Alfred Caldwell Lecture: The Intersection of Public Space, Art, and Social Justice

Join the College of Architecture’s Master of Landscape and Urbanism program on April 12, 2023, beginning at 5 p.m. for the annual Alfred Caldwell Lecture to explore the intersectionality of public space, art, and social justice. Devon Henry, Franklin Cosey-Gay, and Makeba Kedem DuBose will discuss how memory and representation have expanded the narrative about the built environment. What do we want to collectively remember (or forget) through the symbols that we rise (or raze) in cities?

Henry will present on his company’s construction of the Memorial to Enslaved Laborers in Charlottesville, Virginia, and his work removing Confederate monuments in Richmond, Virginia. He will join a panel discussion with Cosey-Gay, from the Chicago Race Riot of 1919 Commemoration Project, multidisciplinary artist Kedem-DuBose, and moderator Ron Henderson, professor and director of the College of Architecture’s landscape architecture and urbanism program.

The annual Alfred Caldwell Lecture is named in honor of Alfred Caldwell (1903–1998), an influential landscape architect, Illinois Tech alumnus, Illinois Tech Hall of Fame awardee, and former faculty member in the College of Architecture. The university’s Master of Landscape Architecture program grows from his legacy. Caldwell’s many contributions to Chicago include the Lincoln Park Lily Pond, Promontory Point, Skyline Park at Lake Point Tower, and the Illinois Tech’s Mies Campus. The Alfred Caldwell Lecture invites non-landscape architect speakers whose provocative scholarship or work amplifies the global ethical discourse on Landscape Architecture.

The event will take place at S. R. Crown Hall, located at 3360 South State Street, and is sponsored by the College of Architecture, Office of Community Affairs and Outreach Programs, and the Center for Study of Ethics in the Professions. Parking is available across the street at Lot D4, and information about paying through the app may be found on the university’s website.

A reception will follow the event at Crown Hall. Please do not reserve more than two seats. American Sign Language interpretation will be provided onsite.

You can watch a recording of the event on YouTube.