Magic Johnson Park: Healing Land, Water, and Community - 1.0 PDH (LA CES/HSW)

Recorded On: 10/29/2023

Landscape architects are leaders in healing land, water, and community—restoring native landscapes and habitats as a refuge for people and wildlife; recognizing distinct communities as places of value and significance; and advancing ecosystems to capture and reuse precious stormwater runoff in drought-stricken areas across the United States and globally.

Learning objectives:

Learn how equity-based, data-driven park planning, including needs assessments and master plans, supports and guides the implementation of park projects.
Gain knowledge about the processes used by the design team to create a native Southern California landscape expression within a brownfield site that was undergoing concurrent environmental mitigation.
Learn how the designers utilized both captured stormwater and urban runoff from the regional watershed to sustainably create a large recreational lake.
Hear directly from a community leader about the importance of parks and open space to urban communities, particularly their role as places of sanctuary during challenging times.

Wendy Chan, PLA, ASLA, LEED Green Associate

Senior Landscape Architect

MIG

Wendy Chan is a Senior Landscape Architect at MIG. She believes that the way we design and build landscape spaces for our communities has a positive impact on the physical and mental health of the people who live and work in them. Throughout her career, she has led projects from conceptual design to implementation focusing on integrating environmental and cultural ecology with urban infrastructure. Her 15 years of experience includes a diverse range and scale of projects on public parks, campuses, and healthcare facilities.

Clement Lau, FAICP

Departmental Facilities Planner

Los Angeles County Department of Parks and Recreation

Dr. Clement Lau, FAICP, has over 20 years of professional experience in urban and regional planning. Currently, Clement is a Departmental Facilities Planner with the Los Angeles County Department of Parks and Recreation where he works on a variety of data-driven, equity-focused park planning projects, including master plans and needs assessments. He enjoys writing and has articles published in Parks & Rec Business magazine, the American Planning Association’s Planning magazine, and the National Recreation and Park Association’s Parks and Recreation magazine and Open Space blog. He holds a doctorate and master’s in urban planning from the University of Southern California.

Dawnesha Beaver

Executive Minister

New Mt. Calvary Baptist Church

Rev. Dawnesha K. Beaver, MPH, MAT, is an experienced and successful non-profit leader with more than 10 years addressing the long-standing discriminatory practices in underserved communities in education, housing, transportation, employment, and community planning and investment. Currently, Dawnesha works as Program Manager for CDU KEDREN Mobile Street Medicine Program. Additionally, Dawnesha also serves as Executive Minister at New Mt. Calvary Baptist Church of Los Angeles. Her motto is “Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms” (1 Peter 4:10).