Jeffrey Hou is Professor and Chair of Landscape Architecture at the University of Washington. His work focuses on critical urbanism, design activism, and democratic placemaking. His previous books include Greening Cities, Growing Communities: Learning from Seattle's urban community gardens (2009), Insurgent Public Space: Guerrilla urbanism and the remaking of contemporary cities (2010) and Transcultural Cities: Border-crossing and placemaking (2013).

Benjamin Spencer is Assistant Professor in the Department of Landscape Architecture and Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Global Health at the University of Washington. His research engages design as a catalyst for sustainable, community-driven development and technology and its cultural integration.

Thaisa Way is a landscape historian teaching history, theory, and design in the Department of Landscape Architecture at the University of Washington. Her work focuses on feminist and alternative histories of landscape architecture in the US, including Unbounded Practice: Women and landscape architecture in the early twentieth century (2009) and The Landscape Architecture of Richard Haag: From modern to urban ecological design (forthcoming).

Ken Yocom is Associate Professor in the Department of Landscape Architecture at the University of Washington. His work focuses on the functional convergence of urban design and ecological processes, specifically examining design responses to the impact of development on urban water systems. He is a co-author of Basics Landscape Architecture 02: Ecological design (2011).