The HOPES (Holistic Options for Planet Earth Sustainability) Conference is an entirely student-run conference at the University of Oregon in Eugene. It was established in 1994 by UO multidisciplinary design students eager to direct their design education. This year’s theme is Resurgence
Culture has long been used to embed knowledge of land stewardship practices that have been ignored, overlooked, and erased. RESURGENCE is about bringing this knowledge back to the surface as a way to combat climate change.
Conference attendance is free of charge. While we encourage you to attend all of the presentations, the following will provide AIA HSW LUs:
Weaving our stories | Apr 10 | 5:15pm – 1 AIA LU|HSW
Challenging Patters of Supremacy Workshop | Apr 11 | 2:15pm – 1.5 AIA LU|HSW
Shrinking Gracefully | Apr 11 | 4pm – 1 AIA LU|HSW
Reviving What Connects Us | Apr 11 | 5pm – 1 AIA LU|HSW
Stop Building | Apr 12 | 2:30pm – 1.5 AIA LU|HSW
Sustainable Cities and Landscapes | Apr 12 | 4:15pm – 1 AIA LU|HSW
Each of these talks will be in UO Lawrence Hall, room 177.
Course Info:
Weaving Our Stories
Speaker Biography:
· Lisa Hillman Lisa Hillman is a Karuk Tribal member with over 25 years of experience working with schools, community colleges and universities on curriculum development, program management, and serving as a lecturer. Currently, Lisa is Program Manager for the Tribe’s Píkyav Field Institute and co-Principal Investigator for the USDA-NIFA-AFRI “Karuk Agroecosystem Resilience and Cultural Foods and Fibers Revitalization Initiative: xúus nu’éethti – we are caring for it” project. Additionally, she is using her writing skills for outreach, to move policy changes, and to seek funding support for a wide variety of educational, cultural, health, environmental, food security/food sovereignty and library programs.
· Leaf Hillman is an enrolled member born at the ancient Karuk Village of Katiphiruk on the Klamath River near Orleans, Leaf Hillman serves as the Director of Natural Resources and Environmental Policy for the Karuk Tribe. He leads the Tribe’s work in the Klamath River Basin to help resolve years of high-profile water disputes and restore environmental and economic health to a region uniquely rich in biodiversity, productivity, and culture. He is a hereditary Dance Owner of the sacred White Deerskin Dance, a trained World Renewal Priest, and a Karuk Ceremonial Leader.
Talk Description:
Weaving Our Stories, explores the deep connections between traditional Karuk and Yurok basketry, cultural knowledge, and land stewardship. The practice of weaving is intertwined with ecological care, emphasizing the role of traditional resource management in sustaining traditional materials. Through storytelling and personal experience, Lisa highlights the responsibilities of being a weaver, and the significance of passing down knowledge.
Learning Objective 1:
Learn strategies for more sustainable material and resources relationships
Learning Object 2:
Critically examine colonial building projects and their harm to Indigenous communities
Learning Objective 3:
Gain knowledge about Indigenous design practices
Learning Objective 4:
Expand perspectives on differing cultures, their knowledge methodologies, and how to reduce harm to marginalized communities
Workshop: Challenging Patterns of Supremacy: Provocation from Collective Pedagogy, Practice, and Organizing.
Speaker Biography:
Dark Matter U (DMU) is a collective that works through communal knowledge and organizing to create antiracist forms of knowledge production, institutions, collective practice, community, and design.
Shalini Agrawal brings over two decades of experience in community engagement to spatial design. She is founder and director of Public Design for Equity, and co-director of Open Architecture Collaborative. Agrawal is a core organizer for Dark Matter U, and associate professor in Critical Ethnic Studies and Individualized at California College of the Arts. She served as the 2023-2024 Spatial Justice Fellow at UO.
Lisa C. Henry is an artist, associate professor, and associate dean of the College of Architecture + Planning at the University of Utah (SoA). Her research is focused on how critical gender, race, queer, and disability theory intersect with architectural education, pedagogy, design, and production. Henry is a past recipient of NEA and Graham Foundation grants, a current editorial board member of the Journal of Architectural Education and holds a Master of Architecture from Harvard Graduate School of Design.
Bz Zhang is an architect, artist, and organizer based in Tovaangar (what is currently called Los Angeles). They organize with the Design As Protest Collective, Dark Matter U, and Los Angeles Neighborhood Land Trust. Bz is a 2025 Visiting Critic at Carleton University, 2022 Journal of Architectural Education Fellow, 2021 USC Citizen Architect Fellow, and a licensed architect in California, with degrees from UC Berkeley and Brown University.
Workshop Description:
The prevalence of white supremacy at a global scale for hundreds of years has led to its ideology, systems of power, and exclusionary practices being imbedded in design. With the resurgence of overt displays of racism creeping back into the public sphere acting to dismantle progress towards a more inclusive society, it is more important than ever to increase awareness on how design can disenfranchise different identities. This workshop focuses on implementing an anti-racist model of design in education and practice towards a built form that is inclusive to all.
Learning Objective 1:
Learn to critically reflect on current collaborative practices in architectural design that exclude certain identities
Learning Object 2:
Develop skills to map systems of power that uphold white supremacy in architectural design practice
Learning Objective 3:
Apply oppositional practices towards an antiracist design ethic
Learning Objective 4:
Gain tools to educate your design community on centering and serving diverse identities
Shrinking Gracefully
Speaker Biography:
Fernando Ortiz-Moya Fernando Ortiz-Moya is an urbanist exploring how cities adapt and respond to socioeconomic and environmental problems. He focuses on urban policies to accelerate sustainable development transitions, sharing insights in policy reports and peer-reviewed journal articles, as well as speaking at international forums on sustainable development. His research revolves around two key developmental challenges faced by today’s cities: (1) urban shrinkage and decay, and (2) cities’ localization of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, including their development of Voluntary Local Reviews (VLRs).
