Asakura Robinson is a planning, urban design and landscape architecture firm based in Austin, Houston, Los Angeles and Tokyo. Their mission focuses on combining beautiful design with efficiency, comfort, safety, affordability, accessibility, sustainability and a better quality of life for all. Asakura Robinson is a member of the U.S. Green Building Council and is certified as a Bicycle friendly business for their transportation-accommodating designs.
Environmental sustainability is the foundation of their practice, and they strive to advance sustainability in each of the communities they work in, to advocate for design that serves the greater good of the community through improved walkability, health and well-being, understanding cultural diversity, and enhancement of the arts. They also place a strong emphasis on design functionality and aesthetics.
An example of their work is the design of the Sugar Land’s Gannoway nature park in Texas, where ecological assets are supported alongside a water treatment facility and roadways to create an innovative mixed-use environment. They also design schools that allow for natural systems to be incorporated into the science curriculums, such as the study of plant life cycles and farming in vegetable garden beds, and the study of water use on campus to reduce waste. Additionally, the help design streets in ways that protect historical residential districts, create efficient road transit routes for vehicles, and provide access to public transit, while making commercial areas easily walkable.
They use mapping technology to expand and improve metropolitan transport, with one initiative being a redesign of the Houston subway system to increase efficiency, service, and environmental standards.
Urban planning and the geography of our cities is a crucial area of advancement in our modern world, and Asakura Robinson’s work to green our cities is a commendable step towards improving city life. The American Geographical Society’s Fall Symposium focuses on exploring our future in an urbanized world. Read more here!
Written by: Christopher Ewell, AGS Intern on June 23, 2015