SUN-B04: Reconciliation in Practice: Decolonizing Landscape Architecture

Sunday, October 29, 2023

2:00pm – 3:15pm CT

1.25 PDH, LA CES/HSW, AICP, FL, NY/HSW

Lead Speaker(s)

Grant Fahlgren (he/him/his)

Indigenous Design Lead / Co-Chair
PFS Studio / Canadian Society Landscape Architects Reconciliation Advisory Committee
Toronto, Ontario

Speaker(s)

Michelle J. Delk, ASLA (she/her/hers)

Partner and Discipline Director of Landscape Architecture
Snohetta
New York, New York
Kelty M. McKinnon, ASLA (she/her/hers)

Partner
PFS Studio
Vancouver, British Columbia

Landscape architects across North America practice on the traditional territories of Indigenous peoples, and their designs seldom reflect this reality. An ongoing process of reconciliation is changing approaches to landscape architecture projects in Canada and holds lessons for practitioners across the continent to not only recognize but learn from Indigenous collaborators.

Learning Outcomes:

Consider how we can implement new methods of practice informed by Indigenous knowledge as a basis for addressing inequities and injustices.
Discuss actionable ideas about how to build a better, more equitable future for the profession and Indigenous peoples based on reconciliation, healing, and cooperative relations.
Demonstrate how shifting perspectives can change design processes and outcomes through examples and case studies.
Understand the challenge of accepting and learning from our mistakes and biases.