Concurrent Education Session

SUN-B04: Power Sharing and Community-driven Design for Parks in LA County

Sunday, October 6, 2024

10:15am – 11:30am ET

Location: Walter E. Washington Convention Center, Room 146C

1.25 PDH, LA CES/HSW, AICP, ISA, NY/HSW, FL

Lead Speaker(s)

Adriana Garcia So, ASLA (she/her/hers)

Project Manager
Los Angeles Neighborhood Land Trust
Los Angeles, California

Session Guide

Speaker(s)

Allen Compton, ASLA, PLA (he/him/his)

Founder / President
SALT Landscape Architects
Los Angeles, California
Dilia Ortega

Equity Director
Communities for a Better Environment

Inclusion of Indigenous groups and communities of color in designing a park within the city of Maywood, CA, means shifting and decentralizing decision-making power and sharing resources from conventional structures and leaders directly with community-based organizations. Hear from environmental justice organizers, park equity leaders, and a landscape architect.

Learning Outcomes:

Dive into community-led planning and engagement processes for a multi-benefit park project—including the creation of a design steering committee made up of community-based organizations and Indigenous partners.
Explore precedents for how to shift decision-making opportunities to community-based organizations and Indigenous communities in the design process.
Learn project-specific strategies to adapt a design concept that responds to brownfield site constraints, public funding requirements, and expectations from various partners in the public and nonprofit sectors.
Examine principles centered on racial and environmental justice as they relate to design narratives that define public space and memorials in a Los Angeles County neighborhood park.