Tulane researchers, from left, Lisa Molix, Tiffany Lin and Emilie Taylor Welty stand in front of a vacant pedestal at the intersection of Canal Street and the newly renamed South Norman C. Francis Parkway. The pedestal was home to the Jefferson Davis Monument until it was removed in 2017. (Photo by Paula Burch-Celentano)
Researchers from the Tulane University School of Architecture and the School of Science and Engineering are embarking on a project that they hope answers questions about racial injustice and its impact on the design of urban spaces, monuments and memorials.
The project, “Public Space and Scrutiny: Examining Urban Monuments Through Social Psychology,” won a 2020 SOM Foundation Research Prize, created by the architectural firm Skidmore Owings and Merrill to advance the design profession’s ability to address the world’s most critical issues.