Areti Athanasopoulos, a master’s student at the University of Colorado Denver, was selected as the 2019 National Olmsted Scholar and recipient of the $25,000 graduate prize. Building from time she spent volunteering at the Ritsona refugee camp in Greece, Areti will use the award to continue her investigation and development of a spatial framework that can be used to revise United Nations policies and refugee camp planning standards. Her policy will clearly define human landscape needs and outline parameters for the inclusion of gardens as necessary camp infrastructure. She also plans to pilot a “Sister Gardens” program in which non-profit organizations provide guidance, resources, materials, and technical support and collaborate on the design-build of a garden in a refugee camp.

Read more about the other finalists on the Landscape Architecture Foundation's website.