Reimagining Urban Planning for Belonging

Reimagining Urban Planning is a monthly series of public webinars that focuses on the edge of innovation in urban planning and policy. Traditionally Urban Planning has had a long legacy of harming communities of color, developing and implementing racist policies, and destruction of the built environment. This series openly critiques this current iteration of urban planning in the hopes of proposing new theories, strategies, and concepts that help us arrive at an iteration of the field where we all belong. We are interested in helping foster meaningful conversations among urban planners hungry for more and to engage with new audiences that have always been curious about urban planning but may not know what exactly do urban planners do.

Watch recordings of the webinar series below! Scroll down to see all the installments of the series and click the headings to reveal more information.

State of The Practice — April 4, 2024

To kick off the webinar series, we invited speakers to a symposium to discuss the current iteration of the Urban Planning field. Presenters were asked to name the pitfalls of the current iteration of the field, identify frameworks or practices that have been successful in achieving more equitable community-led planning processes, and share hopes/forecasts for a more equitable iteration of the planning field.

This installment of the webinar series brought together:

Dr. Kafui Attoh is an Associate Professor of Urban Studies at the CUNY School of Labor and Urban Studies and an affiliated faculty member of the Earth and Environmental Sciences Department at the CUNY Graduate Center. He is the author of Rights in Transit: Public Transportation and the Right to the City in California’s East Bay (University of Georgia Press 2019) as well as Disrupting DC: The Rise of Uber and the Fall of the City (co-authored with Katie Wells and Declan Cullen -Princeton University Press 2023). His broad interests are in the political economy of cities, the politics of public space and debates in and around the idea of the “right to the city.”
Veronica O. Davis is the Director of Cities Program for AtkinsRéalis. She is an Entrepreneur and Civil Engineer, co-founding Nspiregreen, LLC., which manages Community, Multimodal Transportation, and Environmental planning and consulting. While at Nspiregreen, she led the Vision Zero Action Plans for Washington, DC and the City of Alexandria. She co-founded Black Women Bike, an organization and movement which builds a community and interest in biking among black women through education, advocacy and recreation. Veronica was recognized as a Champion of Change by the White House in 2012 for her professional accomplishments and advocacy. Jose
Richard Aviles (moderator) is a Transportation Analyst for the Othering and Belonging Institute. As part of the Community Power and Policy Partnerships team, they support government agencies and partners with community organizations by providing trainings, technical assistance, and evaluation support centering lived experience, vision, and self-determination of the communities most impacted by transit inequities. Aviles draws inspiration from their involvement with the Bus Riders Union in Los Angeles and participation in other social justice movements like marriage equality.

Arts and Cultural Strategies — May 2, 2024

Even though Urban Planning has been a field of study predominantly informed by public policy, economics, design, and public administration – just to name a few – our relationship to the built environment exceeds to the fields mentioned above. This webinar seeks to highlight the ways in which Arts and Cultural Strategy can help reimagine the ways in which we relate to the built environment and carry out projects intended to benefit communities that have been historically harmed by the built environment?

This installment of the webinar series brought together:

