Assistant Professor of Landscape Architecture Michelle Franco presented “Working at the Scale of Labor: Practice and Pedagogy” as part of the Ecological Landscape Alliance (ELA) Annual Conference on February 22. 

In track one, Process: knowledge-sharing and story-telling, speakers will share strategies for how to tell the story of our work and why the language we use matters. They will show examples of inspiring young people and building pathways to joining the workforce. Speakers will discuss how knowledge and practices are shared across industries and cultures. They will challenge  what we think we know about our work so that we can join together, embrace our differences, and share with everyone why this world is so wondrous and worth protecting. 

Franco will discuss her approach to landscape research and pedagogy, which aims to bridge the divide between designers and laborers. This effort involves addressing the race, class, and knowledge stratification embedded in landscape production by working at “the scale of labor.” Highlighted will be her ongoing “Diggers Studio” and her research approaches that aim to include Latine immigrant laborers in the visualization, knowledge production, and care work of landscape architecture.

Read more at Ecological Landscape Alliance