Laura Starr

Partner
Starr Whitehouse Landscape Architects and Planners
New York, New York

Landscape architect Laura Starr is dedicated to making density livable by bringing nature into the city. Her practice began with a twelve-year tenure at the Central Park Conservancy during its formative years as a public-private partnership, in which she rose to be Chief of Design, giving Starr a rare insider’s experience with the workings of such partnerships. Since co-founding Starr Whitehouse Landscape Architects and Planners, Starr has continued to foster multi-sector collaborations and design excellence to transform parks, plazas and streets into green, socially vibrant and ecologically rich and enduring urban spaces.

Helping communities adapt to climate change, while spurring economic development and creating first-rate urban design is at the core of Starr's work. She spearheaded the landscape design and community engagement for Rebuild by Design's BIG U which won NYC $335 million and is now being implemented. In the City of New Rochelle, Starr work on the LInC is replacing a neighborhood-severing highway with a 9-acre park, reweaving green into the neighborhood fabric, addressing flooding, and spurring economic development.

Design excellence and cross-sector collaboration, has made Starr a leader in making cities that are greener and more responsive to the needs of a twenty-first century public.

Disclosure information not submitted.

Presentation(s):

• Stitching Urban Fabric: Reconnecting Communities Through Infrastructure Transformation

  Wednesday, May 27, 2026
  10:15 AM - 11:00 AM CT