Claire’s research focuses on urban public open spaces and their role within the evolving city. In light of economic, social, and environmental changes within urban development, including population growth and climate change, Professor Napawan has an interest in investigating the roles in which landscapes might adapt to provide ever-increasing productive and infrastructural programs to the global city. Prior to her faculty appointment, she taught at the Spitzer School of Architecture, Urban Design, and Landscape Architecture at the City College of New York, collaborating studio instruction with the Design Trust for Public Space in developing alternative strategies for the Bronx Grand Concourse. She has also practiced professionally with award-winning firms, including the SWA Group in San Francisco and dlandstudio, llc. in Brooklyn. Her contributions include streetscape design and project management of Downtown Salt Lake City revitalization, Bejing Finance Street urban design, and security upgrades for Police Headquarters in downtown Manhattan. Professor Napawan holds a bachelors degree in architecture from Washington University in St. Louis and a masters in landscape architecture from Harvard’s Graduate School of Design. She is the recipient of a Penny White research grant from the Graduate School of Design, which enabled her study of Robert Smithson’s proposals for the Willow Creek Mines in Creede, Colorado, in comparison to current efforts at hard-rock mine remediation and landscape restoration. Her recent publication “Multi-Productive Landscapes of the Sustainable City: Opportunities for Managing Resource Needs through Urban Landscapes,” is featured in Nakhara Journal of Environmental Design and Planning, Volume 6: The Dynamic City.

Much of Claire’s early work focused on the role of public parks in New York City; given the city’s density and position as a global city, understanding the role urban parks have played alongside the development of the city reveals opportunities for public landscapes to engage in the processes of urban economic growth. This research suggested an increasingly economic, as well as physical relationship, between park and urban development in New York City, a trend that is likely to increase in this, and other growing, global cities. These findings were presented at the Environmental Design Research Association’s 41st Conference in Washington, D.C. in a presentation entitled “The Political-Economy of Place: Evaluating Productivity of Public Urban Landscapes,” and was later published as a book chapter for the publication currently in press, Terrain Vague: The Interstitial as Site, Concept, and Intervention; the chapter is entitled: “The City’s Last Scrap of Land: Opportunities to Embody, as well as Occupy, Urban Infrastructure.”

Claire was a recipient of the Hellman Foundation Fellowship in 2011, which contributes to her study of the role of landscape design in climate change adaptation strategies in the San Francisco Bay Area. She also received a Faculty Development Award from the University of California, Davis in 2012 to support her investigation of urban agriculture in San Francisco. This research examines the multi-productive role of urban farms to produce food, manage urban resources, and provide unique public open spaces. She presented some of that work in Winter 2012 quarter in her LDA190 proseminar lecture series: Food & the Built Environment. This also integrates with her current efforts to provide master gardener training material for design of edible landscapes in collaboration with the California Center for Urban Horticulture (CCUH).

EDUCATION

Masters in Landscape Architecture

   Harvard School of Design, Cambridge, MA                                                                                           2001 - 2005

Bachelors in Art in Architecture

   Washington University School of Architecture, St. Louis, MO                                                            1997 - 2001

ACADEMIC EMPLOYMENT

Assistant Professor

   University of California, Davis, CA                                                                                                           2009 - present

Adjunct Professor

   City College of New York, NY                                                                                                                    2009

Visiting Lecturer

   University of California, Davis, CA                                                                                                           2007

Career Discovery Program Instructor

   Harvard Graduate School of Design, Cambridge, MA                                                                          2004

PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE

Project Manager/Designer

   dlandstudio, llc., Brooklyn, NY                                                                                                                 2008 - 2009

                  Sponge Park Gowanus Canal, Brooklyn, NY

                  Police Plaza Security Upgrades, Manhattan, NY

                  Jardin de Metis competition, Quebec, Canada

                  Berlin Templehof airport competition, Berlin, Germany

                  Malawi Academy for Girls, Lilongwe, Malawi

                  Prospect Cemetery, Queens, NY

                  Telyas Residence, Old Westbury, NY

                  Sydney Residence, Brooklyn, NY

Associate

   SWA Group, San Francisco, CA                                                                                                                2005 - 2008