Talk Description:
Using Japan as a case study, Fernando Ortiz-Moya discusses how policy to promote growth are harmful to long term resource availability. Instead, Ortiz-Moya provides alternative solutions that allow communities with declining population to embrace this reduction as being more sustainable socially and environmentally. Calling for a resurgence of smaller community centric policy changes at the local government scale, successful applications of this approach will be presented in this talk.
Learning Objective 1:
Critically examine current unsustainable “pro-growth” planning and building practices
Learning Object 2:
Gain tools to promote urban revitalization in declining cities
Learning Objective 3:
Learn design and planning strategies to help communities transition to smaller populations
Learning Objective 4:
Analyze real world precedences of cities that have adopted a graceful shrinking transition plan
Reviving What Connects Us: Libraries as Hubs for Cultural and Community Resurgence.
Speaker Biography:
Shamichael Hallman is the Director of Civic Health and Economic Opportunity at Urban Libraries Council, championing public libraries as vital civic infrastructure. From 2017–2022, he managed the historic Cossitt Library's multi-million-dollar renovation, redefining its role in the community. During his tenure, Memphis Public Libraries earned the 2021 National Medal for Museum and Library Science and recognition as the Nation’s Most Innovative Public Library by Smithsonian Magazine. His 2020 TEDx talk, "Reimagining the Public Library to Reconnect the Community," gained international acclaim. Shamichael holds an MS in Nonprofit Leadership from Penn and was a ’23 Loeb Fellow at Harvard.
Talk Description:
In a time when communities are seeking to rediscover purpose, resilience, and joy, libraries stand at the forefront of this resurgence as dynamic hubs for connection, culture, and collective memory. This talk explores how libraries have evolved beyond their traditional roles to become vital civic infrastructure—spaces where diverse ways of knowing and being are celebrated, and where communities come together to address shared challenges. Drawing on insights from Meet Me at the Library and real-world examples, Shamichael Hallman highlights the transformative power of libraries to bridge divides, preserve cultural heritage, and ignite a renewed sense of belonging and possibility.
Learning Objective 1:
Explore the modern role of public spaces in the built form
Learning Object 2:
Gain design lessons learned from successful library precendences
Learning Objective 3:
Expand understanding of how public infrastructure impacts community, diversity, and resilience
Learning Objective 4:
Learn design strategies for buildings that connect the communities they are serving
Stop Building
Speaker Biography:
· Bailey Morgan Brown Mitchell is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation, a researcher, designer, and educator. Bailey is an Assistant Professor at Oklahoma State University. Previously, Bailey was a designer at Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects in New Haven, CT as well as a public high school English teacher. She holds a Master of Architecture from the Harvard Graduate School of Design as well as a Master of Design Studies where she completed a thesis concerned with tribal law, property, and housing. Her research examines topics related to Native American sovereignty, housing, and beginning design education while her current research is concerned with supporting tribal sovereignty in beginning design education.
Talk Description:
Critical of the single-family housing model as being unsustainable and rooted in colonial practice, this talk imagines an indigenous approach to housing in the future. Current practice is highly extractive, uses vast amounts of energy, and leads to harm at various scales. Taking a radical approach, Bailey Brown calls for a stop to construction of single-family homes, removal of zoning and property lines, and protocols for a “Land Back” future that does not displace existing residence. Exploring how a more adaptable built form and land use practice could support a thriving human and non-human life.
Learning Objective 1:
Critically examine current harmful land-use practices through an Indigenous methodology lens
Learning Object 2:
Gain understanding of pre-colonial Indigenous approaches to land use and housing
Learning Objective 3:
Explore non-extractive zoning and property alternatives
Learning Objective 4:
Learn Land Back protocols that reduce harm and displacement
Sustainable Cities and Landscapes
Speaker Biography:
· Jaime López is an Architect from Universidad San Francisco de Quito (USFQ, Ecuador). He holds a Master's degree from Delft University of Technology (TU Delft, Netherlands) and a Ph.D. from the Program of Architectural Projects at Polytechnic University of Catalunya (UPC, Spain). He serves as the Director of the International Workshop of Galápagos, Director and founder of the Institute of Architecture and Urban Form (AFORU), and Coordinator of Community Engagement at the College of Architecture and Interior Design, all at USFQ. Additionally, he is a full-time professor and researcher at the institution. Jaime's studies focus on the relationship between territory, city, and building. He has been a lecturer and invited jury member in architecture and planning workshops at universities in Latin America, the United States, Europe, and Australia. With over twenty years of experience as an architect and consultant, Jaime specializes in design, construction, and urban and regional planning for public and private enterprises.
Talk Description:
Jaime López’s lecture explores the intersection of urban development and ecological conservation, drawing from his extensive experience in architecture, urban planning, and community engagement. He examines how the built environment interacts with fragile ecosystems, to highlight challenges posed by climate change and human activity. Through a multidisciplinary lens, López presents strategies for sustainable urban design, emphasizing the role of architecture in fostering resilience within socio-ecological systems.
Learning Objective 1:
Investigate how climate change has and will impact the future of the built form
Learning Object 2:
Analyze the relationship between architecture and the natural environment through the lens of conservation
Learning Objective 3:
Learn strategies to increase resiliency in architecture as the climate changes
Learning Objective 4:
Critically examine current design practices at multiple scales and their impact on the social, cultural, and environment of urban spaces