Hannah Hopewell

Hannah Hopewell is a Lecturer in the Department of Landscape Architecture at Cornell University, joining in 2024. Previously, she was a Senior Lecturer at Te Herenga Waka, Victoria University of Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand, where she advised PhD and Master’s students. Her work critically engages with settler colonialism, environmental justice, and Indigenous sovereignties, emphasizing relational ontologies and decolonial praxis in landscape architecture.

Education includes a Doctor of Philosophy (Auckland University of Technology), Master of Urban Design (University of Auckland), and Bachelor of Landscape Architecture (Unitec). She founded TikaLAB, an interdisciplinary advocacy collective, and contributes to journals like Kerb, Interstices, and Settler Colonial Studies.

Her research interrogates whiteness in landscapes, settler imaginaries, and the intersections of design with non-human lifeworlds. Current projects include editing special issues on Oceania landscapes and 'Settler Colonial Cities.' Her creative practice employs parafictioning and experimental text to challenge Eurocentric design frameworks.

No scientific awards are explicitly listed, though her work is widely cited in decolonial design discourse. Advising focuses on practice-led research in Indigenous spatial frameworks. She teaches courses such as Indigenization in Landscape and integrates transdisciplinary methods into pedagogy.

Professional experience spans over 20 years in Aotearoa New Zealand, including strategic planning for Auckland Council and leadership at kaupapa Māori architecture firm TOA Architects. Her work bridges theory and practice, advocating for inclusive and responsibility-based design paradigms.