Professor Lisa Benton-Short
George Washington University
This talk will examine three contemporary challenges to public space and national parks, including conversations and conflicts over memorial removal, the privatization of our public lands and the consequences of disinvestment in the public realm.
Lisa Benton-Short is Professor of Geography at George Washington University. She is an urban geographer with an interest in the dynamics of the urban environment from many angles, including: urban sustainability, planning and public space, monuments and memorials, urban national parks, globalization, and immigration. She has authored thirteen books, including The National Mall: No Ordinary Public Space (2016), Urban Sustainability in the US: Cities Take Action (2019) and A Regional Geography of The United States and Canada (2019). Her most recent book, Sustainability: An Introduction, was just published in 2023.