Ethically Sourcing the Ground: Investigating Forced Labor in Landscape Architecture Material Supply Chains

An estimated 28 million people worldwide are ensnared in forced labor today. While the United States Customs and Border Protection bans products made with forced labor, the lack of supply chain transparency and the disaggregated nature of the building material industry allow for products made with forced labor to inadvertently infiltrate the US market. As a result, the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry is one of the most at risk of unwittingly supporting forced labor practices through its material specification and procurement processes.

The fifth LAF Research Grant in Honor of Deb Mitchell was awarded to “Ethically Sourcing the Ground: Investigating Forced Labor in Landscape Architecture Material Supply Chains,” a project led by Noriko Maeda and a team at MNLA and Franca Trubiano, PhD, of the University of Pennsylvania Stuart Weitzman School of Design. This 16-month research project investigated commonly specified products in landscape architecture such as permeable pavers, geotextile filter fabric, synthetic turf, rubber safety surface, and recycled plastic lumber to develop analytical methods for evaluating the forced labor risk for these products.

In this webinar, the Principal Investigators and research team will share their research process and present their findings, exploring these questions: How can the field of landscape architecture evaluate its exposure risk to materials produced through forced labor? Can more conscientious sourcing of construction materials address this important question of social equity? Their findings will illuminate how landscape architects can use project specifications and procurement processes to address these critical issues and help to advance fair labor practices.