Climate Justice Design: Bridging Justice Theory and Design Practice in Nature-based Solutions for Community Resilience


主題簡介

Nature-based solutions (NbS) are ecological strategies aimed at addressing societal challenges, such as climate change. Climate justice examines the inequitable distribution of impacts from climate change and the resources required to cope with them. At the local scale, climate justice considers the systemic vulnerability of a community in dealing with climate change-associated hazards. It applies intersectionality, considering vulnerability, resilience, and sustainability, to comprehend community resilience (Cheng 2022). The Climate Justicescape was developed for spatial analyses in social-ecological-technological systems, helping identify vulnerable populations and prioritize resources for building community resilience (Cheng 2016, 2019). Climate Justice Design provides a framework to meaningfully integrate theory and practice, engaging with communities in the co-design process to develop NbS that can cope with climate change impacts and address community needs. This ensures that further investment in NbS does not perpetuate persistent systemic injustice. In turn, design empowers communities and fosters stewardship towards sustainable development, enhancing community resilience.


講者簡介

Dr. Chingwen Cheng is the Director of Stuckeman School and Professor of Landscape Architecture at the Pennsylvania State University. Previously the Program Head and Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture, Urban Design, and Environmental Design at The Design School at Arizona State University, she now oversees three departments—architecture, graphic design, and landscape architecture—and three research centers focusing on integrated design and innovations in design computing and technology, community design, and ecological design at Penn State’s Stuckeman School.


Dr. Cheng is a climate justice design scholar and educator who advocates for climate actions through co-designing nature-based solutions with communities. Her Climate Justice Design research and practice have implications to identify priorities in spatial design and co-design nature-based solutions with communities to address climate justice. Dr. Cheng is a registered landscape architect in the United States and practiced as consultants on a variety of projects applying nature-based solutions ranging from watershed planning, community visioning, stormwater management, greenroofs, streetscapes, parks and trails, to residential design. 


Integrated her scholarship and professional experiences, Dr. Cheng has engaged with several research hubs and networks worldwide, including chairing the Nature-Based Solutions for Urban Resilience in the Anthropocene (NATURA) Design for Justice thematic working group and Association of Pacific Rim Universities (APRU) Sustainable Cities and Landscapes (SCL) Vulnerable, Resilient, and Climate Justice Communities working group, with ongoing projects on design justice theoretical frameworks applied to nature-based solutions and bridging the gaps between theory and practice to make justice accountable in design implementations. 


Dr. Cheng has been actively engaged in prominent landscape architecture and environmental design organizations to promote climate justice in practice and integrate theory and practice in bridging professional and academic organizations. Previously she served as the Chair-Elect of Environmental Design Research Association (EDRA) and Chair of EDRA 51 conference, the Co-Chair of Environmental Justice Professional Practice Network at American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA), and ASLA Advisory Group and Climate Actions Committee member. Currently Dr. Cheng holds the position of President of the Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture (CELA). 


Dr. Cheng held a post-doctoral fellowship in environmental justice research at the University of Michigan and earned her Ph.D. in Regional Planning from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, a Master of Landscape Architecture from the University of Michigan, and a Bachelor of Science in Horticulture and Landscape Architecture from the National Taiwan University.


More information on the bio: https://arts.psu.edu/faculty/chingwen-cheng/