Earth Equity and Design for Freedom | Landscapes Forum

Join us for a full-day event featuring panels, tours, guided walks, lunch and breakout discussions with tools to create biodiversity positive, nature-based solutions in our landscapes, installed with sustainable materials free of forced labor.

Hosted at Grace Farms (a double LEED certified site), in partnership with Edwina von Gal, founder of the Perfect Earth Project, and Louis Fusco, PLA, Principal, with the Connecticut ASLA.

Highlights include:

• Keynote with Karenna Gore, founder and executive director of the Center for Earth Ethics at Union Theological Seminary in New York.
• Joy Harjo, 23rd United States Poet Laureate and first Native person to hold that position, will open the Landscapes Forum at Grace Farms with a recorded poem and reflection.
• Engage in a panel about the ethical role of landscape architecture and landscape design with Jennifer Reut of Landscape Architecture Magazine, Sierra Bainbridge of MASS Design Group, 2022 AIA Architecture Firm of the Year, Tamar Warburg of Sasaki, Richard Roark of OLIN, and more.
• Join guided walking tours with principals of OLIN Studio, winner of the 2022 AIA Architecture Award, and landscape architects of Grace Farms.
• Hear from Warrie Price, Founder and President of The Battery Conservancy, Paul Tukey, award-winning journalist and Director of Environmental Stewardship for Glenstone Museum, and Rebecca McMackin, Director of Horticulture for Brooklyn Bridge Park, and Penn Marchael, Founder of Pennington Grey, about the role of public gardens, managers, and gardeners.
• Learn about forced labor associated with common material choices in the built environment from Gabe Guilliams, Principal for BuroHappold, Luciana Varkulja, Architect and Urban Designer from São Paulo, Stony Creek Quarry, and more.
• Hear from speakers including James and Hayes Slade, of Slade Architecture, and others.
• Close with a garden tea in the orchard of our SANAA-designed Plaza.

View the full agenda.

Breakout Sessions: During the afternoon, you can select a session to attend that will include a deep dive into a toolkit that will invite participant input and provide a framework to pursue ethical and sustainable choices.

Design for Freedom Toolkit | Breakout Session:

The Design for Freedom movement seeks to create a radical paradigm shift in the built environment, illuminating issues of forced labor and highlighting material transparency.  The movement encourages each one of us to take action for a more ethical and sustainable world.  Join us for a participatory session that explores the role of raw and processed materials in the built environment, and how we can pursue healthier, more ethical and more beautiful outcomes through conscious consumer choices. You will walk away with a greater understanding of the intersection of material choices, as well as the role you play in creating a more humane future.

Earth Equity Toolkit | Breakout Session:

The Earth Equity movement seeks ethical, social and environmental equity for human and non-human lives, and the systems that support them.  It  offers a framework for pursuing these outcomes on an individual and organizational scale. Engage in a participatory session that invites contributions, questions and commitments related to your landscape design and decision making choices that have major impacts on soil, water, air, climate, biodiversity and human health.  What are the criteria that make a landscape earth positive?  Participant input will help to inform this new initiative which will, in turn, help the landscape professional community to make and keep strong commitments sustainable and ethical practices in every project.

6 LA CES approved | HSW

3.75 APLD CEUs approved

AIA CES 4 LU approved

Note: Registration begins at 9:00 am, the forum begins at 10:00 am.

Sponsor the Landscapes Forum—contact us at [email protected] to find out more.