Marian Liou is a founder, community advocate, and attorney who specializes in affirming diverse communities through arts and culture and community engagement. She works with community members and community-based organizations, artists, arts & culture organizations, advocacy groups, planners, and other partners to nurture and sustain communities that are inclusive, just, and whole. As the founder and executive director of We Love BuHi, Marian established efforts to preserve and strengthen the multicultural Buford Highway community in metro Atlanta through storytelling, creative place-keeping, and design. She also she led the arts and culture and creative placemaking program at the Atlanta Regional Commission, metro Atlanta’s regional planning agency and MPO.
Evan Bissell (he/him, white) facilitates participatory art and research projects that support equitable systems and liberatory processes. With groups around the country, he has supported the development of curriculum, public art, laws, books, and convenings that build imagination, power and capacity around the just transition, anti-prison and police efforts, housing justice, and health equity, among others. Most recently Evan created the Arts & Cultural Strategy program at the Othering & Belonging Institute and helped found Richmond LAND, the first community land trust in Contra Costa county. He holds a master’s in Public Health and City Planning from UC Berkeley and a BA in Painting and Ethnic Studies from Wesleyan University.
Rosten Woo is a designer, writer, and educator living in Los Angeles (LA). He produces civic-scale artworks and works as a collaborator and consultant to a variety of grassroots and non-profit organizations, including the Little Tokyo Service Center, the LA Poverty Department, the Black Workers Center, LA Alliance for a New Economy, as well as the city of LA and LA County. His work has been exhibited at the Cooper-Hewitt Design Triennial, the Venice Architecture Biennale, Netherlands Architectural Institute, the Exploratorium, and various venues. He is co-founder and former executive director of the Center for Urban Pedagogy (CUP), winner of a National Design Award. His book, "Street Value," about race, design, and urban retail development, was published by Princeton Architectural Press.
Jose Richard Aviles (moderator) is a Transportation Analyst for the Othering and Belonging Institute. As part of the Community Power and Policy Partnerships team, they support government agencies and partners with community organizations by providing trainings, technical assistance, and evaluation support centering lived experience, vision, and self-determination of the communities most impacted by transit inequities. Aviles draws inspiration from their involvement with the Bus Riders Union in Los Angeles and participation in other social justice movements like marriage equality.

Embodiment — June 13, 2024

Somatics, defined as a movement study that focuses on the experience of being in one’s “body,” has much to offer people as a form of building body intelligence, but what can it offer to Urban Planning? In what ways can embodiment help us better understand our internal experiences as bodies but in turn also build our relationship with the built environment?

This installment of the webinar series brought together:

Tanniqua-Kay Buchanan, MUPP (She/Her) is a Dancer, Choreographer, and Urban Planner. She received her Bachelor of Science in Theater with a Dance focus and minor in Community Planning from Kansas State University, and her Masters in Urban Planning and Policy from the University of Illinois at Chicago, with a concentration in spatial planning. Currently, She is an independent dance artist, choreographer, and breathwork facilitator, and works for the City and County of Denver’s Community Active Living Coalition in the OCBE Division as the Community Streets Program Administrator. Her professional mission is to continue to serve as a change agent and use an intersectional approach to place-making and placekeeping that strengthens communities and bridges cultural gaps.
Marina Magalhães is a border-crosser, bridge-builder, and dance-maker from Brazil currently living on unceded Ohlone land (Santa Cruz, CA). Known for her uniquely moving performances and radically inclusive workshops, Magalhães invites movers of all kinds to find the connection between movement-making in the body and movement-building in our communities. As a community-rooted teacher and cultural organizer, she is known for spearheading pedagogic initiatives that uplift racial and healing justice. In 2023, she joined the UC Santa Cruz Department of Performance, Play & Design as a tenure-track Assistant Professor of Dance. She identifies as an academic-interventionist and is committed to centering Afro-Latin and non-Western dance forms within the university dance curriculum.
Jose Richard Aviles (moderator) is a Transportation Analyst for the Othering and Belonging Institute. As part of the Community Power and Policy Partnerships team, they support government agencies and partners with community organizations by providing trainings, technical assistance, and evaluation support centering lived experience, vision, and self-determination of the communities most impacted by transit inequities. Aviles draws inspiration from their involvement with the Bus Riders Union in Los Angeles and participation in other social justice movements like marriage equality.

Advocacy In Urban Planning — July 11, 2024

Urban Planners have a lot of power and access to decision making power, thus making urban planning political. Conventional planning theory will have us believe that planning must happen from a place of objectivity, yet planners are also participants in the ecology from which they are planning from. This webinar explores the ways in which planners can be advocates within the field of urban planning, and will highlight competencies needed to provide Technical Assistance rooted in Equity.

