Toni L. Griffin of Harvard delivers the inaugural Abele Lecture in Design & Policy. Named for the trailblazing 20th-century architect Julian Francis Abele, the first Black graduate of what is today the Weitzman School of Design, the Abele Lecture is moderated by Matthew Kenyatta and organized by the Black Planners Society. Griffin will discuss connecting design with spatial and social (in)justices across American legacy cities. A reception will follow.

This Hidden Histories Tour was debuted at the Weitzman School of Design New Student Orientation and attracted over 90 students in a span of 2 hours.

This was both the last time the Promise Zone would meet and the first time all three original collaborators - myself (University of Penn), Dante Leonard (commercial corridor), Naim Mitchell (Mosaic Development Partners), and Mr. Abdul-Rahim Muhammad (New Africa Center) - presented our work together.

This live series explores the relationship between developers and public sector managers, the role the public sector plays in promoting equitable development, and how the public sector can attract and successfully collaborate with developers.

Planning for fun, love, abundance, and joy in times of despair

Authors: Kian Goh (Moderator), Lily Pollans (Organizer), Ariel Bierbaum (Participant), Gabriella Carolini (Participant), C.N.E. Corbin (Participant), Nina Flores (Participant), Matthew Kenyatta (Participant), Annette Koh (Participant)

I drew upon my forthcoming book chapter published in the edited volume The Black Geographic (Duke University Press, 2023) on the geographies of Black joy.

Whose history are preserving and why? I ask this question in a seminar examining how to preserve Pan-African heritage when crafting cities of the future amidst urban gentrification. Sponsored by Spectrum at the University of Chicago.

I pioneered the Hidden Histories Tour, a condensed version of a broader initiative aimed at revealing the untold narratives behind some of Penn’s most iconic symbols. Through a lens of design justice, I focus on architecture, urban policy, and urban landscape design, categorizing the monuments and memories into three key themes: Countericons of Dignity—shedding light on diverse figures beyond the white, male narrative; Displacemaking—uncovering the urban renewal and campus planning efforts that erased communities; and Othered Diasporas—highlighting hidden populations marginalized by these processes. Debuting at the Weitzman School of Design New Student Orientation, the tour attracted over 90 students within two hours.

Join us for the third in a series of Re:Generation Roundtables with artists, educators, storytellers, and organizers centered around the question: Which stories belong in public? Through the theme of Reimagine, our panel will explore creatings spaces and means for healing through an intentional commitment to remember.

# Join us for the second in a series of Re:Generation Roundtables with artists, educators, storytellers, and organizers centered around the question: Which stories belong in public? Through the theme of Reclaim, our panel will explore creatings spaces and means for healing through an intentional commitment to remember. This talk will take place at 7pm Eastern / 6pm Central / 5pm Mountain / 4pm Pacific.

Join us for a discussion with activists, city planners and policymakers who each play a role in generating more economic opportunities and infrastructure within the Black community.  In this talk we will discuss the importance of Black spaces and communities when generating wealth in Los Angeles and the United States. We will also discuss why Black-owned businesses have important implications in city and equity planning.

A virtual conversation with Kristen Gordon, Economic Development Deputy in Los Angeles and Khalil Burt Gaston of Glidepath Strategies in Detroit, hosted by Nina Ademudia, AICP of MUSE Community+Design in Chicago as part of the Candid COVID Conversations series.

A conversation between poet Solmaz Sharif and architectural historian Charles Davis. Sharif will present a reading of poems titled “’I can’t do what I want / to do with my own body’: A Reading in Conversation with June Jordan” and Davis will present his new visual and scholarly work “Building Black Utopias: The Architectural Modernisms of African American Writers, 1960-1975.” Introductions by Maya Alam and Sophie Hochhäusl. Moderated by Matt Miller, Fatemeh Shams and Ali AlYousefi

The Art of Black Urbanism was a conversation and art exhibition on black visibility and shifting spaces in community, presented by the UW Department of Urban Design and Planning in collaboration with BEart&urbanism. The panel included Dr. Matthew Miller, a Post Doctoral Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Design’s Department of City and Regional Planning, and Jessica Rycheal, a Southern interdisciplinary story-teller and Art Director based in Seattle, Washington. The discussion was moderated by Tiana Brawley, co-founder of BEart&urbanism and a student at the University of Washington School of Social Work.

As one of the three winners of the POCIG Student Travel Award, I share some of my initial findings on the geographical clustering of race, cultural entrepreneurship, and economic performance.