Justin Roberts

Lecturer

Justin is a licensed landscape architect at HBB Landscape Architecture and an educator focused on advancing more ecologically grounded and climate-responsive approaches to the built environment. He also serves as chair of the WASLA Climate Action Committee where he works to integrate climate action into professional practice.

His work explores how landscapes can be designed to support human well-being, biodiversity, and climate resilience simultaneously. His perspective is grounded in years of experience as a naturalist guide within the rich ecological context of the Puget Sound region, from coastal tidepools to alpine tundra. His interests converge on design opportunities that revive ecosocial systems with a focus on managed landscapes such as lowland prairies and urban forests.

As a professional, Justin has contributed to projects across a wide range of scales, from shoreline street-end parks to multi-jurisdictional public transit systems, and across a range of scopes including planting and irrigation design, interpretive signage, and public engagement.

His previous academic research included study of an interdisciplinary network in Sweden integrating biochar into the built environment as a strategy for biodiversity support, climate adaptation, and mitigation. This work helped shape a professional trajectory that includes developing biochar soil specifications, leading educational sessions, and supporting nonprofit programming and grant initiatives.

Justin earned his Master of Landscape Architecture from the University of Washington in 2022 and his Bachelor of Arts in Science, Technology, and Society from the University of Puget Sound in 2008.