Designing Wellbeing for All: Centering Equity and Community in Green City Projects

Part of City in Green: A Forum on Nature, Art, and Urban Wellbeing

Presented in Collaboration with Therme US

This panel explores the role of nature in urban life and the intersection of architecture and community engagement. Panelists will discuss the impact of green infrastructure design on the wellbeing and health of communities and share insights learned from people-centric approaches, highlighting the crucial role that the arts have played in shaping their work.

Craig Dykers, Founding Partner, Snøhetta

Brenda Richardson, Coordinator of the Anacostia Parks & Community Collaborative

Benita Hussain, Tree Equity Lead at American Forests

Irfana Jetha Noorani, Artist & Cultural Producer

Craig Dykers

Founding Partner, Snøhetta

For over 40 years Craig Dykers has followed a career of architectural thinking focused on design as a promoter of social and physical well-being supported by ongoing observation and the development of an innovative and sustainable design process. He was a founder of the international design practice Snøhetta in 1989 and at that time established offices in Oslo, New York City, and several other studios globally. Craig has led many of Snøhetta’s prominent international projects, including the Alexandria Library in Egypt, the Norwegian National Opera and Ballet in Oslo, Norway, the National September 11 Memorial Museum Pavilion in New York City, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art Expansion in California, and more recently the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library in Medora, North Dakota. In Omaha he has led the design of the new Joslyn Art Museum’s expansion together with his team, inviting new life to one of the world’s most respected art institutions. His work has been awarded the Smithsonian’s National Design Award, the Aga Khan Award, the Mies van der Rohe European prize for public architecture, and the World Sustainability Award. Craig has been interviewed by most of the world’s leading media groups and his work was listed by Fast Company magazine as among the top 30 of the world’s most innovative companies.  He is a Fellow in the Royal Institute of British Architects, the American Institute of Architects, and a Resident of the American Academy of Rome. Craig was born in Germany to American and British parents and today resides in Brooklyn, New York with his wife Elaine Molinar, who is also an architect at Snøhetta and co-founded the New York studio.

Brenda Richardson

Ms. Richardson has been working on welfare reform, environmental justice, economic development, education, behavioral health and health issues for the past 30 years. She currently serves as the Coordinator of the Anacostia Parks & Community Collaborative as well the President of Chozen Consulting, LLC, a consulting company that focuses on community engagement, facilitation, training, and government relations, and is the Principal for “Women Like Us,” an initiative that focuses on design thinking for women. She is also the Vice-Chair of the Friends of Oxon Run Park. She also facilitates the Police Service Area 702 Outreach Committee where she works in collaboration with the Metropolitan Police Department.  She serves as the Chair of the Friends of Parkland Turner Library. She represents the Friends of Oxon Run Park on the board of Greenspaces for DC. Ms. Richardson is also an Advisory Board member to Capital Nature. She is a member of the Urban Forestry Advisory Council as well. Formerly, Ms. Richardson was the Deputy Chief of Staff for Councilmember Marion Barry. Ms. Richardson also served as the Managing Director of the Metropolitan Dialogue, a group of people of faith who met monthly to discuss civic issues in D.C., for many years. From 1995 to 1996, Ms. Richardson was the Director of Resident Services for the D.C. Housing Authority, and prior to that, she was the Executive Director of the Anacostia/Congress Heights Partnership.

Ms. Richardson is currently a board member of Casey Trees, Potomac Riverkeeper Network, Urban Forestry Advisory Council, Capital Nature, Bridges Across the River and the Council of Governments Access For All Community Council.  She is the former Chair of Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center Community Advisory Council. She is a former board member of A Greater Washington, Anacostia Watershed Society, Congress Heights Main Streets, DC Commission of Women, DC Public Library Trustee, DC Water Trustee. She has a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Michigan and a Master’s of Social Work from the University of Maryland, Baltimore.

Benita Hussain

Tree Equity Lead at American Forests

Benita Hussain oversees all aspects of American Forests’ Tree Equity efforts to ensure we are advancing equitable tree canopy cover in 100 cities by 2030. Prior to joining American Forests, Hussain was the director of the 10 Minute Walk, a national campaign led by The Trust for Public Land aimed at expanding parks and green spaces across 300 U.S. cities, which was named as a 2020 Fast Company World Changing Idea under her leadership. In addition to holding a senior position at the Wildlife Conservation Society, Hussain was an environmental policy advisor to Mayor Mike Bloomberg, for whom she helped shape his global agenda on urban climate action, and to late-Boston Mayor Thomas Menino, for whom she created the award-winning climate campaign Greenovate Boston. A former lawyer at Morrison & Foerster, she holds degrees from Cornell University and Fordham University School of Law. She and her writing have been featured in The New York Times, The Hill, CityLab, Fast Company, The Boston Globe, among others, and she recently sat on the Boards of the Environmental Leadership Program and Colorado State’s Salazar Center for North American Conservation.

Irfana Jetha Noorani

Artist & Cultural Producer

Irfana Jetha Noorani (she/her/hers) is an artist, producer and administrator based in Washington, D.C. She supports neighborhoods, public spaces, cultural organizations, and philanthropic institutions with equitable planning processes and programming that center people of color and justice-based outcomes in their work. Irfana founded a cultural consulting practice in 2021 and currently serves as a Project Consultant to the Ford Foundation, Gehl, and Therme Group US. Other recent projects include providing interim executive leadership for Transform 1012 N. Main Street, leading a public art commissioning process for the 11th Street Bridge Park, and serving as a Senior Fellow to the High Line Network.

From 2014–2020, Irfana served as a founding staff member and the Deputy Director of the 11th Street Bridge Park and led the Bridge Park’s cultural work. In 2018, she collaborated with local stakeholders to develop cultural strategies for the project and plan community-driven programs and other place keeping initiatives in the adjoining neighborhoods. She promoted the project’s equity-first model by providing planning and implementation support on the Bridge Park’s Equitable Development Plan to ensure that investments in nearby neighborhoods benefit current residents.

Previously, Irfana worked with The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation in the Performing Arts Program and for New York Live Arts | Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company. She is a Founding Member of Vital Little Plans, a national artist collective and giving circle that challenges the power of Eurocentric philanthropy and supports creative and disruptive initiatives that are arts-driven and community-led. Irfana was an Arts Management Fellows at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and holds a BA in Dance & Movement Studies and International Relations from Emory University in her hometown of Atlanta, GA.

Patrons who make advanced reservations can pick up their tickets at the REACH Box Office on the day of the screening beginning one hour before the event when the REACH Box Office is open. Print your email confirmation/voucher at home and present it to the REACH Box Office, or show us your email confirmation/voucher at the REACH Box Office on your smart device.

Tickets that have not been claimed by 15 minutes prior, on the day of the performance will be released and distributed to a giveaway line. This is a first come first serve event; a Reservation Confirmation does not guarantee you a seated ticket to the performance. Please arrive one hour before the event to exchange your confirmation email/voucher at the REACH Box Office for a ticket to be seated in the Justice Forum.