                  City Creek retail development, Salt Lake, UT

                  Downtown Salt Lake City streetscape, Salt Lake, UT

                  Parcel A5, Beijing Finance Street, Beijing, China

                  Victoria Ward retail development, Honolulu, HI

                  Student Quadrangle, University of the Pacific, Stockton, CA

                  Novartis West Campus, East Hanover, NJ

Design Intern

   Richard Burck Associates, Somerville, MA                                                                                              2004 - 2005

PUBLICATIONS

Refereed Conference Proceedings:

                  Environmental Design Research Association Conference 41, Washington, D.C.                          2010

                  Spaces and Flows: International Conference on Urban Studies, Prato, Italy                                 2011

Refereed Publications:

Napawan, N. C. “Multi-Productive Landscapes of the Sustainable City: Opportunities for Managing Resource Needs through Urban Landscapes.” Nakhara Journal of Environmental Design and Planning, Volume 6: The Dynamic City: Land, Water, and Culture. Spring 2011

Napawan. N. C. “The City’s Last Scrap of Land: Opportunities to Embody, as well as Occupy, Urban Infrastructure,” Terrain Vague: The Interstitial as Site, Concept, Intervention.http://sitesituation.wordpress.com [IN PRESS]

Napawan, N. C.. “From Spaces to Flows: Re-evaluating the Role of Urban Parks in the Post-Industrial City,” Spaces and Flows: Journal of Urban and ExtraUrban Studies. Fall 2011 [IN PRESS]

Napawan, N.C. “Multi-Functional Place: Evaluating Urban Farms as Public Open Space,” Landscape Journal. [PENDING]

CREATIVE ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Installation of Original Works of Landscape Architecture:

                  Police Plaza Security Upgrades, New York, NY                                                                                        2009

                  Sydney Place Residence, Brooklyn, NY                                                                                                     2009

                  Downtown Salt Lake City streetscape, Salt Lake City, UT                                                                        2009

                  City Creek retail development, Salt Lake City, UT                                                                                    2009

                  Student Quadrangle, University of the Pacific, Stockton, CA                                                                2008

                  Parcel A5, Beijing Finance Street, Beijing, China                                                                                     2008

                  Victoria Ward retail development, Honolulu, HI                                                                                     2008

Design Competition Entries:

                  From Growing to Mowing Competition: Multi-Productive Landscapes of the Sustainable

 City                                                                                                                                                  2010

The Self-Sufficient City Competition: Recreating the Cycle: Self-Sufficient Cities through

Landscape Infrastructure                                                                                                              2009

                  WPA 2.0 Competition: Productive Pier: Howland’s Hook, Staten Island, NYC                                    2009

                  Jardin de Metis Competition: WaterFlows                                                                                               2008

LECTURES & CONFERENCES

Conference Presentations:

EDRA41, Washington D.C.                                                                                                                                            2010

Mini-paper presentation: The Economy of Place: Evaluating Productivity of Public Urban Landscapes

Spaces and Flows:                                                                                                                                                           2011

30-minute presentation: From Spaces to Flows, Re-Evaluating the Role of Urban Parks in the Post-Industrial City

Guest Lectures:

“The Principles of Design,” Department of Environmental and Civil Engineering, ECI186                                   2011 & 2012

FUNDED PROJECTS, GRANTS, & CONTRACTS

Completed:

Penny White Grant, Harvard Graduate School of Design

Study of hard-rock mine remediation in Creede, CO                                                                                2004

In progress:

Young Investigators Award, Hellman Foundation Fellowship

Study of landscape design strategies for climate change adaptation

& mitigation in SF Bay Area                                                                                                                           2011

Faculty Development Award, University of California, Davis

Study of urban farms in San Francisco, CA                                                                                                 2012

PUBLISHED REVIEWS OF RESEARCH & CREATIVE WORK

Duncan, Michael “China’s New Urbanity.” 22 July 2008. Urban Land Institute Magazine.

