Kate Orff, RLA, FASLA, is the founder of SCAPE, a landscape architecture firm that focuses on innovative solutions to climate change by designing spaces that foster social interaction and community life. Her work explores the intersection between environmental and social issues through design, activism and research. She is widely recognised as one of the leading voices in landscape architecture, urban design and climate change adaptation, excelling at creating complex, creative and collaborative projects that address global environmental challenges.
Among her successes, she was the first landscape architect to receive the prestigious MacArthur Foundation genius grant in 2017. In 2019 she was promoted to the ASLA Fellows Council, received the National Design Award in Landscape Architecture from the Cooper Hewitt and was named a ‘Hero of the Harbor’ by the Waterfront Alliance. In 2020 she was recognised as Urbanist of the Year through The Architect's Newspaper and in 2023 she was included in the TIME 100 list, which recognises the most influential people in the world.
In addition to her design work, Orff is the author of several influential books, including Toward an Urban Ecology (Monacelli, 2016), Petrochemical America (Aperture, 2012), co-authored with photographer Richard Misrach, and contributed to the bestselling anthology Ajo We Can Save (Penguin Random House, 2020), which highlights women leaders in the field.
