Cornelia Hahn Oberlander’s declaration—a challenge to her fellow landscape architects—is the impetus for an October 2021 symposium about the role of the profession of landscape architecture in addressing climate change, an issue that has been a focus of Oberlander’s practice for more than 30 years. The symposium will serve as the inaugural Oberlander Prize Forum, the first of many fora to be developed in association with the newly established Cornelia Hahn Oberlander International Landscape Architecture Prize.

Organized and presented by The Cultural Landscape Foundation (TCLF), this daylong symposium will focus on New York City just as 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.”

But how do we begin to tackle such an intractable problem when local, national, and global scenarios are so dire? The symposium will feature leading women landscape architects, as well as allied professionals, whose work is creative, courageous, and timely. These practitioners are inventing and deploying new tools, techniques, and technologies to meet the challenges of the current climate crisis in New York City and beyond.

Elizabeth K. Meyer will provide opening remarks. Panels of speakers will address the theoretical – understanding the scope and scale of the climate crisis, especially in New York City – and the practical – including how to navigate bureaucracies to get projects built with environmentally/ecologically sound practices – along with pathways to civic engagement. Ultimately, this is a shared responsibility that will require courage and creativity from the design community, elected officials, governmental agencies, corporations, non-profits, and the public, if we are to confront this problem at a macro and micro scale. This symposium aims to support and inspire those undertaking the challenge.

A reception on the evening prior to the symposium will offer speakers and attendees a chance to mingle and initiate conversations about the day ahead.

Register at this link: https://tclf.org/sites/default/files/microsites/climate-crisis-nyc-2020/index.html

Join artist Maya Lin and Edwina von Gal, founder of Perfect Earth Project, as they address issues of climate change through the lens of the built environment. Moderated by Sarah Charlop-Powers, Executive Director of Natural Areas Conservancy.

Event will be livestreamed from Fotografiska New York.

This talk is presented in collaboration with Fotografiska New York.

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/art-talk-maya-lin-edwina-von-gal-tickets-168470659277