African Landscape Architectures: Alternative Futures for the Field

The African Landscape Architectures conference brings together a wide range of landscape practices from across the continent. This two-day hybrid event highlights the transformative potential of decolonizing design to address social injustices and prepare African cities for the impacts of climate change. Speakers will explore innovative strategies through frameworks such as ecology, adaptation, and materiality that offer alternative futures for African landscapes.

The conference is co-hosted by the Department of Landscape Architecture and the Department of African and African American Studies with generous support from:

• The Weatherhead Center for International Affairs

• The Provost’s Fund for Interfaculty Collaboration

• Center for African Studies

• Center for Middle Eastern Studies

• Alwaleed Islamic Studies Program

• Hutchins Center for African and African American Research

• The Critical Landscapes Design Lab at the Graduate School of Design

• The International Federation of Landscape Architects (IFLA), Africa Region.

Conference Overview

Thursday, March 6
Harvard GSD, Piper Auditorium
48 Quincy St., Cambridge, MA 02138

Doors open at 12:15 p.m.

Welcome
12:30 — 1:00 p.m.
Gary Hilderbrand, Chair of the Department of Landscape Architecture
Gareth Doherty, Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture

Panel 1: Currencies
1:00 p.m. — 2:30 p.m.

Current and future environmental, social, and aesthetic issues impacting African landscapes.

• Johan van Papendorp, OvP, Cape Town, South Africa
• Chelina Odbert, Kounkuey Design Initiative (KDI), Nairobi, Kenya
• Bayo Amole, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria
• Discussion

Coffee Break
2:30 p.m. — 3:00 p.m.

Panel 2: Materialities
3:00 p.m. — 4:30 pm

The botanical, mineral, and other material compositions and extractions of contemporary landscapes in Africa.

• Mounia Bennani, MB Paysage, Rabat, Morocco
• Ann Gollifer, soil artist, Gaborone, Botswana
• Joe Christa Giraso, MASS Design, Boston, USA and Kigali, Rwanda
• Discussion

Break

Opening Keynote & International Womxn’s Day Keynote Address
6:30 p.m. — 8:00 p.m.
Moderated by Zoe Marks, Oppenheimer Faculty Director of the Harvard Center for African Studies and Lecturer in Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School.

• Princess Adedoyin Talabi Faniyi, High Priestess, Osun Sacred Grove, Osogbo, Nigeria
• Tarna Klitzner, TKLA, Cape Town, South Africa

Reception
8:00 p.m. — 9:30 p.m.

Friday, March 7
Richard A. and Susan F. Smith Campus Center, Harvard University
Conference Suite, 10th Floor
1350 Massachusetts Ave, Cambridge, MA 02138

Panel 3: Adaptabilities
9:00 a.m. — 10:30 a.m.

Case studies illustrating successful adaptation strategies across scales, i.e. the processes by which landscapes and cities adjust to changing conditions over time to maintain their viability.

• Olatunji Adejumo, University of Lagos, Nigeria
• Thabo Lenneiye, University of Pennsylvania
• Safouan Azouzi, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Discussion

Panel 4: Pedagogies
11:00 a.m. — 12:30 pm

How is landscape architecture currently taught across the African continent, and what future directions might it take?

• Finzi Saidi, University of Johannesburg
• Sechaba Maape, University of the Witwatersrand
• Carey Duncan, Past President IFLA Africa, Rabat, Morocco
• Discussion

Panel 5: Futurities
2:30 p.m. — 4:00 p.m.

The future of landscape architecture in the Global South.

• Arthur Adeya, Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology
• Jala Makhzoumi, Vice-President, IFLA
• Graham Young, President IFLA Africa, Pretoria, South Africa

Closing Session
4:00 p.m. — 5:00 p.m.

Harvard University welcomes individuals with disabilities to participate in its programs and activities. If you would like to request accommodations or have questions about the physical access provided, please contact the Public Programs Office at (617) 496-2414 or events@gsd.harvard.edu in advance of your participation or visit. Requests for American Sign Language interpreters and/or CART providers should be made at least two weeks in advance. Please note that the University will make every effort to secure services, but that services are subject to availability.