"Climate Justice Design and Advocacy for Community Resilience," a Zube Lecture Presented by Chingwen Cheng

Please join UMass LARP for "Climate Justice Design and Advocacy for Community Resilience," a Zube Lecture Presented by Chingwen Cheng on Thursday, October 31st from 4-5pm in the Design Building Lecture Hall (DB 170).

Climate justice examines the inequitable distribution of climate change impacts on the ecosystems and communities and the resources needed to cope, especially among vulnerable communities facing systemic injustice. Nature-based solutions (NbS) are ecological strategies aimed at addressing societal challenges, including climate change. Climate Justice Design offers a framework to integrate justice theory and engage communities in co-designing climate actions that meet community needs and enhance capacity to cope. It employs intersectionality, considering vulnerability, resilience, and sustainability, to understand community resilience. This framework includes spatial assessment of the Climate Justicescape within social-ecological-technological systems to identify and prioritize resources for implementing NbS, ensuring these investments do not perpetuate systemic injustice. Educators and practitioners play a crucial role in advocating for justice design to strengthen community stewardship, fostering resilience, climate justice, and sustainable development.

Chingwen Cheng is the Director of the Stuckeman School at Pennsylvania State University. She is a licensed landscape architect, scholar, educator, and advocate for climate justice design research and practice. Dr. Cheng’s Climate Justice Design framework integrates climate justicescape, a spatial equity assessment, and emphasizes a co-design approach with communities to transform justice systems and achieve sustainable development by design. She holds leadership roles in several global research networks and professional organizations. Her past service includes roles as Chair-Elect of the Environmental Design Research Association, Co-Chair of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) Environmental Justice Professional Practice Network, and a member on the ASLA Climate Action Plan Advisory Group. Currently, she serves on the executive steering committee for the Association of Pacific Rim Universities Sustainable Cities and Landscapes Hub, on executive board as Past President of the Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture (CELA), and Chair of the 2025 CELA Conference.