Designer, activist, academic, and author of Lo—TEK,
Design by Radical Indigenism.
Born in Australia but based in New York, Julia is leading the field in search of Lo—TEK indigenous, nature-based technologies for climate-resilient design. She teaches urban design at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, and at Columbia University's Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation.
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Julia Watson has pledged to donate a percentage of profits in support of the indigenous communities in Lo—TEK, Design by Radical Indigenism, specifically: the Living Bridge Foundation in Pynursla in the East Khasi Hills of India, the Nature Iraq organization working with the the Ma'dan of the Southern Wetlands of Iraq, Give A Little Ektu Deen Foundation in the Eastern Kolkata Wetlands of India, and BEEs working with the Tofinu fishermen of Benin.
In her studio, Julia Watson offers highly creative and conceptual, interdisciplinary thinking. With many years and a multitude of experience, she approaches design through an anthropological and ecological lens. Julia offers expert consulting and design services for ecological, indigenous landscape and urban design. Her recent book Lo—TEK, Design by Radical Indigenism is a sold out bestseller. Listen below for recent conversations.
WATSON SALEMBIER
Together as a landscape & urban design studio, Julia Watson & Marie Salembier are exploring the rewilding of landscapes. Typically defined as restoring an ecosystem, rewilding is redefined as an untaming of urbanism towards radical localism. Biodiversity becomes the building block of diverse, local symbioses –anthropological, zoological & horticultural.
Press
Dezeen Virtual Design Festival
IGTV
Living bridges and supper from sewage: can ancient fixes save our crisis-torn world?
The Guardian: Art and Design
Living bridges and supper from sewage: can ancient fixes save our crisis-torn world?
Culture
Ancient infrastructure, resilient future: Julia Watson’s ‘Lo-TEK’ vision for sustainable cities
Dwell Online
May Already Have the Technology to Survive a Climate Crisis—We’ve Just Been Ignoring It
Borneo Bulletin
For innovative and sustainable design solutions, look to indigenous history
San Francisco Chronicle
Book World: For innovative and sustainable design solutions, look to indigenous history
Activist Post
Shouldn’t More Environmentalists Promote Natural Tech, Not Electrosmog and E-Waste Producing Smart Cities?
Sydney Morning Herald
The natural technologies that could hold keys to climate resilience
Design
The Masai and the Uros teach us how to build
