Majora Carter – ASLA 2010 Keynote speaker

[Helena Farrell]

I really wanted to hear Majora Carter’s keynote lecture on urban agriculture last weekend at the ASLA conference, but couldn’t afford to go.  Would anyone be willing to fill me in on the main points from her talk?  …or any other workshop/lecture on urban agriculture?  What is urban ag’s trajectory within landscape architecture likely to be?  How are people viewing it, etc.?  THANKS!!

[Amy Verel]

I missed the morning “General Sessions” on Saturday and Sunday (I don’t really function that early in the morning) but everyone said that Majora Carter was incredible and very well received. I’m not sure what ASLA puts online in terms of the General Sessions, but there was another regular education session on Sunday – Sun-B3 Agricultural Urbanism: Foraging for a Sustainable Food System. I didn’t go to it (opted for Lauri Olin et. al for “Washington’s Civic Landscapes: New Designs to Meet New Demands”) during that time slot. All the session handouts are here – http://www.asla.org/ContentDetail.aspx?id=28780 – so you can at least access the urban agriculture ed session handout. Hope that helps!

[Rob Halpern]

Majora is indeed fantastic. She has spoken at TED in the past and those talks are available on line. She did not, as I recall go deep into urban ag as such, but rather she works to green cities and especially areas where the poor and under-served live (rather than a city’s premier spaces alone)

[Keven Graham]

She certainly got the conference off to a exciting start. One comment I over heard was “She Gets It”. And I would agree with that comment. She is very inspiring and her message is wonderful. I have to say I heard nothing but positive comments and the link to LA was good with other sessions being offered throughout the ed sessions. I am not sure but I would not be surprised to see more on it on the ASLA web page. You can also always communicate to ASLA and ask about it. It may give them cause to provide more if not already planned. Sorry you were unable to attend.

As mentioned already her presentation covered how she got to be and focused on the social and economically beneficial impacts she has been able to make in her area of NY. She highlighted a park and showed the turnaround it has made in the community.

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