This installment of the webinar series brought together:

Desiree’ “Dee” Powell is an Arlington, Texas native where she graduated from the University of Texas at Arlington with her Bachelors in Interdisciplinary Studies and Masters in City & Regional Planning. She is an unconventional urban planner with the firm she founded and leads, DRBTS (Do Right By The Streets), which focuses on place keeping as a tool to implement temporary-to-permanent space activation projects in communities of color driven towards economic mobility and community sustainability. She specializes in educating and breaking down the complexities of urban planning elements within communities of color. Most (if not all) of her inspiration and drive in urban planning comes from the beauty of Black culture through music, places, streetwear, sneakers, activism, and Black migration.
An artist, storyteller, and urban design strategist of Jamaican descent, Courtney Morgan’s work redistributes power by using art as a social practice. Codesigned with vulnerable communities, Morgan’s civic-scale projects have engaged hundreds both on the street and in venues. These projects include creating space for designers who identify as other, through “Only Other Designers” and “Community Design Lab”, an an award winning youth-led environmental design engagement. Morgan has taught integrated design and design strategy at Parsons School of Design, where she is an AICAD Teaching Fellow. Courtney Morgan is the president and owner of SCRD, a design studio that uses design strategy to center and empower stakeholders to build thriving urban communities.
Kristen Jeffers was one of the first people to bring the concept of Black urbanism to the internet by launching The Black Urbanist, which continues to be a resource for Black urbanism at the intersections of feminism, disability, and queer/trans life. She hosts and produces the podcast Defying Gentrification, and is the author of the forthcoming A Black Urbanist Journey to an Accessible Queer Feminist Future, along with a companion masterclass, and writes a regular newsletter on Substack called “Defying Gentrification, Crafting Liberation”. Under the banner of Kristpattern, she shares her journey into sustainable fashion and invites others to do the same. A sought-after public speaker and workshop leader, she resides in the District of Columbia with her partner and fellow Black queer feminist urbanist.
Jose Richard Aviles (Moderator) is a Transportation Analyst for the Othering and Belonging Institute. As part of the Community Power and Policy Partnerships team, they support government agencies and partners with community organizations by providing trainings, technical assistance, and evaluation support centering lived experience, vision, and self-determination of the communities most impacted by transit inequities. Aviles draws inspiration from their involvement with the Bus Riders Union in Los Angeles and participation in other social justice movements like marriage equality.

Urban Planning and its Relationship to Land — August 8, 2024

It can be assumed that the planning profession trains urban planners to facilitate the transaction of land, through mechanisms such as zoning, land use, real estate, and community development. Yet we have to ask ourselves: who benefits from these transactions versus who do these transactions impact the most, and at what cost? This webinar will explore different alternatives to our understanding of land, and examples of the ways in which we can problematize our relationship to the land within current systemic structures.

This installment of the webinar series brought together:

Rasheedah Phillips, Director of Housing, leads PolicyLink’s national advocacy to support the growing tenants’ rights, housing, and land use movements in partnership with grassroots partners, movement leaders, industry, and government leaders. Rasheedah has led various housing policy campaigns that resulted in significant legislative changes, including the Renter’s Access Act, one of the strongest laws in the nation to address blanket ban eviction polices having a disparate impact on renters of color. Rasheedah previously served as the Senior Advocate Resources & Training Attorney at Shriver Center on Poverty Law. Rasheedah’s leadership has been nationally recognized and is also an interdisciplinary afrofuturist artist and global cultural produce
Kaitlyn Quackenbush’s personal mission is to thoughtfully and humbly contribute to community-led collective movements that build staying power and realize a more just and equal California.Her experience includes leading impactful policy development, building robust community-based programs organized around social equity, and cultivating durable trusting partnerships with a diverse array of stakeholders. As Senior Director at Coro Northern California, Kaitlyn manages the Partnership for the Bay’s Future (PBF) fellowship. Kaitlyn is proud to have introduced the City of Richmond’s first ever Equitable Public Land Policy informing the lease, sale, and development of affordable housing on city-owned land with a preference for permanently affordable housing and community ownership.
James Huynh is the coalitions coordinator for Richmond LAND, an emerging land trust focused in Richmond and West Contra Costa County and has been leading in engaging residents in the process of bringing public land into community hands. He is focused on thinking through how resident power can translate into collective ownership and removing land from the speculative market.
Ojan Mobedshahi is the Finance Director and a co-founder of the East Bay Permanent Real Estate Cooperative (EB PREC), a democratic, BIPOC-led cooperative that takes real estate off the speculative market to create permanently affordable, community-controlled land and housing. He graduated from Pitzer College with a B.A. in economics and a minor in Spanish, and is currently getting his Masters in Real Estate Development and Design at UC Berkeley to increase his capacity to take on larger and more complex projects with and for the community. Ojan lives in a “tiny house” with his partner and daughter, and shepherds a small flock of sheep who manage grasslands for soil health and fire maintenance in the hills of Contra Costa County
Paul Bell has dedicated over eight years to community planning and development, with a focus on creating equitable and sustainable communities. His work delves into the cultural and spiritual aspects of community, seeking to hold space for everyone to recognize themselves in their communities. Paul maintains a vision of community building that focuses on the capacity of people, honouring the spirit of place, and works towards a sustainable future. His work in the private sector, public sector, and in territorial planning has enabled him to amplify voices that might otherwise go unheard, ensuring that the planning process remains open, accessible, and equitable. Paul is a Registered Professional Planner and serves on the Canadian Institute of Planners Board of Directors.

Urban Planning and its Relationship to Economics — September 12, 2024

It’s important to understand the primary motivator behind urban planning or as defined by the previous webinar, “land transactions,” is profit. Given that we operate under a capitalistic society, it is inevitable that capitalism would be the driving economic system that informs current planning practices. This webinar criticizes the ways in which capitalism continues to play a vital role in the planning process and offers examples of ways in which to battle capitalism within a current capitalist system.

This installment of the webinar series brought together:

Víctor Sánchez joined the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy (LAANE) in 2017 as the director of the Long Beach campaign where he secured passage of the 2018 Measure WW campaign, and led movement efforts that won worker protections during the height of the pandemic. He subsequently served in director roles for the Quality Care and Climate campaigns. Prior to LAANE, Víctor worked in various organizing and research capacities at the USC Equity Research Institute, national AFL-CIO, and United States Student Association. Víctor holds a B.A. from the University of California, Santa Cruz and a M.P.P. from the USC Price School of Public Policy.
Eli Moore is the Director of the Community Power and Policy Partnerships Program at the Othering & Belonging Institute. Over the last twenty years, Eli has facilitated numerous participatory action research processes and published various reports and strategy papers that have been cited by local, national, and international media outlets and policy-making bodies. His research focuses broadly on urban planning and policy, political economy, race, and human geography. He has co-developed original curriculum for community workshops on multiple topics including Extractive Finance. He also co-authored The California Story, an essay on the structural forces shaping economic and racial inequity in the state.
Jose Richard Aviles (Moderator) is a Transportation Analyst for the Othering and Belonging Institute. As part of the Community Power and Policy Partnerships team, they support government agencies and partners with community organizations by providing trainings, technical assistance, and evaluation support centering lived experience, vision, and self-determination of the communities most impacted by transit inequities. Aviles draws inspiration from their involvement with the Bus Riders Union in Los Angeles and participation in other social justice movements like marriage equality.

Belonging and Urban Planning — October 11, 2024

Rather than asking "what is belonging", this webinar asks “what do we belong to”? How do we plan spaces that are meant for belonging? This webinar is centered around defining belonging, the elements of belonging, and how they can be applied in a design process with the intent of creating places of belonging.

