2026 Greater & Greener Conference

Presented by City Parks Alliance, in partnership with Austin Parks and Recreation and The Trail Conservancy. Greater & Greener is the only conference dedicated to exploring the full potential of parks as city-building tools. It’s a conference for doers from government, nonprofits, and communities who are utilizing the power of parks to create more sustainable, vibrant, and equitable cities.

Expect an engaging mix of insightful indoor sessions and inspiring outdoor activities that bring the essence of parks to life. Follow along with TBG’s sessions listed below!

Easton Park Trails, Parks, and Green Stormwater Infrastructure Bike Tour

Mobile Workshop: Sunday, June 14 from 7:30 am – 12:30 pm

Tour Leaders: Leslie Lilly of City of Austin Watershed Protection Department, Sean Watson of City of Austin Watershed Protection Department, Michael Lobo of Brookfield Residential, and Justin Lindabury of TBG Partners

Just 12 miles from downtown, Easton Park is a 2,700-acre master-planned community in Southeast Austin developed by Brookfield Residential Properties. Easton Park is focused on celebrating the best of Austin living with a vibrant community that enjoys activities like live music, food trailers, movies in the park, and biking and running the trails. The tour will start at the Union, Easton Park’s 14,000 square foot state-of-the-art amenity center, where participants will meet Brookfield Residential Land’s Project Manager, Michael Lobo, and tour the amenity center before the bike tour. He will talk about what conference participants will see on the bike tour, the history of Easton Park, how the City of Austin and Brookfield worked together on this planned unit development (PUD), and about funding avenues that made the amenities at Eason Park possible.

Take an electric bike tour of enhanced green stormwater infrastructure features, trails, restoration areas, and parks in this planned unit development. Meet a representative of TreeFolks, a local non-profit involved in riparian restoration projects and growing Austin’s urban forest, to see one of the riparian areas they have worked on with Easton Park to restore floodplain vegetation and functionality. Additionally, TBG Partners, the landscape architecture firm designing numerous sections of Easton Park, will provide expertise and insight into park infrastructure and landscape design within the environment.

Another highlight of the tour will be Skyline Park, a 21-acre park and home to one of the highest points in the neighborhood. With scenic views of downtown Austin, this signature park offers a pavilion with event lawn, splash pad, zip line, swings, hillside slides, many play areas, heritage trees, forts, and spots for quiet reflection. Participants will ride the trails to visit other parks and enhanced green stormwater infrastructure with amenities in Easton Park. The bike tour will conclude at the Union where participants will have an opportunity to eat lunch provided by Sano Market, a food truck owned by a resident of Easton Park.

Note: You need the ability to ride a bike for this tour.

 

Alliance Children’s Garden: Lessons from ATX on Unique, Bonding Play

Mobile Workshop: Tuesday, June 16 from 9:15 am –12:30 pm

Tour Leaders: Adam Shriver of TBG Partners, Suzanne Quinn of Kompan, and Patrick Beyer of Austin Parks Foundation

Active outdoor play is an essential human activity across our lifespan. Being outdoors has proven benefits for our health, wellbeing, and cognition. However, healthy play experiences do not happen on their own, they require thoughtful and intentional design. In order to motivate people to play actively and for longer playtimes in the outdoors, we must start with design principles that are directly linked to increasing motivation, attention, and enjoyment in play.

In this Mobile Workshop, we begin at the conference hotel and walk to the Alliance Children’s Garden, winner of the ULI Austin 2021 Best Project Design Award. After breakfast and refreshments at the park, Suzanne Quinn, Ph.D., manager of KOMPAN Play Institute North America, will share specific insights on how to enhance active outdoor play spaces based on the characteristics of play and universal design. She will share specific examples of play equipment, materials, and design layout of the playground Alliance Children’s Garden. Content will be linked to research on how children play, and playgrounds that have proven appeal and lasting value.

