Marion Pressley, FASLA, of Pressley Associates Landscape Architects guides you through Olmsted Park, designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, John Charles Olmsted and Charles Eliot. The park has three major ponds, six historic pedestrian bridges, natural groves and meadows, along with multiuse bike and pedestrian paths and stone headwalls. These paths on the Brookline side of Olmsted Park were not designed until 1998. Photo: Marion Pressley

Last year, the ASLA developed the Landscape Architect's Guide to Washington, D.C., an online resource with more than 100,000 page views www.asla.org/guide. Now, ASLA has done the same for Boston, which is the site for this year's ASLA Expo.

The Guide to Boston offers information on 100 historic, modern and contemporary landscapes in the Boston, Cambridge and Brookline areas, illustrated by more than 1,100 photos provided by 28 landscape architects.

Of the 12 million people who visit Boston each year, most have only a smattering of knowledge of the city's landscapes and tend to hang out at the popular tourist destinations.

Thomas Tavella, FASLA, president of ASLA, says the guide highlights historic monuments, parks and new sustainable work, such as Raymond Mellone Park, a green space that also manages stormwater, and Condor Street Urban Wild, which capped toxic soils to create a wildlife habitat and urban respite. Tavella notes the guide will also be informative to locals about their favorite neighborhoods, parks and other landscapes.

The guide is particularly useful while out and about. Just access www.asla.org/boston on the smartphone for a "guided tour" of your location. The guide is divided into 26 distincts, each covering multiple neighborhoods and each with a map and biking routes to keep you on course.

The tour guides are 28 nationally recognized landscape architects, all designers of public spaces and leaders in sustainable design. The guides explain the sites from a landscape architect's point of view and show how the designs affect how people interact and even feel about these places.



The Guides

• Cathy Baker-Eclipse, ASLA, Boston Parks and Recreation Department
• Maria Bellalta, ASLA, Boston Architectural College
• Deneen Crosby, ASLA, Crosby | Schlessinger | Smallridge
• Melissa Desjardins, ASLA, Dan Gordon Associates
• Joe Geller, FASLA, Stantec Consulting
• Lynne Giesecke, ASLA, Studio2112 Landscape Architecture
• John Haven, ASLA, Keith LeBlanc Landscape Architecture
• Gary Hilderbrand, FASLA, Reed Hilderbrand
• Carol Johnson, FASLA, Carol R. Johnson Associates
• Cortney Kirk, ASLA, Copley Wolff Design Group
• Mary Lydecker, ASLA, Hargreaves Associates
• Bill Madden, ASLA, Mikyoung Kim Design
• Jeremy Martin, ASLA, Hargreaves Associates
• Kaki Martin, ASLA, Klopfer Martin Design Group
• Grace Ng, Student ASLA, Olmsted Center for Landscape Preservation, National Park Service
• Marion Pressley, FASLA, Pressley Associates Landscape Architects
• Robyn Reed, ASLA, Landworks Studio
• Susannah Ross, ASLA, Sasaki
• James Royce, ASLA, Studio2112 Landscape Architecture
• Michael Sadler, ASLA, Boston Architectural College
• JP Shadley, FASLA, Shadley Associates Landscape Architects
• Cynthia Smith, FASLA, Halvorson Design Partnership
• Laura Solano, ASLA, Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates
• Laura Tenny, ASLA, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Kenya Thompson, ASLA, Boston Redevelopment Authority
• Jennifer Toole, ASLA, Toole Design Group
• Robert Uhlig, ASLA, Halvorson Design Partnership
• Gabrielle Weiss, Copley Wolff Design Group