BIRCH team
Program for Education and Research in Latin America Landscape Architecture Joe Zunt
March 06, 2017 | Health News

BBC World Service: 'Health Gardens' in Lima, Peru Improve Mental, Physical Health

BBC Health Check recently visited Lima, Peru to investigate how new 'healthy gardens' and greenspaces are improving lives in the slum community of Iquitos. Joe Zunt, a Professor of Global Health at UW, has been working closely with landscape architecture student Jorge 'Coco' Alarcon and community partners to design backyard gardens that can improve air quality, reduce vector-borne diseases, and boost mental health. 

Jorge "Coco" Alarcon interviews a fisherman in Peru
Jorge Coco Alarcon Landscape Architecture Student Experience Travel Fellowships Students Peru Mosquitoes Infectious Disease Field Research
February 05, 2016 | Department News

Jorge "Coco" Alarcon: Landscape Architecture & Mosquito-Borne Diseases

Student:  Jorge “Coco” Alarcon

Program: Master of Landscape Architecture, Global Health Certificate
Fellowship: Thomas Francis, Jr. Global Health Fellowship
Project Title: Green Spaces and Infectious Diseases, Strategies for Mosquito Control in Spaces
Location: Iquitos, Peru

Getting this support really encourages me to push boundaries of design and science, to create my own path, and to promote health in my field of architecture and landscape architecture.