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Session Guide

75-Minute Education Session

SAT-B03: Healing on the Inside: The Benefits of Nature Interactions within Carceral Environments

Saturday, October 28, 2023
2:00pm – 3:15pm CT
1.25 PDH, LA CES/HSW, AIA/HSW, AICP, FL, NY/HSW

The therapeutic benefits of nature interactions in carceral environments positively impact those living in high stress environments, lacking sensory stimulation, healthy social interactions and support rehabilitative outcomes, humanize oppressive environments, and can reduce recidivism. Landscape architects as activists and designers should and can have an important role in this process.

Learning Outcomes:

  • Learn how to navigate the correctional system to develop proposals, design spaces, and implement greening projects in carceral environments.
  • Understand prison environments and the role nature/gardens have had in their historical evolution.
  • Become better aware of the needs and context of incarcerated individuals to create responsive designs that meet security guidelines, address isolation, and ameliorate sensory deprivation.
  • Review precedent-setting international models of nature inclusion in carceral environments and the lessons that can be applied to domestic projects.