GCPE Spring 2023 Lecture Series: Counternarratives for Transformation to an Inclusive Society

Always at the forefront of struggles for social justice, place-based grassroots initiatives are vital to our understanding of how practice can challenge white supremacy, racialized and gendered capitalism, land grabs, erasure, and climate denial. Taken collectively, grassroots initiatives that challenge the status quo are the movement that poses a counterpoint to the rise in totalitarianism across the globe. The 2023 GCPE Spring Lecture Series celebrates and amplifies the work of justice-serving initiatives and poses questions about how the fields of urbanism can help bring this work to scale.

March 10 – Community Planning and Progress Toward Economic Democracy

Quilian Riano, opening remarks, Interim Dean, Pratt Institute SoA

Mark Winston-Griffith, moderator, Free Speech TV

Michael Partis, Bronx Cooperative Development Initiative

Sarah Ludwig, New Economy Project

Ali Issa, Cooperative Economics Alliance of NYC

Alexis Harrison, Central Brooklyn Food Coop

Presented by the MS in Urban and Community Planning program

March 24 – Why Public Space Matters: A Discussion of Placemaking Theory & Practice

Setha Low, CUNY Professor and author of Why Public Space Matters (Oxford University Press 2023)

Leslie Davol, Executive Director, Streetlab

Mike Lydon, Executive Director, StreetPlans

Nando Rodriguez, Brotherhood SisterSol

Presented by the MS in Urban Placemaking and Management program

April 7 – Just Transitions at the Edge: Community-Led Coastal Adaptation

Erica Asinas, moderator, Urban Ocean Lab

Dariella Rodriguez, The Point CDC, The Bronx

Cynthia Burgos, La Maraña Puerto Rico

Additional speaker to be added

Presented by the MS in Sustainable Environmental Systems program

April 14  – Reclaiming History Through Heritage Preservation Practice *April 14 will be virtual on Zoom

Ron Shiffman, Professor Emeritus, Pratt Institute School of Architecture, opening remarks

Christopher Cirillo,, Ascendant Neighborhood Development, moderator

Ashley Minner Jones, PhD, Community Artist

Michelle Magalong, PhD, Asian and Pacific Islander Americans in Historic Preservation

Traci Jones, African American Civil Rights Heritage Sites Consortium

Presented by the MS in Historic Preservation program