Additionally, the designer of record and owner representative will share how the space was created with Austin’s unique culture in mind and with a grass roots effort. Attendees will be able to recognize the role of advocacy and stewardship in creating parks that foster connection, discovery, and belonging while honoring natural and cultural heritage.

Note: Participants should have the ability to walk (or push) two miles total.

 

Downtown Bike Tour of Green Stormwater Infrastructure Around Lady Bird Lake

Mobile Workshop: Tuesday, June 16 from 9:15 am –12:30 pm

Tour Leaders: Leslie Lilly of City of Austin Watershed Protection Department, Sean Watson of City of Austin Watershed Protection Department, Beth Larkin of Austin Parks and Recreation, and Justin Lindabury of TBG Partners

Traverse the Butler Trail along the section of the Colorado River known as Lady Bird Lake in downtown Austin and take in the natural beauty surrounding the lake including the City of Austin’s innovative green stormwater infrastructure (GSI). See how GSI can be incorporated into urban spaces creating green oases that can be enjoyed by all while providing positive environmental benefits. Participants will learn how to identify various types of GSI, learn about GSI maintenance and best management practices, and how GSI benefits the community beyond just stormwater management.

This mobile workshop will begin on the south shore of Lady Bird Lake at beautiful Auditorium Shores to explore the GSI in this park famous for outdoor concerts, festivals, and other events. The participants will then select their bikes and split into two groups to explore the GSI along Lady Bird Lake and will meet local landscape architects, ecologists, and designers at the various GSI examples along the way. The two groups will meet back up at the Austin Central Public Library downtown to end the tour on its amazing green roof terrace. This biking tour of Austin’s GSI includes rain gardens, rainwater harvesting systems, biofiltration ponds, and green roofs along Lady Bird Lake.

Note: Participants should be comfortable with riding an e-bike.

 

Medical Campuses and Parks: Transforming Anchor Districts with Green Space

Panel: Tuesday, June 16, from 11:15 am – 12:30 pm

Tour Leaders: Elaine Kearney of TBG Partners, Samantha Whitney of TBG Partners, and Abby Oliveira of Longwood Collective

When we think about hospitals and healthcare environments, we often associate them with urgency, illness, and stress – places to visit only when we or a loved one are unwell. But what if these spaces could also support wellness, reflection, and healing for all who pass through them, from patients to providers to everyday citizens?

The Longwood Medical and Academic Area is one of Boston’s most economically vital and densely developed districts. Currently 21 million square feet in just 213 acres, it is continuing to grow. Campuses are built out to the property lines accommodating the 100,000+ daily employees, students, and visitors. Longwood requires density to continue thriving, but this also means high greenhouse gas emissions and heightens its vulnerability to climate change. And it lacks access to parklands and open space that provide public health and climate resilience benefits that are also essential to its long-term success.

The Longwood Collective recently led the development of an Open Space Resilience Framework with local public and private agency partners. They will share creative thinking about how to achieve similar benefits to a traditional park in a dense, urban environment where open space is limited and where there are a multitude of owners and management agencies that must collaborate. The framework intends to mitigate heat and flood risks, provide recreation and respite opportunities, and enhance and connect open space infrastructure by improving the district’s tree canopy, constructing bioswales and other green infrastructure for stormwater management, activating plazas for placemaking and community well-being, and adding new open space through large-scale redevelopment projects.

The South Texas Medical Center (STMC) plays a similarly vital role in San Antonio’s health and wellness. This session explores the transformative efforts of the STMC, through a unique and long-standing partnership between the Medical Center Alliance and the City of San Antonio, where the built environment is being reimagined to prioritize community health, connectivity, and quality of life. Presenters will share insights from the South Texas Medical Center Master Plan, an ambitious effort to make the campus more walkable and accessible to the surrounding community. By shifting the focus from cars to people, the plan integrates complete streets, green infrastructure, and improved connections to trails and open space networks, turning the STMC into a vibrant urban destination.

These stories offer a new way of thinking about healthcare campuses, not just as places for treating illness, but as landscapes for living well.

Register for Greater & Greener 2026