Speakers:

john a. powell (who spells his name in lowercase in the belief that we should be "part of the universe, not over it, as capitals signify") is an internationally recognized expert in the areas of civil rights, civil liberties, structural racism, housing, poverty, and democracy. He is the Director of the Othering & Belonging Institute at the University of California, Berkeley, a research institute that brings together scholars, community advocates, communicators, and policymakers to identify and eliminate the barriers to an inclusive, just, and sustainable society and to create transformative change toward a more equitable world.
Chandra Christmas-Rouse is an urban planner, advocate and artist based in Chicago, IL. A background in community development and environmental justice informs her design approach of working with community stakeholders in a participatory process to support capacity building, achieve place-based solutions, and reimagine systems. At the end of October, she will join PolicyLink where she will lead federal funding and technical assistance strategies to support the development of climate solutions that advance racial wealth equity. She is the author of a graphic novel entitled Where the Sidewalk Grows and creator of the Maplibs Project.
Aimée Okotie-Oyekan is a prayer towards a loving, healing eco-cultural practice. Informed by 10+ years of cross-disciplinary experience in biological science, environmental and climate justice planning and policy, and artistic and cultural production, Aimée is currently finding healing and balance as a storyteller, performing artist, community consultant, and educator. They are a former Land Use and Transportation Planner for the Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development and currently serve on the National Advisory Board of the Union of Concerned Scientists.
Jose Richard Aviles (Moderator) is a Transportation Analyst for the Othering and Belonging Institute. As part of the Community Power and Policy Partnerships team, they support government agencies and partners with community organizations by providing trainings, technical assistance, and evaluation support centering lived experience, vision, and self-determination of the communities most impacted by transit inequities. Aviles draws inspiration from their involvement with the Bus Riders Union in Los Angeles and participation in other social justice movements like marriage equality.

Planning for (dyspotian) Futures — Dec 12, 2024

Amidst global wars, the inevitable and forthcoming climate catastrophes, an ongoing and ever changing economic crisis, we must ask ourselves what is the future of planning? What are we planning for? For whom? This webinar seeks to answer these questions and problematize the role of the urban planner as we prepare for uncertain futures.

Speakers:

Rachel Hatch serves as Chief Operating Officer of Institute for the Future, whose mission is to help organizations, communities, and leaders become future-ready. For more than 55 years, IFTF has pursued a vision of a world that systematically harnesses futures thinking to steer toward more equitable and sustainable societies. Community-based foresight is a passion area for Rachel, including current research on how people living with low-income are facing climate futures first, as an input to the state’s 5th Climate Assessment. In 2024, Rachelhas launched IFTF’s Future-Ready Regions Fellowship program, and has recently led projects on the future of affordable housing with Neighbor Works, future of land use with 1000 Friends of Oregon, and future of community colleges with Frederick Community College.

Angela Brooks is the Director of the Illinois office of the Corporation for Supportive Housing. She currently serves on the Chicago Board of Zoning Appeals, the Illinois Affordable Housing Advisory Commission, and is co-chair of the national Housing Supply Accelerator helping communities meet the housing needs of residents. Brooks is a native of Seattle and a graduate of Jackson State University, where she received her Bachelor of Arts in Urban Studies, and the University of New Orleans, where she received a Master of Urban And Regional Planning. An active member of APA since graduate school, Brooks has held numerous leadership positions in the Housing and Community Development Division, Planning and the Black Community Division, Diversity Task Force, Washington Chapter, and co-chair of the Housing Policy Guide. She is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. and The Links, Incorporated.

Connie Razza is the Executive Director of Social and Economic Justice Leaders Project (SEJ), a movement utility that provides progressive leaders space to plan along a longer time horizon that they otherwise are able to, to prepare to meet conditions beyond our control, and to practice responding to crisis and opportunity across organizational lines. Before joining SEJ, Connie built the strategic research department and served as chief of campaigns at the Center for Popular Democracy. She also served as the vice president of policy & research at Demos, a senior policy analyst for health issues at the New York City Council, and a union organizer and strategic research campaigner.