Living Water
Live Core Course
Water Wisdom as TEKnology
Explore how ancestral water systems can reshape the way we think about ecology, adaptation, infrastructure, and relationship in an era of environmental change. Through live sessions with global participants, the Living Water Core Course invites learners into an interactive and evolving exploration of water wisdom, regenerative systems, and ecological thinking across cultures and landscapes.
Next Live Session Spring 2027
12 Live Session
Starting April 4, 2027
Sundays 12–1:30 PM EST
Registration Closes March 28.
What is the
Living Water
Core Course?
The Living Water Core Course is a three-month live learning experience designed for participants seeking deeper engagement with ecological systems, ancestral knowledge frameworks, and applied regenerative practice. Organized through three Living Water identity pathways, the course explores how communities across the world have built long-term relationships with water through adaptive infrastructures, governance systems, climate-responsive design, and ecological stewardship.
Grounded in the Lo—TEK Institute’s approach to Embodied Planetary Pedagogy, the course combines live lectures, philosophical inquiry, collaborative dialogue, visual learning, ecological interpretation, and project-based development. Participants move through Indigenous and ancestral technologies not as isolated historical artifacts, but as living systems capable of informing contemporary environmental thinking, design, education, and community practice.
Throughout the course, participants develop an ongoing water-centered project connected to a body of water, landscape, infrastructure, or ecological relationship meaningful to their own communities and disciplines.
What makes this course different?
The Living Water Core Course is not structured as a passive online learning experience or isolated lecture series. Participants engage in an evolving and collaborative learning environment shaped through live dialogue, project development, ecological inquiry, and sustained participation across three months.
Each month centers a different Living Water identity pathway, allowing participants to move deeply into one ecological framework at a time while building connections across technologies, landscapes, philosophies, and contemporary environmental challenges.
The course includes:
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live lectures with Julia Watson introducing each pathway and TEKnology
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guest conversations with artists, historians, land stewards, and environmental practitioners
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collaborative discussions with global participants
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systems-based inquiry and visual interpretation
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applied ecological practices and hands-on experimentation
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long-term project development connected to participants’ own communities and landscapes
While recordings are shared after each session, the course itself is intentionally designed around participation, exchange, accountability, and sustained relational learning.
Because Living Water is a living curriculum, pathways, readings, discussions, and case studies continue to evolve in response to ecological realities, participant dialogue, and contemporary water conversations across the world.
Who is this course for?
The Living Water Core Course is designed for participants interested in moving beyond introductory exploration into sustained ecological practice, systems thinking, and applied project development.
The course may resonate with:
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educators and curriculum designers
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architects, planners, and landscape practitioners
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artists, filmmakers, and storytellers
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environmental educators and advocates
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researchers and graduate students
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museum and cultural workers
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community organizers and land stewards
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sustainability practitioners
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individuals developing ecological, cultural, or water-centered projects within their own communities
The Core Course welcomes both newcomers and experienced practitioners. What matters most is a willingness to engage deeply, think relationally, and participate in the long-term work of ecological reflection, stewardship, and adaptation.
How CanThis Work Be Applied?
The Core Course invites participants to move beyond systems analysis toward ecological participation and applied practice.
Participants often use the course to support:
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long-term ecological or community projects
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regenerative design frameworks
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climate adaptation initiatives
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educational and curriculum development
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environmental storytelling and arts practice
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water stewardship initiatives
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ecological restoration thinking
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systems and governance research
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land-based learning environments
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interdisciplinary environmental practice
Throughout the course, participants develop an ongoing project connected to a body of water, watershed, ecological system, or community challenge meaningful to their own context.
Projects may take many forms, including:
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policy and governance proposals
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ecological interventions
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educational initiatives
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speculative design frameworks
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ritual ecosystems
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storytelling projects
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community stewardship models
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water-centered installations or research pathways
The goal is not simply to study ancestral systems, but to explore how ecological intelligence, relational design, and water-centered thinking can shape meaningful forms of adaptation and stewardship today.
Testimonials
Teaching Community
Melissa Hunter Gurney
Melissa Hunter Gurney is a writer, educator, and land steward focused on equitable, embodied, and interdisciplinary approaches to education, ecology, and cultural stewardship. She is the co-founder of the Lo—TEK Institute and Black Land Ownership, a grassroots organization addressing systemic inequities in land stewardship and ownership across the Americas. Her work spans education, community advocacy, and the arts, and her writing has been published in journals including The Yale Review, PANK Magazine, and Paris Lit Up.
