Designing For, By, and With: Indigenous Voices of the Land

Native American Nations have long been excluded from formal design structures, yet their contributions to design theory, pedagogy, and practice are sophisticated, visionary, and deeply rooted in landscape and architecture. This discussion series targets this disconnect by bringing together four panels of Indigenous voices and their non-Native collaborators to shift how we approach design—advocating for processes that are for, by, and with Indigenous communities.

Through a 4-month series of shared discussions, presentations, and reflections, this initiative seeks to emphasize deliberation, storytelling, and co-creation—core values of Indigenous design—and proposes discussion as a vital design tool. Our discussions also aim to highlight the importance of Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK), reinforcing the criticality of Indigenous wisdom in creating sustainable, community-centered, and resilient landscapes.

This series is co-sponsored by the McHarg Center for Urbanism and Ecology, Cal Poly Pomona’s Department of Landscape Architecture, and Cal Poly Pomona’s Office of Tribal Relations.

In addition to our co-sponsors, this series has been generously supported by the following institutions and offices: Dumbarton Oaks, National AMLA, Native American and Indigenous Studies at Penn, Office of Social Equity and Community, University of Pennsylvania, and Natives at Penn.

If you require any accessibility accommodation, such as live captioning, audio description, or a sign language interpreter, please email news@design.upenn.edu. Please note, we require at least five (5) business days’ notice.