Landscape and Nature-based Resources.
As an ethical practice with strong moral stances on topics like climate change, wellbeing at work, nature connection and health, we are always looking for ways to improve our practice. We are a collection of passionate individuals striving to do things differently, constantly trying to better our relationships with climate, health and landscape and looking for ways to improve both ourselves and our practice.
The Black Lives Matter movement being brought to global attention in the past few weeks has brought our own focus and attention to the topic of racial justice within both our own small practice and also the wider landscape industry. It is neither right, nor acceptable that it is only now, our focus has been directed there but now that it is, it is not our intention to look away.
We watched this video by Light Watkins a couple of weeks ago which talks of a conversation with a meditation student in one of his classes where she asked why no-one had created a directory of meditation teachers and Light’s response was “because you haven’t created one yet”. These past weeks, we have googled, researched, read, been signposted to innumerable resources which we are slowly working our way through (each directing us to another) and beginning, what I suspect will be a lifelong journey in relation to racism and anti-racism both personally and specifically within the realms of landscape architecture, landscape, nature, business and organisational management and beyond. Finding that business and landscape specific resources are few, sporadic and difficult to find (and with Light’s video in our minds), we have been compelled to collate just some of these resources here.
We hope that those working within landscape, nature, the built environment or even running their own unrelated small practices may find these useful and may lead to a conversation where individuals and/or organisations may also share further resources such as articles, papers, journals, podcasts, books and organisations whose voices and education are important in creating anti-racist landscape and nature-based organisations and industries.
It is the voices of those contained within these resources who will educate and guide the way to creating racially just practices, industries, economies and governments, but it is our responsibility to first learn, then act to create a better and anti-racist world.
Landscape Architecture
Landscape Architects Network (Land 8). Webinar and Q and Equity, Justice and Landscape. The built environment is going through a rapid re-examination of its role in enabling or inhibiting social equity and racial justice. How could this impact how landscape architects are taught and how they practice? How could we encode equity and justice into our work?
Black Landscapes Matter. An article by Kofi Boone (Professor of Landscape Architecture) published in issue 06 of Ground Up Journal initially and subsequently on the World Landscape Architect Blog.
Decolonizing Design: Black Narratives in Landscape Architecture– A recorded presentation from the ASLA library of recorded presentations and education sessions.
The Urban Studio. Expanding how students of color are educated and engaged around design. The mission of the Urban Studio is ‘to advance design thinking for equitable + sustainable urbanism.’ As designers of color working in communities of color, our goal is simple, to green cities for all people.
Nature and the Environment
Diverse Green – Looks at diversity within environmental organisations.
The racial composition in environmental organizations and agencies has not broken the 12 percent to 16 percent “green ceiling” that has been in place for decades. […] Confidential interviews with environmental professionals and survey data highlight alienation and “unconscious bias” as factors hampering recruitment and retention of talented people of color. […] The Result: An overwhelmingly white “Green Insiders’ Club.
An article by Somini Sengupta compiling a list of resources, voices and articles on the link between the environment and racism.
Dr Ayana Elizabeth Johnson– Marine Biologist. “For conservation to be sustainable, it can’t be just about doing the actual conservation work, but doing it in a way that works for people and communities” “I need you to understand our racial inequality crisis is intertwined with our climate crisis”
Just one article by Dr Ayana Johnson (Above) “People of color disproportionately bear climate impacts, from storms to heat waves to pollution. Fossil-fueled power plants and refineries are disproportionately located in black neighborhoods, leading to poor air quality and putting people at higher risk for coronavirus.”
Black Faces White Spaces; Reimagining the Relationships of African Americans to the Great Outdoors by Carolyn Finney [BOOK]
The Willowherb Review– A digital platform to celebrate and bolster nature writing by emerging and established writers of colour.
People of colour in environmental and climate justice. Links to individuals, research, work and organisations who understand the intrinsic link between climate and social justice.
WE ACT. Combating environmental racism and building healthy communities for people of color since 1988.
Business Training and Education
JUST A program of transparency in relation to social justice and social equity within your organisation.
Design and Racism
Where are the Black Designers is an initiative which aims to give a platform to creatives of color. By connecting designers, educators, and creative leaders we hope to start a dialogue about change in and out of the design industry.
Built Environment
Power Out of Restriction (POoR) Collective is a social enterprise which aims to focus on the development of communities within the built environment. We believe in the power of community and aim to help those who are often under-represented. Through teaching, knowledge sharing and workshops we aim to bridge the gap between communities and bring together a wealth of demographics, cultures and social classes.
Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust. We believe that architecture as a profession and the built environment that surrounds us should be designed by the people who live in it, celebrating and giving voice to the rich and diverse cultural heritage of people from every background. “only 10% of apprentices in England are from Black, Asian and minority ethinic backgrounds although 25% of applicants come from those backgrounds”. They have also launched the Architecture Race Diversity Survey in partnership with Architects Journal.
The NAACP Centring equity in the sustainable building sector. “Communities of color and low-income communities bear the brunt of the impacts of unhealthy, energy-inefficient, and disaster-vulnerable buildings”
Donate
Black Land and Spatial Justice Fund – This fund has been developed to redistribute resources, including finance and knowledge, engaging in decolonial frameworks and collective organising to redefine our relationships to land and space.
It is possible (and important) also to donate to many of the organisations above including: The POor Collective, Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust, WE ACT and The Urban Studio.
Photo Credit : Philippe Bout https://unsplash.com/@flipboo