Julia Watson
BA, GDLA, MLA II
Julia Watson is a landscape designer, author, and academic, educator, specializing in Indigenous nature-based technologies and post-carbon futures. She is the author of the bestselling TASCHEN books Lo—TEK: Design by Radical Indigenism and Lo—TEK Water, A Field Guide for TEKnology and has taught at Harvard, Columbia, RISD, and Rensselaer. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, The Guardian, Monocle, and Architectural Digest, and her TED Talk, “How to Build a Resilient Future Using Ancient Wisdom,” is included in the international AP curriculum.
Itamar Lilienthal (Ita)
BFA, MArch
Itamar Lilienthal (Ita) is an artist, biodesigner, architect, and founder of Casa Tamarindo, a vernacular research and design practice based between Mexico City and Las Californias. Trained at New York University and the Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL, his work combines locally sourced biomaterials and vernacular building traditions with contemporary fabrication techniques to explore regenerative design at multiple scales. He lectures internationally on biomaterials, fog harvesting, and vernacular biodesign, and contributed to Lo—TEK Water as a researcher on the Persian yakhchāl.
Prof. Nancy Rottle
RLA, FASLA
Professor Nancy Rottle is a landscape architect, educator, and Director of the Green Futures Research and Design Lab at the University of Washington. Her work explores ecological design, urban green infrastructure, and water-centered landscapes, with a focus on creating places that are environmentally resilient and culturally meaningful. A registered landscape architect and co-author of Ecological Design, she has led award-winning research and design projects and lectures internationally on climate adaptation, public space, and regenerative urban futures.
Lucio Usobiaga
Lucio Usobiaga is a regenerative farmer, philosopher, and co-founder of Yolcan, an organization dedicated to restoring the ecological and cultural heritage of the chinampas of Xochimilco. His work focuses on reviving traditional farming practices, advancing food sovereignty, and strengthening regenerative agriculture through collaboration with farmers, researchers, chefs, and local communities. Trained in philosophy, he brings an interdisciplinary approach to cultivating resilient food systems and restoring the relationship between people, land, and culture.
Course Structure
Communality, Fixed Islands & Shared Water Systems
April 2027| Sundays 12-1:30 pm EST
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Introductory keynote by Julia Watson on fixed islands, TEKnologies, and the principle of water as sacred & shared
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Exploration of floating and fixed island systems across Bangladesh, Micronesia, Mexico, Iraq, and Northeast India
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Study of communal water systems, regenerative filtration, freshwater thresholds, anchored ecologies and material intelligence
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Group dialogue on shared stewardship, ecological interdependence, and collective responsibility
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Guest conversation with Chris Carr on land, memory, ecology, and communal systems
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Introduce and commence extended Living Water project through relational mapping of a chosen body of water
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Applied ecological practice through mini chinampa building and water-centered systems observation
Governance, Dikes & Ponds, & Living Hydraulic Systems
May 2027 | Sundays12-1:30 pm EST
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Opening lecture with Julia Watson on governance, hydraulic infrastructures, and living water systems
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Exploration of dikes, ponds, canals, sediment infrastructures, and seasonal flood systems across Kerala, Barcelona, and other global case studies
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Study of sediment as infrastructure, living canal ecologies, seasonal flooding, and multispecies water systems
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Reflection on governance as stewardship, reciprocity, and long-term ecological responsibility
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Guest dialogue with Chris Carr connecting governance, infrastructure, environmental justice, and community care
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Continued development of participant water projects through systems mapping, methodology building, and ecological analysis
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Applied practice through swales, berms, water harvesting systems, and contour-based ecological design
Continuity, Ice Houses, Climate Intelligence & Passive Water Design
June 2027 | Sundays 12-1:30 pm EST
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Opening lecture with Julia Watson exploring continuity, climate-responsive design, and passive ecological systems
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Study of ice houses, yakhchāls, cache pits, earth-sheltered structures, and bioclimatic architectures across Indigenous and ancestral communities
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Exploration of passive energy systems, radiative cooling, water as architecture, and long-term ecological adaptation
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Reflection on continuity as the carrying forward of knowledge, stewardship, and climate intelligence across generations
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Guest conversation with Chris Carr on continuity, land relationships, memory, and environmental futures
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Final development and presentation of Living Water projects
Applied practice through cache pits, earth-based thermal systems, and climate-responsive ecological observation
