Conference Proceedings (Video) from Courageous by Design
At the October 15, 2021 symposium Courageous by Design, headlining and provocative women landscape architects discussed how they’re innovatively addressing the climate crisis in New York City. The inaugural Oberlander Prize Forum took place at a time when the city’s Department of City Planning (DCP) is actively engaging with communities throughout the five boroughs to advance their own zoning and land use strategies in an effort to “reduce flood risks and support the city’s vitality and resiliency through long-term adaptive planning.” Panels focused on the scope and scale of the problem, how to deal with the bureaucracies with whom they would interact, biological diversity, and community engagement.
Dealing with the intractable problem of an existential threat requires a comprehensive, multi-disciplinary response and as this symposium demonstrated landscape architects are the leaders on this issue. Observers said the symposium was “truly inspiring,” “intimate and open,” and a place of “inspiration, sharing, [and] cooperation.”
Welcome
Charles A. Birnbaum, FASLA, President & CEO, The Cultural Landscape Foundation
Opening Remarks
Elizabeth K. Meyer, FASLA, Merrill D. Peterson Professor of Landscape Architecture at the University of Virginia School of Architecture
Three Perspectives on Leading with Landscape Architecture
Martha Schwartz, FASLA, Hon RIBA, Hon RDI, Senior Partner, Martha Schwartz Partners
Lisa Switkin, FAAR, ASLA, Senior Principal, James Corner Field Operations
Kate Orff, RLA, FASLA, Founding Principal, SCAPE
Panel Discussion led by Elizabeth Meyer
What We Can Do Part 1: Preparing and Adapting Bureaucracies for our Future Climate
Opening Remarks: Heather M. Morgan, RLA, Director of Climate Risk Adaptation, AECOM Metro New York
Signe Nielsen, RLA, FASLA, Principal, MNLA
Annette P. Wilkus, FASLA, Founder, SiteWorks Landscape Architecture
Oberlander Prize Remarks
Dorothée Imbert, Inaugural Oberlander Prize Chair
What We Can Do Part 2: Biological Diversity is as Important as Social Diversity
Opening Remarks: Rebecca McMackin, Director of Horticulture, Brooklyn Bridge Park
Edwina von Gal, Founder / President, Perfect Earth Project
Barbara Wilks, FASLA, FAIA, Principal and Founder, W Architecture and Landscape Architecture
Panel Discussion led by Rebecca McMackin
Closing Panel: Pathways to Civic Engagement
Moderator: John Beardsley, Curator of The Cornelia Hahn Oberlander International Landscape Architecture Prize, The Cultural Landscape Foundation
Panelists:
Mary Margaret Jones, President and CEO, Hargreaves Jones
Amy L. Freitag, Executive Director, The J.M. Kaplan Fund
Miranda K.S. Massie, Director, The Climate Museum
Olivia Georgia, Executive Director, City as a Living Laboratory