--- description: Find out why Walter Hood is one of the 100 most influential people of 2026. title: Walter Hood: The 100 Most Influential People of 2026 image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt20dfa9255f32f309/69dfb962835520f33b5b16a3/T100-2026-Web-Walter-Hood-466.png?branch=production --- Apr 15, 2026 # Walter Hood by Kate Orff  Alex Welsh—The New York Times/Redux For Walter Hood, landscape is not an abstract site to be “improved,” it is a carrier of deep stories and hidden histories that he invokes, shapes, and casts into the public imagination. In the African Ancestors Memorial Garden that he and his team at Hood Design Studio created at the [International African American Museum](https://time.com/collections/worlds-greatest-places-2024/6992391/international-african-american-museum/ "undefined") in Charleston, S.C., the ebb and flow of waters from the harbor reveal and shroud emblems of the transatlantic slave trade. At the water’s edge, a diagram of the slave ship _Brookes_ is interpreted in sculptural form with a rhythmic expression. It’s a profound reminder that the ground beneath our feet is always and everywhere inscribed by social and environmental contexts. Whether he’s riffing off of the intertwined practices of landscape architecture, sculpture, and cultural anthropology, or crafting community parks in his native Oakland, Calif., his work allows us all to take part in a wider civic conversation. Walter has an almost kaleidoscopic power to ground us where we are, by propelling us into the past and simultaneously toward a more just future that is slowly coming into focus. _Orff is a landscape architect and founder of SCAPE_ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collection/100-most-influential-people/2026/walter-hood/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collection/100-most-influential-people/2026/walter-hood/"},"headline":"Walter Hood","datePublished":"2026-04-15T11:00:27.000Z","dateModified":"2026-07-21T07:21:48.106Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collection/100-most-influential-people/2026/walter-hood/","keywords":["TIME 100","list","franchise","Accolades"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt20dfa9255f32f309/69dfb962835520f33b5b16a3/T100-2026-Web-Walter-Hood-466.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Kate Orff"}],"creator":"Kate Orff","articleSection":"TIME100","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt20dfa9255f32f309/69dfb962835520f33b5b16a3/T100-2026-Web-Walter-Hood-466.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/time100/","name":"TIME100"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-100/","name":"TIME 100"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collection/100-most-influential-people/2026/walter-hood/","name":"Walter Hood"}}]}] ```