Sylvester Baxter Lecture: Kofi Boone, “Recognition, Reconciliation, Reparation”

Inequitable human development is often at the heart of environmental injustice. Landscape architecture and environmental planning is adapting to the roles the places co-created with communities can play in redistributing power, information, and resources required to build human capacity with vulnerable populations. Sharing history, research, and current work, this lecture will present challenges and opportunities associated with landscape processes for recognizing environmental injustice, reconciling with harmed communities, and the pursuit of reparative work.

Kofi Boone, FASLA is a Joseph D. Moore Distinguished Professor and University Faculty Scholar at NC State University. Kofi is a Detroit native and a graduate of the University of Michigan. His work is in the overlap between landscape architecture and environmental justice with specializations in democratic design and interpreting cultural landscapes. He is the winner of student and professional ASLA awards including the Jot D. Carpenter Teaching Medal. He is the founder of the Just Communities Lab, Immediate Past President of the Landscape Architecture Foundation, and serves on the boards of Black Landscape Architects Network and the Land Loss Prevention Project.