TRAVEL GRANT
seeing the world
The DF Research Travel Program is a professional development opportunity available to all employees, designed to support individual exploration of topics relevant to landscape architecture, such as design, materials, construction, sustainability, cultural resources, or restoration. Each year, up to four awards are granted, providing the applicant with a travel-expense stipend and three days of research time beyond PTO. Awardees are expected to present their findings to the office within 30 days of returning, including visuals and a summary of their research goals, methodology, and key takeaways. Take a look at some of research of previous grantees below!
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In February 2025, Rachel Peterson, Associate Landscape Designer at Damon Farber, traveled to San Francisco through the firm’s travel program to explore the city’s iconic landscapes and examine the idea of “the landscape as the antithesis of the map,” inspired by Becky Cooper’s Mapping Manhattan. In the book, Cooper asked New Yorkers to draw personal maps of the city—depicting memories, emotions, and meaning rather than just streets—suggesting that maps can be more truthful and human than the landscapes they represent. Embracing this perspective, Rachel created daily maps of her experiences in San Francisco, prioritizing feeling over precision. From walking the Dogpatch neighborhood and biking Golden Gate Park to exploring Muir Woods and Yerba Buena Island, each map captured not just where she was, but what each moment meant.
san francisco, california, usa
Savannah, Georgia, usa
In October 2024, Abby Glastetter traveled to Savannah, Georgia to study the first “planned city” in the United States, examining the lasting relevance of its historic urban design. She was especially drawn to James Oglethorpe’s 1733 ward system, whose grid layout and central green squares continue to inspire walkable, community-oriented planning today. Savannah’s green spaces exemplify how nature can be integrated into cities to manage stormwater, reduce urban heat, and support mental well-being. Its human-scale urbanism—characterized by small blocks, mixed-use spaces, and adaptive reuse of historic buildings—fosters social interaction and preserves cultural heritage. Abby’s visit highlighted how Savannah strikes a thoughtful balance between preservation and progress, offering valuable lessons for creating resilient, inclusive, and vibrant cities.
montgomery, alabama, usa
In April 2018, the Equal Justice Initiative and MASS Design Group opened the National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, Alabama—the first U.S. memorial dedicated to over 4,000 African Americans lynched by white mobs. Set on six acres overlooking downtown, the site features more than 800 suspended steel monuments, each representing a county where lynchings occurred and inscribed with victims’ names. Visitors descend through the pavilion as the monuments rise overhead, evoking the terror of lynching. Nearby, identical monuments lie in wait to be claimed by counties, inviting ongoing public engagement. Paired with powerful sculptures and the adjacent Legacy Museum, the memorial offers a transformative space for truth, remembrance, and justice.
southern texas, usa
Interpretation of natural history and ecology in landscape architecture is a combination of art and science, often told through a lens of sustainability. Whether a series of choreographed experiences or a simple sign in front a natural wonder, the message of sustainability is often the same- reinforcing why the natural element or is (or was) significant and how we can preserve and restore our natural environment. The way the message is conveyed and celebrated has the power change human behavior, spawn a generation of naturalists and climate change warriors, or when under-realized, simply do nothing at all. In a context where natural resources are threatened by business-as-usual development and climate change, and the call for sustainable, ecologically-sensitive design is becoming be critical part of many projects, I am increasingly interested in the strategies and effectiveness of interpretation of our environment through landscape architecture.