EarthLab announced their Innovation Grants for 2024-25 for projects focused on Climate and Social Justice. The awardees were announced in March 2024, and 2 of the 5 selected projects include CBE researchers. Project Title: Catalyzing Just Circular Communities: A Feasibility Study of a Large-Scale Anaerobic Biodigester to Generate Hyper-local, Community-Owned Clean Energy Infrastructure in Seattle’s South Park CBE Team Members: Catherine De Almeida, Associate Professor, Landscape Architecture; Gundula Proksch, Associate Professor, Architecture. Project Title: Healing Amazonian Soils with Science and…
Department: Landscape Architecture
Building equity into public park and recreation service investment: A review of public agency approaches
Beck, H., Berney, R., Kirk, B., & Yocom, K. P. (2024). Building equity into public park and recreation service investment: A review of public agency approaches. Landscape and Urban Planning. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2024.105069
Abstract
In recent decades, academic and professional research has increased understanding of the importance of city and landscape planners engaging with social and environmental justice issues, including contemporary inequities inherent in the planning, distribution, use, and access of public green and open spaces. However, there is a gap between this research centering equity and the planning, development, and implementation rate demonstrated by public agencies. In this article, we examine examples of emerging practice in the public park and recreation sector to understand the strategies and approaches public agencies are taking to provide equitable park and recreation systems. Our research identifies and analyzes 17 examples of North American public park and open space management agencies using equity-based planning frameworks to prioritize park investment and resource distribution. Equity-focused resource analysis is distinct because while it assesses budget and project-based funding distributions, it further incorporates assessments of historical allocations to understand better areas of under-investment and the evolving needs of different communities. As economic inequities become more pronounced, local governments, and other public institutions providing services to populations, are important in helping communities navigate changes. Our findings support the ongoing advancement of equity-driven planning and implementation for public park and recreation agencies by providing practical information on existing approaches to redress the impact of unfair patterns of under-investment.
2024 CBE Inspire Fund Awardees Announced
The CBE Inspire Fund Awardees for the 2024 cycle have been selected! Their project names and team members are outlined below. Title: Mycelium Grow Lab for Student-led Research Team: Gundula Proksch (Associate Professor, Architecture), Tyler Sprague (Associate Professor, Architecture) Title: Exhibition of the works of OUR: Office of (Un)certainty Research Team: Vikram Prakash (Professor, Architecture) Title: Emergence, Resilience, and Future(s) of Urban Informality in Seattle Team: Julie Johnson (Associate Professor, Landscape Architecture), Manish Chalana (Associate Professor, Urban Design and Planning)…
Catherine De Almeida selected for Community Engagement Lead Role
Catherine De Almeida, Associate Professor in the Department of Landscape Architecture was selected as one of twelve faculty and staff across the University of Washington Seattle, Bothell, and Tacoma campuses to focus on topics related to community engaged research and learning. “The initial priorities for community engagement infrastructure to be addressed through this funding include: Develop community engagement best principles and blueprints in alignment with diversity, equity, and inclusion Support or incorporate community engagement in campus-scale strategies and planning Remove…
Other Spaces of Quarantine
Lozanovska, M., Pieris, A., Haghighi, F., Taylor, W. M., Hou, J., Smitheram, J., & Chee, L. (2020). Other Spaces of Quarantine. Fabrications : The Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, Australia and New Zealand, 30(3), 416–429. https://doi.org/10.1080/10331867.2020.1857609
Guerrilla Urbanism: Urban Design and the Practices of Resistance
Hou, J. (2020). Guerrilla urbanism: urban design and the practices of resistance. Urban Design International (London, England), 25(2), 117–125. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41289-020-00118-6
Abstract
Unsanctioned, unscripted, and seemingly “undesirable” activities have long appropriated urban spaces in routine and sometimes unexpected ways, bringing new meanings and unforeseen functions to those places. In the last decade or so, such practices have inspired a growing movement under the banner of DIY and tactical urbanisms. The growing acceptance of these practices creates important openings in the formalized planning systems for greater fexibility and expedient change. Yet, the institutionalization of previously informal and even subversive acts has resulted in concerns regarding co-optation and de-politicization. This special issue seeks to pivot a refocus towards these unsanctioned and unscripted urban activities as a form of counter-hegemonic spatial practices, distinct from its professionalized and institutionalized counterpart. A range of cases is examined here sharing similar characteristics as challenges against the prevailing social and political paradigm. Key findings include the scalability of guerrilla actions, the fuid shift between overt and covert actions, and the linkage between everyday struggles and organized resistance. This special issue is intended to advance our understanding of urban design by situating it in a broader social, economic, and political praxis that encompasses both formal and informal practices performed by a wide variety of individual and collective actors.
