I used to study fish. Funny thing was, through researching the impacts of land use on aquatic habitats, I learned more about how people live on the land than how fish live in the water. Now, as a landscape designer, I strive to help people live a more sustainable life on the land. We spend so much of our lives traveling from one destination to another on tired roads and highways. That's why I am excited about my work at Alta. We get to imagine and build healthy ways for people to move around and experience our cities, neighborhoods and environments. Through our work we can create beautiful and inspiring transportation networks so that people feel good about where they live.
Emily Marshall Duchon joined Alta Planning + Design in January 2009. Emily’s experience prior to joining Alta includes regional trail-master planning, streetscape design, open space design, brownfield redevelopment planning, and research in land use and aquatic ecology. She brings eight years of experience working with the complexities of natural systems through research, planning and design. Emily has skills in conceptual and schematic design, digital visualization graphics, and Geographic Information Systems (GIS).
Recent Projects
City of Victorville Mojave Riverwalk
The Mojave Riverwalk in Victorville, California is a unique 9-mile trail following the Mojave River in southern Califronia's High Desert. The project includes alignments through High Desert rare riparian areas, historic Route 66 sites and a rail-with-trail segment through The Narrows, a dramatic canyon. Emily’s work includes agency coordination, conceptual design of trailheads and a sustainable planting plan for the Riverwalk.
Culver City Bicycle and Pedestrian Initiative
Alta is leading the Culver City Bicycle and Pedestrian Linkages initiative. The projects includes coordination with the development of a light rail station, creation of non-motorized connections in a City with an irregular roadway network and coordinating with the County Flood Control District, the Army Corps of Engineers and local home owners associations to improve access to a bike path along Ballona Creek. Emily is working on the planning and design aspects of this plan.
Brownfield Redevelopment of Chevy in the Hole
For her Master’s Thesis Emily worked to develop sustainable design scenarios for a former General Motor’s automotive manufacturing site in Flint, Michigan. Her work addressed development pressures, contamination and remediation, ecological enhancements of the Flint River floodplain and explored the role trails can play to help move sites out of brownfield paralysis. This project won an award from the International Federation of Landscape Architects (IFLA).
Awards
- International Federation of Landscape Architects, Jury Award
- ASLA Student Merit Award
Selected Presentations
- National Brownfields Conference 2008, Time and Space as Dynamic Elements in Brownfield Landscape Planning
- Michigan Planning Association’s Conference 2007, Mobility Options Incorporating Safe Routes to School Principals, a Walking Audit, Traverse City, Michigan
- 2nd National Low Impact Development Conference 2007, LID on Brownfields
