, the Santana Gardens (headquarters of the Azores Regional Government) and the António Borges Gardens, both in Ponta Delgada, Azores. He lectures Landscape Theory, Planning and Design at Instituto Superior de Agronomia since 1999. He heads the Masters and PdH programs in the Landscape Architecture Department, and was a faculty member from 2009 to 2013. He is co-founder of the Research Center for Landscape Architecture Professor Caldeira Cabral. He is a regular invited lecturer at University of Massachusetts, where he was recently awarded in the 6th Fabos Conference for the excellence of his work on Greenway planning and design. He also lectures in Escuela Gallega del Paisaje / Fundación Juana de Veja (University of Santiago de Compostela / Universidade de Galicia), Czech University of Life Sciences, and the University of Milan / University of Genoa. Luis Ribeiro is a member the Portuguese Association of Landscape Architects and co-founder of the Portuguese Greenways Association. He publishes regularly in several journals in Europe, USA, South Korea and China since 1987.

Fábos Medalist for the Year 2016

Jack Ahern

Presentation

Novel Urban Ecosystems: New Nature(s) for the Century of the City 

Jack Ahern, Ph.D., FASLA, FCELA, Vice Provost for International Programs and Professor, Department of Landscape Architecture & Regional Planning, University of Massachusetts Amherst.  Ahern holds a BS in Environmental Design (Massachusetts), a MLA (Pennsylvania) and a Ph.D., Environmental Sciences (Wageningen, Netherlands). Registered and Fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA), and Fellow of the Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture (CELA), Ahern has received numerous awards for his work in applied landscape ecology and greenways, including a Fulbright Research Fellowship in Portugal, and Honour Awards from the American Society of Landscape Architects and the Boston Society of Landscape Architects for his focuses on the integration and application of landscape ecology in landscape books and research.  His current research is in planning and design, with emphasis on green infrastructure, greenways, and sustainable urbanism ­ at multiple scales.

His authored and co-authored books include: Measuring Landscapes: A Planner¹s Handbook (2006) Biodiversity Planning and Design: Sustainable Practices (2006) Greenways as Strategic Landscape Planning: Theory and Application (2002); A Guide to the Landscape Architecture of Boston (1999); Greenways: the Beginning of an International Movement (1995).

Fábos Medalist for the Year 2013

M. Teresa L. Andresen

M. Teresa L. ANDRESEN, landscape architect, full professor at Porto University School of Sciences, Portugal.  Phd in Sciences Applied to the Environment, University of Aveiro, Portugal, 1992. Master of Landscape Architecture, University of Massachusetts, USA, 1984. Degree in Agronomy and in Landscape Architecture Lisbon Technical University, Portugal.1982.

Member of the National Council for the Environment and Sustainable Development, since 2012. Porto Botanical Garden, Director, since 2007. Responsible for the installation of the Landscape Architecture programme at Porto University School of Sciences in 2001.

International Federation of Landscape Architects, Vice-President, 2007. European Foundation for Landscape Architecture, President, 2004-07. European Environment Agency, Member of the Scientific Committee, 2002 – 2008; Vice President, 2008. Institute of Nature Conservation of Portugal, President, 1996-98. Portuguese Association of Landscape Architects, President, 1992-94.

Coordinator of the Assessment Study for the Alto Douro Wine Region, World Heritage Site, 2012-13. Coordinator of the project A park network for Porto Metropolitan Region, 2007-2009. Coordinator of the project Regional Structure for the Protection and Environmental Qualification of Portugal Northern Region, 2006 -07.

Fábos Medalist for the Year 2010 

Attila Csemez

Landscape architect, specialist in urban planning and urban management, professor, head of department Pro Régió Prize winner, Mőcsényi Mihály Prize winner.

Born in 1945 in Győr, he has been living in the Óbuda neighbourhood of Budapest since 1948. His mother earned her degree as a horticulturist in 1941 at the Horticultural College. His father graduated as an agriculturist at the Agricultural Academy of Keszthely in 1926. His maternal ancestors were legal practitioners in Székesfehérvár. His paternal great-grandfather was head forester of the Zichy estate in Ószőny (today a district of Komárom), who bought a farm in Bőny (today’s Zoli plot) in 1906, and built the manor, establishing the family estate. He graduated from Árpád State Secondary School in 1963, and received a university degree in landscape architecture and garden design at the University of Horticulture in 1968. In 1976, he also obtained a degree in urban planning and urban management at the Budapest University of Technology. 

He started his professional career as a planner at the Soil Protection Department of Vízügyi Tervező Vállalat (Water Management Planning Company), and between 1970 and 1975 he worked as a researcher at the University of Horticulture under Professor Mihály Mőcsényi. From 1970, he was an active member of the Village Development Committee headed by László Tomori. From 1975 to 1979 he was a postgraduate student at the Institute of Landscape Architecture at the Faculty of Architecture of the Technical University Dresden, where he received his Candidate of Engineering Sciences in 1980. After his return to Hungary, he became Deputy Head of Research at the Department of Landscape Planning at the University of Horticulture and Food Industry, and then Head of Department from 1983. Following the establishment of the independent Faculty of Landscape Architecture, he was Head of the Department of Landscape Planning and Regional Development (1992-2012), and Dean of the Faculty of Landscape Architecture from 2006 to 2012. He was awarded the Doctor of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences title in 2003. After 45 years of full-time lecturing, he retired in 2015, but continues to be involved in education; also giving guest lectures and consultations at Corvinus University of Budapest and Sapientia Hungarian University of Transylvania. Currently, he is Professor Emeritus at the Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences, where he gives practical courses, reviews theses and conducts exams. He is the holder of several professional awards including Pro Urbe Gold Medal (1989), Pro Régió Prize (1997), Imre Ormos Commemorative Medal (2003), (2005), Corvinus University of Budapest Gold Medal
(2008), Mőcsényi Mihály Prize (2022).

Fábos Medalist for the Year 2007

Christopher Greene


Christopher Greene is a Senior Associate and registered landscape architect with Halvorson Design Partnership in Boston. Trained as a designer and planner, he has extensive experience in shaping public landscape policy in Massachusetts and generating political support and funding for many open space, recreation, economic development and historic landscape activities. He has taught landscape planning at UMass and worked for a Massachusetts State Senator.For sixteen years, Mr. Greene worked for Massachusetts state parks, directing and creating many innovative programs, including Heritage State Parks, Olmsted park preservation, sustainable recreation management, heritage tourism, the Bay Circuit trail implementation, and town common restoration. He joined Craig Halvorson, FASLA, (UMass BSLA ’67, MLA ’70) in 1996, where his work has involved sustainable design and historic landscape master planning. Mr. Greene has a BA in Art from Wesleyan and an MLA from UMass. He was a founding member of the METLAND research team led by Dr Julius Fábos.

Fábos Medalist for the Year 2004

Jon E. Rodiek

Jon E. Rodiek is a professor of landscape architecture and urban and regional planning at the College of Architecture, Texas A & M University. He has degrees in Landscape Architecture (B.L.A., M.L.A.), Plant Science (B.S.), Forestry (M.S.), and Natural Resource Management (Ph.D.).