Randolph Hester

Randolph Hester is a professor of Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning and Urban Design at the University of California Berkeley. His research focuses on community design and ecological planning with a concentration on citizen participation and environmental justice. His work applies sociological methods to urban and ecological design. He has authored Neighborhood Space, Planning Neighborhood Space with People, Community Design Primer, and most recently, Design for Ecological Democracy. Randolph Hester is also the principal of the firm Community Development by Design. His award-winning design work concentrates on complex environments, from wetland systems to central urban neighborhoods.

Randolph Hester will present on his recent book Design for Ecological Democracy. The book seeks to integrate two ideologies, democracy and ecology, as a means to remedy what Hester refers to as “our urban anomie”. Democracy is both individual and societal; it is by the people and for the people. Ecology describes relationships between individuals, society and the environment. Ecological Democracy applies both frameworks to describe a new kind of methodology to achieve effective urban design. Ecological Democracy promotes social and ecological function though the design of community and place.

Randolph Hester defines three traits to translate his theories into practice: enabling form, resilient form and impelling form. These traits are directed to facilitate communities as they strive to build good cities through collaboration, persistence and inspiration. Randolph Hester provides insight into how cities can function ecologically and socially while always retaining what he has termed a “joyful context”.