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.

For the first time, the City and Regional Planning Department invited me to create an orientation session for all incoming graduate students to learn about design justice. I structure these as a curiosity-driven multi-hour contact zone for exploring topics students read about prior to the event. Three graduate students act as teaching assistants and production support for the gathering itself.

For the second year in a row, the City and Regional Planning Department invited me to create an orientation session for all incoming graduate students to learn about design justice.

A design charrette and planning discussion featuring food and prototypes, organized by PennPraxis and Dr. Matt. While students came with six or seven different prototypes, this was the first time they would meet the community members I invited and solicit written feedback. They also would give suggestions on alternative locations to do streetscape interventions. This meeting is how the Lex Street block was lifted up as a prime opportunity for making a "gateway" design intervention.

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.

This session for the Landscape Architecture Department was the first time Experiential Reality (VR/XR) technology had been used for a required course in any department.

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.

This session for the Department of Historic Preservation was the first time Experiential Reality (VR/XR) technology had been used for an orientation in any department and it occurred during their Summer Institute.

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.

On behalf of the Urban Institute and the Sheffield Institute for International Development-Cities, I was invited to participate in a consultative forum on Black Urbanism to be held on March 24th 2021 at 16:00 GMT. the Sheffield research centers that are initiating this--Urban Institute, and the Sheffield Institute for International Development. But the aim is for Victoria to convene, Dr. Patricia Noxolo, Dr. Jovan Scott Lewis, and Dr. Paul Goodwin to steer the discussion. The initiative seeks to further the discussion for urban studies in general, and to continue to work against the lack of inclusion at the UK's top urban research institutions.

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 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