Photo: Anthony Fettes

Anthony Fettes

  • Assistant Professor

    • /

    Education

    • Univeristy of New Mexico, MLA
    • University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point, BS Natural Resources Management

    Research

    • Ecological Design
    • Landscape Performance
    • Place-Based Education
    • Traditional Knowledge & Permaculture

    Anthony Fettes, ASLA, PLA is an Assistant Professor of Landscape Architecture in the School of Architecture + Planning at the University of New Mexico (UNM) in Albuquerque. With over 20 years of global experience in landscape architecture and ecological restoration, his teaching and research explore the connections between culture, ecology, and place. Through his work, he seeks to foster a shared appreciation of landscapes by deepening the understanding of traditional knowledge, ecology, and stewardship in design.

    Since joining UNM SA+P as core faculty in Fall 2019, Anthony has expanded the program’s capacity in ecology and landscape performance. Drawing from his extensive professional experience in this specialized area, he integrates a strong sense of place into his teaching, including in his studios and courses such as Urban Ecology and Measuring Landscape Performance. Building on this foundation, he has facilitated the Indigenous Landscape Studio at UNM since Fall 2020, guiding Master of Landscape Architecture students in collaborative, community-based projects with Pueblo and Navajo communities across the Upper Rio Grande Valley and Colorado Plateau. He is also a faculty affiliate with the Indigenous Design + Planning Institute (iD+Pi) at UNM, contributing to planning and visioning projects with Indigenous communities across the Arid Southwest and Rural Alaska.

    Before transitioning to academia and a career in landscape architecture, Anthony’s foundation was in ecological restoration. His undergraduate studies focused on conservation biology, leading to early work restoring and stewarding tallgrass prairie savannas and wetlands in the Western Great Lakes region. During his graduate studies at UNM, he worked for Natural Heritage New Mexico from 2008 to 2011, conducting field surveys in numerous national parks and monuments in New Mexico and West Texas – learning to adapt his knowledge and skills to a wide-range of ecological settings.

    After earning his Master of Landscape Architecture degree, Anthony began his design career as a Landscape Ecologist and Landscape Architect at the international design firm Sasaki. As a founding Associate of Sasaki’s Ecology Practice Group (2011–2019; consulting 2019–2022), he contributed to over 130 design and planning and design projects worldwide. Working at the intersection of ecology and the built environment, Anthony collaborated with design teams, consultants, and clients, applying a holistic approach to site and planning-scale strategies to advanced biodiversity, climate action, and resilient ecosystem services through design.


    Courses Taught

    LA402/502 LA Studio II (Urban Typologies Studio) – Spring 2022-Present
    Exploring complex urban design challenges through ecological urbanism and landscape infrastructure, this studio emphasizes four-dimensional design, third spaces, and performative landscapes. Over the semester, students create multifunctional, site-specific concepts for Albuquerque’s everyday spaces, elevating their design skills to shape future of urban environments.

    LA503 LA Design Studio III (Indigenous Landscape Studio) – Fall 2022-Present
    Since 2015 the Landscape Architecture program at UNM has actively engaged with Puebloan and Navajo communities in partnership with the Indigenous Design + Planning Institute (iD+Pi). This studio focuses on cultivating eco-cultural literacy through community-based learning by means of design collaboration. As students engage in this process, they learn the skillset of landscape architects can help empower communities by transforming collective ideas into a shared community vision.

    LA470/570 Urban Ecology – Fall 2019-Present
    Cities and all areas of human development, urban and rural, are complex, interdependent, dynamic systems of biological, social, and physical entities that are continually being transformed by human disturbance and natural processes. This seminar examines our interactions with the environment through the ecology in, of, and for the city. Through lessons and field observations students explore the opportunities and challenges of ecological design, planning, and regenerative strategies – cultivating awareness of how design can create more resilient and sustainable built environments.

    LA 512 Measuring Landscape Performance (Elective) – Spring 2023-Present
    While the topic of landscape performance continues to gain attention in the profession of landscape architecture, the availability of time, resources and technical expertise remains an obstacle for many designers and firms. This seminar seeks to bridge those gaps and challenges, to assist local design firms through strategic collaboration on pre- and post-occupancy studies, while empowering future professionals with the skills to track landscape performance metrics on every project.


    Scholarship + Publications

    Fettes, Anthony. Reciprocity Between People & Place: The Emerging Role of Landscape Architecture in Tribal Planning. 2025 FABOS Landscape Planning & Greenway Conference. Amherst, MA. April 2025.

    Fettes, Anthony. Exploring Biophony as a Landscape Performance Metric. CELA 2025 Annual Conference, Portland, OR. March 2025.

    Fettes, Anthony. Expanding Environmental Literacy Through Applied Observations in Urban Ecology. CELA 2025 Annual Conference, Portland, OR. March 2025. 

    Fettes, Anthony. Exploring landscape performance tools and methods through field observations in urban ecology. CELA 2024 Annual Conference, St. Louis, MO. March 23, 2023.

