Jeff Hou is a professor and former chair of Landscape Architecture at the University of Washington, Seattle. His research, teaching, and practice focus on community design, design activism, and democracy and public space. In a career that spans across the Pacific, Hou has worked with indigenous tribes, farmers, and fishers in Taiwan, neighborhood residents in Japan, villagers in China, and immigrant youths and elders in North American cities, in projects ranging from conservation of wildlife habitats to design of urban open space. Professor Hou’s research project for GTI examines the Open Green Matching Fund program in Taipei. Unlike typical urban regeneration approaches that focus on large-scale urban redevelopment, the Open Green program provides funding for neighborhood and community groups to engage in bottom-up, community-driven placemaking projects that improve local environments.
