CitiesAlive 2026 Announces Rachel Wilkins of Bjarke Ingels Group Among Keynote Speakers
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Green Roofs for Healthy Cities (GRHC) announces Rachel Wilkins, RLA, Senior Landscape Architect at Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG), as a keynote speaker for CitiesAlive 2026 in New York City.
Rachel Wilkins leads landscape architecture and urban design on the Battery Park City Resiliency Project, a major multi-phase coastal infrastructure initiative reshaping the edge of lower Manhattan. Her keynote, “The BIG U: Reimagining the Coast of Lower Manhattan”, will examine how large-scale coastal resilience projects can integrate green infrastructure, public space, and climate adaptation to protect and bring together urban communities.
At BIG, Wilkins approaches landscape architecture as an integral part of the design process from the earliest stages of a project. Her work addresses not only the engineering complexity of landscape on structure, but the challenge of making that complexity is legible to clients and communities. She believes that well-designed green infrastructure does not serve one building or one constituency.
Wilkins brings particular expertise to the technical and communicative dimensions of green infrastructure. When done right, it improves the ecological, social, and environmental health of an entire community.
CitiesAlive 2026 will bring together leading researchers, designers, policymakers, and industry professionals from across North America to explore the future of green infrastructure and climate resilience.
The conference will take place from September 30 to October 3, 2026 at the New York Marriott at the Brooklyn Bridge. CitiesAlive has secured a special conference rate for attendees wanting to stay at the New York Marriott at the Brooklyn Bridge. Learn more here.
Register before June 30, 2026 to receive the early bird rate and save $100 USD. Learn more and register here.
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From the Living Architecture Monitor
