Randolph T. Hester | An Island Press author

Randolph T. Hester

Randolph T. Hester is a founder of the Participatory Design Movement in landscape architecture. For 50 years he has engaged communities in transactive design, developing innovative techniques as new needs are identified. He has created internationally acclaimed democratic landscapes in places as diverse as Manteo, North Carolina, Los Angeles and Taiwan. His first books, Neighborhood Space (1975) and Community Goal Setting (1982), provide now classic techniques to uncover and apply cultural nuances to participatory design. Planning Neighborhood Space With People (1984) and Community Design Primer (1990) spell out a 12-step participatory process and a collection of his most effective design techniques to achieve civicness, cultural expression, and environmental justice. Design for Ecological Democracy (2006) describes a visionary yet achievable future based on enabling, resilient and impelling form. Hester is Professor Emeritus at the University of California–Berkeley and Director of the Center for Ecological Democracy. 

#ForewordFriday: Democratic Design Edition

For decades, collaborative design has helped enliven neighborhoods and promote racial, economic, and social justice. But in an era marked by climate change, growing income inequality, and major advances in technology, designers are acknowledging the limitations of public forums and other conventional methods of community engagement.