Equitable Workforce Development through Green Infrastructure
LAF’s Superstudio Spotlight webinar series showcases the projects and approaches of designers who participated in the Green New Deal Superstudio, a national initiative to translate the goals of decarbonization, justice, and jobs into design and planning projects for their respective regions. The Superstudio ran from August 2020 through June 2021 and attracted the participation of more than 180 studio courses from over 90 universities as well as hundreds of practitioners and industry partners across the design disciplines.
Recording from live webinar on 11/10/21
Superstudio Spotlight: Equitable Workforce Development through Green Infrastructure
Design firm Mithun responded to the Green New Deal Superstudio open call by taking on the relationship between green infrastructure, climate resilience, and workforce development in collaboration with seven community partners in the Puget Sound and San Francisco Bay regions, including DirtCorps and The Watershed Project.
Equitable workforce development can direct more of the benefits of green infrastructure projects to people and communities. Using two example projects and on-the-ground knowledge from community partners, Mithun explored how next-generation infrastructure and the associated design process might respond to local needs and generate more equitable economic opportunities by intentionally shifting resources and power to communities. They graphically illustrated this approach so that (1) policy-makers, regulators, developers, and other clients recognize workforce development as fundamental to the success of design and (2) green career paths are elevated to encourage local job-seekers to see themselves contributing to their communities in those roles.
In this webinar, hear from Mithun Superstudio leaders and two of their community partners as they discuss the potential that green infrastructure projects offer for a new community-centered paradigm that positions historically marginalized people as agents and beneficiaries in a decarbonized economy.
Speakers
Amelia Jensen, Associate, Mithun
Debra Guenther, Partner, Mithun
Graham Laird Prentice, Associate, Mithun
Juliana Gonzalez, Executive Director, The Watershed Project
Roseann Barnhill, Director of Ecology, DirtCorps
Additional Information
Mithun's Superstudio submission
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