Faculty and graduate researchers from the University of Georgia’s College of Environment and Design brought a decade of innovation in planning education to an international audience this spring when their research was presented at the 2026 Digital Landscape Architecture (DLA2026) Conference in Dublin, Ireland.
The peer-reviewed paper, A Decade of Geodesign Pedagogy: Advancing Multiscale Digital Planning Through Studio Practice, authored by Dr. Rosanna Rivero and doctoral student Connie Staudinger, was selected for publication in the Journal of Digital Landscape Architecture and invited for presentation at the conference. The acceptance was especially noteworthy given the conference’s competitive review process, with only 47 percent of submitted papers accepted for publication and presentation.
Hosted at University College Dublin, DLA2026 brought together 144 researchers, educators, and practitioners representing 28 countries to explore advances in digital landscape architecture, geodesign, geographic information systems (GIS), planning, and environmental design. Forty-one finalists were selected to present their work during moderated panel sessions that encouraged in-depth discussion among leading scholars from around the world.
Unlike traditional academic conferences, DLA2026 challenged presenters to communicate years of research in just three minutes using a single visual accompanied by a brief prerecorded video. The format required participants to distill complex ideas into one compelling graphic that could clearly communicate the essence of their work.
Conceptual graphic created by Staudinger and Rivero.
For their presentation, Rivero and Staudinger developed a conceptual graphic illustrating how students with diverse backgrounds, technical skills, and learning styles contribute to “collective knowledge” within a geodesign studio. The visual summarized one of the paper’s central findings: that collaborative, multidisciplinary learning environments produce stronger planning outcomes while simultaneously preparing students to address increasingly complex planning challenges.
Rather than examining a single studio, the paper draws on four geodesign-based educational case studies conducted between 2018 and 2025 to trace the evolution of geodesign pedagogy. Together, the projects demonstrate how collaborative planning, geospatial technologies, and multiscale design can strengthen both student learning and professional planning practice.
One of the featured case studies examined CED’s 2025 Urban Planning Studio III, where students applied the Geodesign Framework to a multiscale planning project in Newton County, Georgia. Working across regional, county, municipal, and site scales, students developed integrated planning strategies for the communities of Covington, Oxford, and Porterdale. Through the studio, students moved beyond traditional planning exercises by combining geospatial analysis, scenario development, stakeholder collaboration, and design into a unified planning process.
“The research demonstrates that geodesign is much more than a collection of digital tools,” said Rivero. “It is a way of teaching students to think collaboratively across disciplines and geographic scales while using data to support better planning decisions.”
The conference also provided participants the opportunity to engage with internationally recognized geodesign pioneer Carl Steinitz, whose Geodesign Framework has fundamentally shaped planning education and practice worldwide. Prior to the conference, Steinitz led an interactive workshop introducing participants to the Global-to-Local-to-Global (GLG) framework for addressing climate and sustainability challenges through collaborative planning. Because Rivero’s work has built upon and expanded the educational applications of the Geodesign Framework over the past decade, the workshop and conference provided a valuable opportunity to exchange ideas with one of the field’s founding scholars.
For Staudinger, a doctoral student in Environmental Design and Planning, the conference represented an opportunity to contribute to an international conversation on planning education while continuing her research on the intersection of planning policy, geospatial analysis, and affordable housing.
The publication and presentation underscore CED’s commitment to advancing innovative planning education through research, technology, and applied studio practice. By connecting classroom instruction with real-world planning challenges and international scholarly dialogue, UGA continues to prepare future planners with the collaborative and analytical skills needed to address the increasingly complex issues facing communities throughout Georgia and beyond.
