February CIRCLE

Please join the CIRCLE seminar with INTERSECT-fellow Alexandra Burgos-Thorsen.

How does power shape land practices in relation to socio and ecological life and how do we address existing ecologies of power? Using the case study of South Park, a community nested in industrial Seattle, we'll uncover stories of radical placemaking amidst industrial ecocide and understand the historical conditions and spatial processes of landscape, racialization, and settler colonialism that have led to a need for care. Alexandra will introduce the South Park Youth Vision Project, an environmental justice project that utilized participatory mapping and photovoice methods to empower residents to elevate their stories and share their nuanced and layered histories through their lens. The project centers three POC youth as leaders of community engagement strategies and policy design efforts to inform the updated policies in the City of Seattle's new Comprehensive Plan. Together we will discuss the vital role spatial designers play in expressing human and non-human centered stories in our environment, the importance of retelling site histories for just futures, and ideate methods of care in our practice. Everyone is welcome, especially those interested in ethics of care in design, environmental justice, critical ecology, landscape history, and community engagement.

Alexandra is a landscape architect and researcher whose design ethic centers environmental and spatial justice. She is passionate about bridging design with community engagement and environmental research for social and ecological restoration. Practicing with an ethics of care, she strongly believes that healing land is directly tied to healing communities and cultivating placemaking among displaced, marginalized groups. She is currently practicing at SLA and is an INTERSECT Fellow at the University of Copenhagen. 

Please email to confirm your participation.