2025 GCA/Prince Charitable Trusts Rome Prize Fellow Seeks to Reimagine Rome’s Public Spaces

Re-envisioning Rome’s Piazza del Popolo: Addition of Vegetation to Inform Urban Design Study and Inspire Art Installation

August 27, 2025

By: Anne Berkeley

Tameka Baba, Assistant Professor of Practice and Interim Graduate Studies Chair in Landscape Architecture at Knowlton School, The Ohio State University, has been awarded the The Garden Club of America / Prince Charitable Trusts 2025 Rome Prize in Landscape Architecture. Baba’s “Urban Tapestry: Exploring Soft Density in Rome’s Public Spaces” seeks to determine how traditional garden elements can be grafted onto urban sites creating a contrasting “soft density” of vegetation that will transform public spaces.
 
Juxtaposing the iconic yet barren terrain of Rome’s Piazza del Popolo with nearby scenographic landscapes such as Villa d’Este, Baba will use elements of weaving to visualize the piazza as a garden landscape. “I aim to reimagine Rome’s piazzas as uniquely ornamented threads within the greater fabric of the city’s urban tapestry. This project will analyze how both public space design and weaving can incorporate composition, symbolism, and narrative to shape dynamic environments.” Could interventions inspired by weaving, asks Baba, “address contemporary challenges of climate, comfort, and social behavior in Roman piazzas?” Baba’s research will evolve into a series of woven studies, anchored to specific elements in the piazza. The studies will culminate in studio-sized installations that reflect the unique character of the historic public space. 
 
The Rome Prize Fellowship in Landscape Architecture was established in 1928 with contributions from GCA members. The GCA/Prince Charitable Trusts Rome Prize application is due November 1, 2025. Information is on the GCA website:  https://www.gcamerica.org/scholarships.