Call for Papers: Critical Research Needs for Landscape & Environmental Design 

July 9, 2024

by Christine Colley, RLA, ASLA

TRB AKD40 Landscape and Environmental Design Committee Members checking out stormwater practices during the Committee’s 2024 Mid-Year Meeting in Florida. / image: courtesy of the TRB AKD40 Committee on Landscape and Environmental Design

Transportation Research Board 104th Annual Meeting January 5 - 9, 2025, Washington, D.C.

Call for Papers: Topics of Critical Research Needs for Landscape and Environmental Design Sponsoring Committee: Standing Technical Committee on Landscape and Environmental Design (AKD40)

This Call for Papers invites researchers and practitioners to develop papers to be considered for publication and/or presentation at the 2025 TRB Annual Meeting.

The Standing Technical Committee on Landscape and Environmental Design (AKD40) is concerned with design parameters that relate to protecting, conserving, restoring, and enhancing safe, sustainable, and livable transportation systems, facilities, and their associated environments. The Committee promotes research to advance design principles and practices that enhance safety, and traveler experiences; scenic, aesthetic, and visual quality; harmonious integration of facilities within their natural, cultural, and social environments; sustainable solutions and systems; and the quality of life for transportation system users and surrounding communities.

The following areas were identified by the AKD40 Committee as being critical areas of research:

  • Seek out and support research on Sustainable Design and Maintenance of Green Infrastructure to Improve System Resiliency.
  • Promote the Design of Complete Streets: Inclusive Design for Active Living and Sustainable and Healthy Modal Choices in Transportation.
  • Support efforts to design and manage roadsides and transportation corridors that are productive, restorative, and sustainable as environmental and economic assets using innovative approaches to keep roadside ecology, climate resilience and energy concerns at the forefront.
  • Create solutions to mitigate the decline in pollinator insects and other threatened species and support the potential for the roadside environment to encourage the well-being of these species.

AKD40 Keywords

Landscape, Environment, Vegetation, Context, Visual, Roadside, Median, Corridor, Prescribed fire, Complete Streets, Beautification, Water Conservation, Encampment, Pedestrian, Aesthetics, Worker Safety, Erosion Control, Revegetation, Resiliency, Livability, Green Infrastructure, Streetscape, Urban Design, Trees, Multi-Modal, Sustainable Design and Pollinator.

The deadline for submissions is August 1, 2024.

Authors interested in submitting papers are advised to check the Instructions for Authors page and read the Submission Requirements. Authors submitting papers in response to this Call for Papers should submit full papers for peer review to the Transportation Research Board online. When submitting please indicate the Call for Papers title if you want your paper to be associated with a call. Note that this will not affect your chances of acceptance. Please contact the Call for Papers organizer if you need additional information.

A Note for Paper Authors

It is critical that you check the Instructions for Authors page and read the Submission Requirements. After you submit there are no second chances, so be very careful with your paper submission. If you are unsure, hit “Save and Submit Later” until your paper is ready for review.

The paper submission website will close when it is no longer August 1 anywhere in the world.

For a recap of a presentation from the 2024 TRB Annual Meeting, see Transporting SITES to Washington.

Christine Colley, RLA, ASLA, is Associate Landscape Architect at the New York State Department of Transportation, Committee Member of the TRB Standing Committee on Landscape and Environmental Design (AKD40), and is The Field editor for ASLA’s Transportation Professional Practice Network (PPN).