January 29, 2020
Ekdahl Lecture to discuss planning for sustainable communities, food systems and climate action
The College of Architecture, Planning & Design will host Megan Horst, assistant professor urban studies & planning at Portland State University, as part of the 2020 Ekdahl Lecture Series.
Horst's lecture, "Planning for just and sustainable communities: Reflections on food systems and climate action planning in the Pacific Northwest," will take place at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 5, in Regnier Forum at Regnier Hall. The lecture is free and open to the public.
Planners across the country look to the Pacific Northwest — including Seattle and Portland — for innovative, forward-thinking planning ideas. In this talk, Horst will share reflections from years of planning practice, research and community-engaged scholarship in the region. She will reflect on the strengths and positive outcomes, as well as limitations, of land use, food systems, and climate action planning in the Seattle and Portland regions. She also will discuss what's next in terms of advancing sustainability and equity, focusing particularly on food and climate justice.
Horst's talk is part of a larger project to reflect critically on planning practice and to enhance planning's role in responding to the urgent challenges of social inequities and climate change. She will draw on recent papers, including "The intersection of planning, urban agriculture, and food justice: a review of the literature" in the Journal of the American Planning Association, "Food justice and municipal government in the USA" in Planning Theory & Practice, and "Land access for direct market food farmers in Oregon USA." She will also draw on her service on the Portland Clean Energy Community Benefits Fund Advisory Committee and related scholarly works in progress.
View a full listing of the 2019-2020 Ekdahl Lectures.
The Oscar S. Ekdahl Distinguished Lecture Series in Architecture and Design brings the finest professionals in the design and planning disciplines to APDesign and the K-State community. These individuals are selected to avail faculty, staff, students and regional professionals to the potency of design and planning in addressing the issues we face as a global society. The series honors Oscar Ekdahl who received his Bachelor of Architecture from K-State in 1933 and was a founding partner in Ekdahl, Davis, Depew, Persson Architects PA in Topeka.