Deans have a major impact on any university campus. Students feel it in the curriculum they’re taught and the professors they learn from. But at schools that educate students about city landscapes, a dean’s influence has ripple effects in all our lives as students go on to design the buildings that make up cities and plan for the built environment. In this conversation, we’ll hear from deans at schools of architecture about where they see the future of cities, how they plan to educate city builders in the next 20 years, and what must change to achieve a more equitable field. During the 20th Anniversary Solutions of the Year festival, you will hear from dozens of speakers who are making change happen around issues such as reparations, community development, public health and more. Festival programming explores the solutions that we want to see spread from one city to the next. Anyone working for greater justice and equity in cities will be able to take inspiratio
In order to develop a more equitable future, practitioners must plan for it now. Urban planning has historically been an exclusive space — leaving out the voices of residents of color and poor people. With new leadership in many of the field-defining associations, leaders of color are supporting a diversity of talent and changing the ways that city landscapes — and the residents who reside in them — are being planned for. They’re bringing intention and an eye toward equity to their work — whether that looks like urging the current decision makers to apply the same lens or creating opportunities or implementing strategies to increase the number of planners and designers of color in the field. During this conversation with leaders from professional organizations, speakers will discuss the work they’re doing and seeing to advance equity across the country. They’ll also share their visions for the future of their organizations and citie
Since its introduction in 1989, support has grown for HR 40, the federal legislation to establish a commission to study slavery and discrimination in the United States from 1619 to the present and make recommendations for how to repair harm done to descendants of enslaved Africans. HR 40 has nearly 200 cosponsors… But it has not made progress in congress since Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) brought it forward. As this legislation stands still, organizers, scholars and local civil servants are developing programs and plans to provide various forms of reparations for African descendants in their communities. In this Pecha Kucha-style event, speakers will present about the work they’re doing in their cities and states to ensure reparations becomes a reality. We’ll also hear about the wider, national landscape for this work. During the 20th Anniversary Solutions of the Year festival, you will hear from dozens of speakers who are making change happen around issues s
Journalism is a powerful tool. For centuries, media has been used to villify communties of color but it has also made change for the good. At Next City, we use journalism to spread solutions to social issues. But it can also be used to hold the powerful accountable, highlight the work of community members and change longheld narratives about people, places and ideas. During this conversation, we’ll speak with community-centered journalists about the current media landscape, their visions for the future of journalism and community storytelling — from checks and balances in the media to empowering communities to take control of their own stories, and how the work they’re doing in their newsrooms is helping to achieve a more equitable future. We’ll also discuss how meeting audiences where they are — in their neighborhoods and on social media — can have a powerful impact on people’s access to information and overall livelihood. Througho