McLaughlin, Mike. “Sponge Bob Unveils Canal Park.” 16 April 2008. The Brooklyn Paper.

Gross, Miriam. “Sponge on the Canal.” 26 April 2008. The Brooklyn Paper.

Collins, Linda. “Gowanus Group’s Sponge Parks Honored by AIA, ASLA.” 23 June 2008.

Brooklyn Daily Eagle.

Bilkey, Catherine. “’The Smell’ of Gowanus Canal May Be Sponged Away.” 3 July 2008. 

The New York Sun.

“Water Fight.” Oculus, AIANY Volume 70, Issue 4.

Whitman, Trudy. “Proposed Gowanus ‘Sponge Park’ Proves a Hit.” 29 January 2009.

Brooklyn Daily Eagle.

HONORS & AWARDS

City of Stockton Design Excellence Award

University of the Pacific Student Quadrangle                                                                                                 2009

NY ASLA Un-Built Projects Merit Award

Sponge Park Gowanus Canal                                                                                                                            2009

Green Dot Awards, Honorable Mention in Service Category

Gowanus Canal Sponge Park                                                                                                                            2009

Urban Land Institute Award for Excellence

Beijing Finance Street                                                                                                                                         2008

American Institute of Architects, California Council Urban Design Award

Beijing Finance Street                                                                                                                                         2008

RESIDENT INSTRUCTION

University of California, Davis, Assistant Professor:

                  LDA1, Introduction to Environmental Design                                                                                             FL2011

                  LDA170, Field Studio in Landscape Architecture                                                                                        FL2011

                  LDA193B, Senior Project in Landscape Architecture                                                                                 SP2011

                  LDA193A, Senior Project in Landscape Architecture                                                                                 WI2011

                  LDA180, Infrastructure, Productivity, & Landscape in the City seminar                                                 SP2010

                  LDA181, Infrastructure, Productivity, & Landscape in the City studio                                                    SP2010

                  LDA70,    Basic Landscape Design Studio                                                                                                     WI2010

                  LDA21, Landscape Graphics & Visualization                                                                                               FL2009

OUTREACH-BASED INSTRUCTION

City College of New York, Adjunct Professor:                                                                           

                  AR6441, Reinvention of Bronx Grand Concourse through Place-making                                            SP2009

University of California, Davis, Unit-18 Lecturer:                                                                                      

LDA21, Landscape Graphics & Visualization                                                                                               FL2007

Harvard Graduate School of Design Career Discovery, Instructor:                                                     

Architectural Graphics                                                                                                                                   SU2004

SELECTED STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT

Graduate Student Thesis Award, Amanda Bayley: Retrofitting Suburbia, City College of New York, Spring 2009

Honor Award, American Society of Landscape Architects, Sierra Chapter, Michael Clarke, Elizabeth Bokulich, Vahid Rezai: Baylife, Spring 2011

SUPERVISION OF GRADUATE THESIS

Amanda Bayley: Retrofitting Suburbia, City College of New York

Gayle Totton: Spiral Journeys, University of California, Davis, Geography Graduate Group

SERVICE TO THE UNIVERSITY

Committees:

Member, Department of Environmental Design, undergraduate curriculum coordination                                         2010-11

Member, Department of Human Community Development and Design, departmental merger curriculum

coordination                                                                                                                                                            2010-11

Member, Department of Human Community Development and Design, departmental merger symposium

coordination                                                                                                                                                            2011-12

Member, Faculty Search Committee, Department of Environmental Design                                                                  2012

Member, IT cluster committee, College of Agricultural & Environmental Science, Cluster 5                                        2012

3/19/2013