LABash Keynote and Baumer Lecture Series: Julia Watson
The founder of the Lo—TEK Institute will present “How Water Shapes Worlds” as the keynote speaker for LABash 2026.
Performance Hall
This talk is free and open to the public.
“How Water Shapes Worlds”
Co-authored with Indigenous knowledge-keepers, this field guide to Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) features ancestral water systems—like floating farms and tidal fish traps—alongside 22 inspiring modern contemporary TEK projects. Witness a paradigm shift for architects and policymakers seeking biocultural resilience and regenerative urban futures.
Plunge into the ancestral water wisdom that could reshape all our futures. This spell-binding book reveals how Indigenous innovations—like floating farms, tidal fish traps, and aquifer recharge systems—have sustained civilizations for millennia by working with nature, not against it. Far from relics, these systems offer dynamic, adaptable solutions for the climate crisis of today. Structured to bridge past and future, the book dissolves the divide between technology and ecology, between ancestral wisdom and digital innovation. The TEK nological Renaissance it celebrates redefines water as an intelligent force that can shape resilient cities and landscapes. Aquatic infrastructure is framed—from extractive and industrial into regenerative and evolving—designed to sustain life for generations.
Co-authored with Indigenous knowledge-keepers and with a foreword by Dr. Lyla June Johnson (Diné/Tsétsêhéstâhese), this captivating read investigates traditional hydrological technologies across diverse ecosystems, from salty coastal reefs to freshwater wetlands. Discover Mexico’s chinampas, China’s dike-ponds, Bangladesh’s floating farms, and Micronesia’s tidal traps. Shifting focus from the past to the present and future, it also showcases 22 groundbreaking contemporary TEK projects—including Peru’s reed-insulated housing, Thailand’s terraced rooftop farms, and China’s Sponge Cities—proving TEK continues to drive transformative design. This is both a field guide and a manifesto: a call to architects, planners, and communities to design with water’s elemental intelligence and build future worlds that are rooted in resilience.
This event is approved for 1 CEU credit for landscape architecture professionals.
Author and designer Julia Watson is a global advocate for Indigenous ecological knowledge and the bestselling author of Lo—TEK. Design by Radical Indigenism.
Of Greco-Egyptian-English descent and Australian-born, Julia studied landscape architecture at Harvard and has taught at Columbia, Harvard, and RISD. Her work is inspired by travels across the globe and a lifelong mission to uplift ancestral technologies through storytelling.
Watson co-founded the Lo—TEK Institute, launched the Living Earth Curriculum, and co-leads the Lo—TEK Office of Intercultural Urbanism, leading the way in regenerative design—merging Indigenous science, Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK), and cutting-edge urban innovation.
This event is part of the 2026 LABash Conference and the Spring 2026 Baumer Lecture Series. For 2026, LABash is hosted by the Landscape Architecture Section of the Knowlton School.
This talk is free and open to the public.