Lessons Learned: Cultural Landscapes that Honor African American Heritage and Legacy - 1.25 PDH (LA CES/HSW)

Recorded On: 10/13/2025

Discover how cultural landscapes can be powerful vehicles for truth-telling, reconciliation, and community empowerment through an exploration of three projects that honor African American heritage. Learn practical strategies for developing inclusive partnerships, preserving community narratives, and creating sustainable cultural spaces. The session will provide concrete tools that ensure lasting impact.

Learning objectives:

Learn how to acknowledge and present historically accurate narratives with sensitivity and respect, recognizing that genuine reconciliation requires confronting difficult truths.
Explore strategies for developing processes that effectively engage historically underrepresented communities in different project contexts and client types during all phases of the project.
Learn techniques for creating educational partnerships that connect legacy community members with youth to preserve local histories and cultivate the next generation of community advocates.
Explore methods for securing long-term funding for cultural landscape projects in changing political and social environments, while implementing economic sustainability programs that protect existing neighborhood businesses and avoid community displacement.

Emily R. McCoy, FASLA, SITES AP

Principal

Design Workshop

Emily is an Associate Professor of Practice at North Carolina State University and Principal at Design Workshop. As a landscape architect, educator and ecologist, Emily approaches every project as an opportunity to celebrate the intersection of natural and cultural narratives of place through design and innovative technologies. Throughout her career Emily has remained passionate about her service to the community. She serves as the VP of Research and on the Board of Directors for LAF, on the NC A&T University’s Landscape Architecture Advisory Board and the Board of Trustees for the Design Workshop Foundation.

Malcom Davis, AIA

Southeast Regional Cultural and Civic Practice Leader, Senior Associate

Perkins + Will

Malcolm’s civic, cultural, and academic work is shaped by an inclusive community engagement process that allows multi-faceted stories to become significant elements for both design and economic development. He encourages diverse project teams, believing multiple perspectives contribute to more thoughtful, innovative solutions that lead to active hubs for individual, community, and commercial growth. Malcolm’s work includes transformational, community-driven projects, including Destination Crenshaw, a 1.3 mile-long art and culture experience in South LA and Brooklyn Village Development, a mixed-use project actively renewing Second Ward in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Burchell Pinnock, FAIA

Principal / Board Chair

Baskervill

Burt Pinnock’s passion for design has created award-winning work time and time again, from historic sites and cultural institutions to forward-thinking companies and foundations. He previously served as Chair of the Commonwealth of Virginia Art & Architectural Review Board and Vice Chair of the Richmond 300 Advisory Board, and is a co-founder of Storefront for Community Design, amongst many other notable board and committee engagements. For Burt, architecture isn’t a job; it’s his personal contribution to the wellbeing and vitality of our communities.