Trail Design in an Animate World: A Philosophical Inquiry into Consent, Relationship, and Reciprocity

Webinar Outline

What if trail design began not with maps or metrics, but with humility? What if, instead of assuming mastery over the landscape, we entered the land as guests—curious, reverent, and uncertain? This session invites trail designers, planners, and stewards into a radical reimagining of their role—not as prescribers of sustainability, but as participants in a living, animate world. Drawing inspiration from deep ecological traditions, Indigenous teachings, and the spiritual dimensions of place-based work, it offers a reframing of trail design as a reciprocal act rooted in humility, listening, and respect. This is a philosophical exploration that challenges the anthropocentric roots of conventional trail work and asks: What does it mean to contemplate trails in relationship with the more-than-human world? 

Together, we will reflect on ideas of consent, reciprocity, and reverence. How might the land speak, and are we prepared to listen? What does the place desire from us, and what does it resist? What spiritual, ecological, and emotional conditions allow for co-created trails that honor both human presence and nature’s sovereignty? Rather than offering technical instruction, this session supports a deeper inner inquiry: How do we design in service to the land—not just to people? What if trails could heal, restore, and listen as much as they guide? Participants will be invited into a contemplative space where design becomes dialogue, planning becomes prayer, and trail work becomes a rite of relationship. This is a session for those willing to be undone and reoriented—not to dominate the wild, but to serve it. To enter nature not with knowing, but with wonder.

Learning Objectives:

• Reframe the role of trail planners and designers as participants in an ongoing relationship with the land, rather than sole decision-makers or technical experts.
• Identify and explore five relational design principles—consent, reciprocity, listening, humility, and co-creation—that support deeper ecological and ethical engagement in trail design.
• Reflect on the limitations of conventional sustainability approaches and consider how ecological, cultural, and spiritual perspectives can inform more holistic and regenerative trail planning practices.

Location

This is a virtual training. See the event website for more details.

Trail Competencies

• Project Planning and Design

Relevant Trail Types

General. All trail types are relevant.