UC Davis Faculty: Francis: Recent Activities

Mark Francis
Recent Activities

Was invited by the Central Park Gardens to give the introductory remarks at the opening of their new Sensory Garden in Central Park in Davis on May 29.
Appointed Faculty Affiliate of the Children Youth and Environments, Center for Design and Research, University of Colorado.
Appointed to the Olmsted Scholarship Advisory Board, Landscape Architecture Foundation, Washington, DC. The new $25,000 annual scholarship will be the "premier award for landscape architecture students".
Davis Greenway concept reaffirmed by Davis City Council as main open space concept for the City of Davis.
Mark was recognized by the Davis City Council as one of the pioneers of the Davis bike system. The award was presented at a ceremony in Central Park on September 12, 2007 by Mayor Sue Greenwald.
The Davis Bicycle Loop, a 12 mile demonstration project of the Davis Greenway Plan, was marked and opened Fall 2007. PDF plan here.
Elected Jury Chair for the International Design Competition for a New Multi-functional Administrative City (MAC) Central Open Space, South Korea. (with Paolo Burgi, Switzerland, Julia Czerniak, USA, Peter Latz, Germany, and Binyi Liu, China). 2007.
Mark's work on case studies for the Landscape Architecture Foundation has recently gone online. "Sponsored by the Landscape Architecture Foundation, Mark Francis's efforts in developing a case study methodology for landscape architecture is exemplary in the design professions." Sherry Ahrentzen. Affordable Design. Washington, DC: Fannie Mae Foundation. 2006.
His recent and upcoming invited lectures include the Department of Civic Design at University of Liverpool; School of Architecture at The University of Technology in Graz, Austria; Norwegian Public Roads Administration, Oslo, Norway; G5 Symposium, South Korea; Norwegian Architects Association, Stavanger, Norway; City University Graduate Center, New York City; and Department of Landscape Architecture at the University of Oregon.
As part of the European Capital of Culture Program, he is organizing an international symposium on urban open space to be held in Norway in June 2008 (News article in Norwegian - web3.aftenbladet.no/kultur/2008/article409139.ece
Invited by the Norman Lear Center at USC (with James Corner, Manuel Castells, William Morrish, Bernard Tsumni and Michael Van Valkenburgh) to provide commentary on design proposals and the design process for Grand Intervention, a new Central Park proposed in downtown Los Angeles. His comments were published in the Los Angeles Times on December 25, 2005.
Was member of the design jury for the G5 International Urban Design Competition in Chencheon, South Korea (with Jon Lang, Australia, Colin Fournier, London and Jeff Hou, Singapore).
Gave a keynote talk at the International Urban Design Symposium in March 2005 South Korea entitled "Urban Parks as Community Places" (6MB PDF).
Appointed to the Board of Advisors to ABCitta, a group of architects and planners in Milan, Italy.
Appointed as faculty Affiliate at the John Muir Institute of the Environment at UC Davis.
Appointed to the Chancellor's Advisory Committee on Sustainability at UCD to set new sustainability guidelines for the campus environment and practices.
Appointed to the Editorial Board of Landscape Journal.
Visited the Landscape Architecture Program at the University of New Mexico in April 2005.
His graduate "Theory and Philosophy of the Designed Environment" course visited Seattle in March 2005 with support from a grant from the University of California Transportation Center.
His students recently developed design proposals for Gold Rush Park, a large park proposed in downtown Sacramento.
Recently quoted in Landscape Architecture, Sacramento Bee, Davis Enterprise, Comstocks Business Journal, UCD Dateline and Capitol Public Radio on his design and research work.
Appointed to the Advisory Board for Cornerstone Festival of Gardens in Sonoma with Peter Walker, Ken Smith, Marc Trieb and Charlotte Frieze (garden editor of House and Garden). The group will nominate designers and review designs for future gardens. He also authored the introduction for the first Cornerstone Gardens Catalog.
Served as a consultant to Rancho Cordova Parks District to develop standards for parks and open spaces in new development.
He recently completed the design for a new Entry Plaza to Central Park and the Davis Farmer's Market. The area will be a new gateway to the park and will be used for the weekly Picnic in the Park event. Construction is scheduled begin in Fall 2005.
His design and sketches for Giardini di Porta Nuova Park in Milan was recently published in La Costruzione di un Progetto ("Constructing a Project") by Monica Mazzolani and Giancarlo De Carlo published by Alinea in Florence in both Italian and English. The book describes in detail the process the design team used to develop their proposal for the large park in the center of Milan.
Served on the Downtown Design Awards Jury for the Davis Downtown Business Association in March 2005.
Appointed by the Orange County Great Park Corporation to the Professional Jury to select the design team for The Great Park, a 1200-acre park proposed to replace El Toro Marine Corps Air Station in Southern California.
Chaired the Douglas Dockery Thomas Fellowship Jury for the Garden Clubs of America.
Served on Landscape Architecture Foundation's selection committee for new case studies to be commissioned as part of the Case Studies in Land and Community Design with Fritz Steiner (Dean, School of Architecture, University of Texas) and Gary Hack (Dean, School of Design, University of Pennsylvania).
Reviewed manuscripts for The MIT Press and Stanford University Press.
Some of his writings were recently translated into Polish, Italian, Japanese and German.
Taught a UCD Freshman Seminar "Rebuilding Ground Zero: Landscape as Meaning and Memory".
Taught a UC Davis Honors Challenge seminar.
Taught a UCD Summer Abroad course "Landscape Architecture and Open Space in Scandinavia".

7/23/08