Announcing the Recipient of the 2021 Frederick Gage Todd Scholarship: Kendra Scanlon
Biography
Kendra Scanlon is embarking upon her final year of graduate studies in landscape architecture at the UBC School of Architecture + Landscape Architecture where she is currently conducting research for the PICS Living With Water project. This work involves reviewing and developing recommendations for local values-based coastal flood adaptation strategies that aim for a two-eyed seeing and community-based approach to eliciting and prioritizing values. As a new resident on the unceded territories of the xwməθkwəy̓əm, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh, and Sel̓íl̓witulh Nations, this research is bolstered by her thesis project which begins with a personal exploration of ancestral settler-colonial water relationships and hopes to imagine a more equitable future for regional water governance frameworks.
Kendra was born and raised in Calgary on Treaty 7 Territory where she was deeply involved with the campus and community radio station, CJSW 90.9 FM. This tight-knit community led her in seemingly disparate directions - working seasonally as a graphic designer and communications consultant, while breaking ground on an organic flower farm in Southern Alberta. Her landscape architecture studies synthesize these worlds. She primarily focuses on feminist and relational approaches and the decolonization of the practice by identifying connectivities and critiques of Canadian culture, land and water.
Student Statement
Receiving the honour of the inaugural Frederick Gage Todd National Scholarship indicates to me that the profession is ready to analyse, be accountable, and shift our roles in land dispossession and water rights in Canada. In recognizing my efforts, this award encourages any student that values design justice; showing us our interest in landscape architecture as a practice of change is supported by the LACF and CSLA.
Watch Kendra's video statement
Jury Statement
Kendra has a very clear and eloquent pen that especially shines in their approach and personal statement. She clearly positions herself and the ways in which she understands the discipline. Her approach is refreshing, and her research proposal is well thought-out and original. She demonstrates a comprehensive understanding of the significance of water as a resource for both indigenous and settler communities in a political, social, and historical contexts. Her project as outlined could help change the ways in which we think about resources and will potentially change the way landscape architects practice. Furthermore, her application is supported by genuinely written supportive letters by the faculty that speak to a consistent level of quality work.
Project Photos
PermaculturePractice: "Permacultural practice using landscape as water infrastructure"
Alberta Girl Acres, Farm Manager
RegenPlanting: "Exploring Regenerative Planting Strategies for Green Rainwater Infrastructure: Increasing Connectivity in through Designed Plant Communities in the Right-of Way"
City of Vancouver, Greenest City Scholar
Gorgeous Mess: "Dirty City Sludgy Gorgeous Mess"
Conceptual work for a senior studio that imagines water as the main agent in design.
Collaboration with Christen Oakes and Beau Wuthrich
WeMakeRadio: "We Make Radio: 30-Something Years of CJSW 90.9 FM. A community development project."
CJSW 90.9 FM, Curator and Project Manager
