Blacklighting’ the Shaping of Place: Theories, Strategies, and Methods from the ‘Shaw (Journal of Urban Geography)
Over the last two decades, public space discourse has shone brightest on those stages of urban design and historic preservation either termed “placemaking” or “placekeeping,” arguably leaving a gap everywhere amid this “place-shaping continuum.” This paper attends to that chasm through mixed-methods research to “Blacklight” urbanism through the eyes of merchants and community planners producing culture and building neighborhood economies without equitable support from propertied, financial institutions. By ethnographically narrating a complex case of the historically Black artistic community in South Los Angeles’ subregion nicknamed “the ‘Shaw,” this paper illuminates a new hue in the place-shaping spectrum for those celebrating Black heritage in the shadows of spatial abandonment called “placesteading.” It details three tactics of the Crenshaw placesteading strategy called “counter-valuation.” Through transdisciplinary study, these three new terms contribute to the global project of dignifying pluriversal planning practices and diasporic worldviews in urban geographies, heritage conservation, and design.
Kenyatta, Matthew JM. “‘Blacklighting’ the Shaping of Place: Theories, Strategies, and Methods from the ‘Shaw,” Urban Geography (2023), Special Issue on Placemaking and the Blues in Racialized, Ethnic, and Immigrant Neighborhoods (DOI: 10.1080/02723638.2023.2179825).
"When Diversity Lost the Beat: Reviving the Hidden Rhythms of Black Urbanism in U.S. Planning Literature from 1990-2020,
"When Diversity Lost the Beat: Reviving the Hidden Rhythms of Black Urbanism in U.S. Planning Literature from 1990-2020," (Journal of the American Planning Association, Vol. 89, No. 4), I assess whether prestigious planning journals have sufficiently covered issues relevant to the Black community and Black urbanism during the previous three decades. It is first analysis to ever use bibliometric analysis to quantitatively and qualitatively map the topic of Black urbanism in the United States, particularly focused after 1990. It pays homage to the work of the late planning scholar Robert Catlin's approach to mapping the subject of African Americans while updating the method and timeframe to 2020.
The Journal of American Planning Association wrote a blog review praising the article here: https://planning.org/blog/9279403/dissecting-30-years-of-black-urbanist-thought-in-urban-planning/
“If I Built the World, Imagine That: Reflections on World Building Practices in Black Los Angeles.
Journal of Planning Theory and Practice (19.2; Spring 2018): 254-288.
Social Finance in Black Geographies: A Statistical Analysis of Locations in Los Angeles County
Using spatial regressions, I correlate the connections between the type of financial institution and the demographic characteristics of those neighborhoods, with critical comparasions between commercial banks, credit unions, and community development financial institutions (CDFIs). Published in the 22nd volume of the student-run Harvard Journal of African American Public Policy in 2015.
Research Articles
The complete list of articles can be found at my unique digital identifier (ORCiD) scannable at the QR code or at this public link. You may also see the full list at my Google Scholar page.
The most recent three are curated below.