Keywords
Guerrilla urbanism; Tactical urbanism; Insurgent planning; Spatial practices; Everyday resistance
Civic Resilience and the COVID-19 Crisis in Urban Asia
Hou, Jeffrey. 2021. Civic Resilience and the COVID-19 Crisis in Urban Asia. Journal of Geographical Science, 100: 121-136. DOI: 10.6161/jgs.202112_(100).0006
Abstract
Civil society responses including self-help and mutual aid have played an important role in addressing the COVID-19 crisis around the world, including Asia. They represent a form of civic resilience, the ability of citizens and communities to cope with and adapt to social, economic, and environmental disturbances. But how exactly did communities and social groups in Asia self-organize to address challenges during the pandemic, particularly those facing the most vulnerable populations in society? What did these cases have in common? What can we learn from these civil society responses for future planning? What were the roles of researchers, spatial planning professionals, and institutions in strengthening community resilience? This article presents outcomes from a two-part webinar titled ＂Bottom-Up Resilience＂ that took place in July 2020 featuring activists, organizers, and researchers from Hong Kong, Manila, Shanghai, Singapore, Taipei, and Tokyo. Preliminary findings include contrasting responses from institutions and civil society actors, how the civil society responses have built upon and expanded trust and empathy in a given place, how civil society responses scale up, and such scalability has depended heavily on solidarity and collaboration. The article further discusses how these efforts represent a form of civic resilience, the continued barriers, and implications for spatial planning practices.
Voices of Precarity in Taipei
Chu, A-Yong and Jeffrey Hou. 2023. Voices of Precarity in Taipei. Topos, 125: 78-84. https://shop.georg-media.de/topos-125/
Abstract
This issue marks 125 issues of topos, the unique magazine for landscape architecture and urban planning. 1 2 5 issues of topos magazine. But: We do not want to use this anniversary to celebrate ourselves. Instead, we want to use this anniversary to focus on an urban issue that is so brutal that almost everyone would rather look the other way than take action: poverty. We want to use this issue of topos magazine to celebrate, in conversation with planners, city leaders and entrepreneurs, those people and projects, that work every day to create a more equitable metropolis of the future that provides warmth, food and shelter for everyone. So this is what’s #125 about. Celebrate with us what truly matters in the city of tomorrow.
Progress Update on CBE researchers selected for inaugural cohort of Urban@UW Research to Action Collaboratory
At the end of October, Urban@UW hosted the first ½-day Research to Action Collaboratory workshop session for more learning, sharing and productivity. The Just Circular Communities team attended and focused on solidifying and growing their network of community partners. The team is also working to build a broader definition of “circular economy.” Read more about the October workshop session here. —– May 18, 2023: College of Built Environments researchers are selected for inaugural cohort of the Urban@UW Research to Action…
Celina Balderas Guzmán New Faculty Spotlight on the UW Research website
CBE Assistant Professor of Landscape Architecture Celina Balderas Guzmán was featured in a New Faculty Spotlight story on the UW Research website highlighting her work. “Dr. Balderas Guzmán’s research spans environmental planning, design, and science and focuses on climate adaptation to sea level rise on the coast and urban stormwater inland.” Read the full story here.