When Land Leads: Indigenous Planning for Community Futures
November 6th at 4 p.m. MST | The Planning Lecture
About Lecture:
This lecture explores applied approaches to Indigenous planning through real-world examples in place-making, cultural landscape interpretation, land justice, stewardship, and planning policy. The session highlights how Indigenous planning frameworks move beyond conventional land-use models to center ancestral relationships to land, language, ceremony, and systems of community governance. Rather than treating planning as a purely technical exercise, this work positions it as a vehicle for cultural continuity, self-determination, and nation-building.
Bio:
Alonzo Coby serves as Planning Director for the Shoshone Bannock Tribes, where he advances sovereignty-centered planning grounded in cultural identity, land stewardship, and long-term community well-being. His work demonstrates how tribal planning functions not merely as a regulatory framework, but as a powerful instrument for nation-building, self-determination, and the protection of ancestral relationships to land, language, and ceremony.
Drawing from his professional experience with the Shoshone Bannock Tribes, Alonzo integrates culturally grounded planning and design practices into comprehensive planning, zoning, land management, and environmental stewardship initiatives. His approach moves beyond conventional land-use models by centering Indigenous planning frameworks that honor traditional values, governance systems, and intergenerational knowledge transfer.
Alonzo’s work includes applied projects in place-making, cultural landscape interpretation, land justice, stewardship, and policy development. Through collaborative design processes and community-led engagement strategies, he advances planning efforts that protect sacred landscapes, restore ecological systems, and strengthen cultural continuity. His leadership illustrates how planning can serve as both infrastructure development and cultural revitalization ensuring that growth and sustainability align with tribal priorities and sovereignty.
In his presentations, Alonzo shares practical strategies and case studies that highlight how culturally informed planning advances resilience, justice, and sustainable futures in Indigenous communities. His work offers emerging planners and designers’ critical insight into supporting tribal nations with respect, accountability, and a deep understanding of sovereignty-centered practice.