Date: December 3, 2024 | 1:00 PM EST / 12:00 PM CST
Duration: 1 Hour
Credits: 1.0 AIA LU
Presenter: Rosa Sheng
Cost: Free

Our society is at a critical inflection point. The choices and actions we make today will determine our collective future. This is contextualized by a historic confluence of catastrophic events in 2020 — a global pandemic, severe economic disruption, racial violence, civil unrest, environmental peril and rapid disruption by AI. A perfect storm exposes the intersectional impacts of legacy systems of societal and environmental harm and oppression — still endangering BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, Neurodiverse and other marginalized identities. The resulting shifts and disruptions that we face could result in peril or potential to overcome the adversity surrounding us. Real and necessary progress towards Justice in our world will only be achieved when we are willing to do the work to expose and dismantle the intricate web of racist and unjust policies and practices that have resulted in multigenerational inequities with harmful outcomes for many. Given the challenging and complex conditions in which we find ourselves today, we must commit to adapting towards a collective regenerative agenda to thrive.

Learning Objectives:

• Discover The J.E.D.I. Agenda, a framework for justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion in the AEC market.
• Learn how trends like the global pandemic, economic disruption, racial violence, civil unrest, environmental peril, and the rapid disruption of AI are leading to societal and environmental harm to marginalized communities.
• Understand how AEC teams can overcome adversity by doing to work to expose and dismantle unjust policies and practices that are inherent in today’s society.
• Explore how the Equity by Design [EQxD] initiative founded by this presenter contributed to a national movement to advance justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion in professional practice and the design outcomes in the built environment for underserved communities.

About the Presenter

Rosa T. Sheng, FAIA, LEED AP BD+C is a Vice-President at SmithGroup serving multiple roles as Higher Education Studio Leader in Northern California and national Director of Justice, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion. After founding Equity by Design [EQxD] in 2014, Rosa served as AIA San Francisco President in 2018, the first Asian American Women to serve in the organization’s 136 year history. Recognized as an industry thought leader, architect, strategist, and advocate, she is known for developing new processes and design solutions with transformational impact in the built environment. When asked “What type of Architecture do you do?” Her answer, “The kind that’s never been done before.”Close