    Fettes, Anthony & Merino, Arturo. Drone Technology and Landscape Architecture: Strategies for Integrated Workflows and Climate Action (FRI-A06). 2023 ASLA Conference on Landscape Architecture - October 27, 2023. Minneapolis, Minnesota.

    Fettes, Anthony & Jojola, Theodore. 2023. Golovin, Alaska – Field Observations & Design Ideas for Brownfield Redevelopment & Community Building. UNM Indigenous Design & Planning Institute.

    Jojola, Theodore; Fettes, Anthony; Tsinnajinnie, Lani, et. al. 2023. Santa Fe Indian School 2023 Campus Vision Plan. UNM Indigenous Design & Planning Institute.

    Begay, Chelsey; Fettes, Anthony; Jackson, Kayla; & Uviña, Francisco. Understanding our PLACES - PlaceKnowing, Collaboration, & Placemaking to Revitalize Round Rock Trading Post and the Greater Round Rock Chapter, Navajo Nation. 2023 Diné Studies Conference, Farmington, NM. June 24, 2023.

    Fettes, Anthony. Landscape Design Studio as a Tool for Tribal Co-Decision Making and Eco-Cultural Literacy. CELA 2023 Annual Conference, San Antonio, Texas. March 16, 2023.

    Fettes, Anthony; Jackson, Kayla; & Shirley, Michaela. PlaceKnowing, Collaboration, & Placemaking to Revitalize Round Rock Trading Post and the Greater Round Rock Chapter, Navajo Nation. 2023 Navajo Nation Tourism Conference, Flagstaff, Arizona. February 13, 2023.

    Fettes, Anthony; Harris, Catherine; Shirley, Michaela. Indigenizing Landscape Architecture. Council for Educators in Landscape Architecture Conference 2022, Santa Ana Pueblo, New Mexico. March 17, 2022. 

    Beyers, Meiring; Fettes, Anthony; & Hsueh, Ming-Jen. Nature-based Solutions to Address Today’s Urban Climate Challenges (SUN-A02).2020 ASLA Conference on Landscape Architecture - October 4, 2020. Miami, Florida (Cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic).


    Projects + Engagement

    Community-Based Studios
    2024 Hozho Voices of Healing Center Design Assistance & Visioning (Navajo/Diné)
    2023 La Vega Indigenous Permaculture Center Design Visioning (Pueblo/Tewa)
    2022 Round Rock Trading Post Revitalization (Navajo/Diné)
    2022 & 2021 Respecting Sacred Sites – Jemez Soda Dam (Pueblo/Towa & USFS)
    2020 Chaco Culture NHP Gallo Campground Study (Pueblo, Navajo, & NPS)
    2021 El Camino Real Academy Framework Plan Update (APS Charter School)
    2020 El Camino Real Academy Strategic Plan & Design Ideas (APS Charter School)

    Faculty Affiliate with the Indigenous Design & Planning Institute (iD+Pi)
    Santa Fe Indian School 2023 Campus Vision Plan
    Client: Santa Fe Indian School, Governed by the 19 New Mexico Pueblos
    Role: Project Co-PI

    Golovin, Alaska Brownfields Visioning
    Client: Native Village of Golovin, Kawerak, Inc., & Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium (ANTHC)
    Role: Project PI

    Consulting – Sasaki (2019-2022)
    Strategic Development Frameworks for Five Provincial Capitals in Afghanistan – Completed 2020
    Client: World Bank, Afghanistan Ministry of Urban Development and Land (MUDL)
    https://www.sasaki.com/projects/five-cities/

    University of Colorado Boulder 2021 Master Plan
    Client: University of Colorado Boulder
    Role: Project Ecologist assisting with site analysis and regenerative design strategies
    https://www.sasaki.com/projects/university-of-colorado-boulder-2021-master-plan/

    The International School Nido de Aguilas 2050 Plan, Santiago, Chile – Completed 2022
    Client: The International School Nido de Aguilas
    Role: Project Ecologist assisting with site analysis, regenerative design strategies, and design review
    https://www.sasaki.com/projects/the-international-school-nido-de-aguilas-2050-plan/


    Recognition + Other

    Faculty Research Fellow: Landscape Architecture Foundation 2025 Case Study Investigation (CSI) of the Española Healing Foods Oasis, Española, NM.https://www.lafoundation.org/news/2024/12/2025-csi-teams

    Co-PI: EPA Tribal TAB Grant for Brownfields reVisioning and Capacity Building for Alaskan Native Villages (2025)

    Trust for Public Land. 2025. EPA Awards $20 Million Grant to Santa Fe Indian School. https://www.tpl.org/media-room/epa-awards-20-million-grant-to-santa-fe-indian-school

    PI: UNM Center for Regional Studies Faculty Development Award (2024-2025) for the Indigenous Landscape Studio (LA503) Planning & Design Collaboration with the Hozho Center - Borrego Pass, NM

    Zach Mortice. Listen & Unlearn: University of New Mexico students find working with Navajo Nation requires restraint and humility. Landscape Architecture Magazine May 2023.

    PI: UNM RAC Grant (2020) for Biophony as a Landscape Performance Metric - Promoting caustic literacy to explore relationships between soundscape colony and ecological design