Space: Liberator or Oppressor? Spatial Justice, Policy, and Politics
What happens when we treat city planning as activism? When we stop accepting space as it is, and start asking who it’s for, who it’s excluded, and how we can reclaim it?
This is not a webinar about design trends. It’s a call to rethink the physical and political systems that shape where and how we live.
Join Just Communities for a fireside chat with Paul Bauknight Jr., design justice advocate, practitioner, and President of The Center for Transformative Urban Design, for a conversation about space as a tool of liberation or oppression.
We’ll explore how spatial decisions, policies, and planning practices are shaped by power and how we can change them to reflect equity, memory, justice, and community.
If you’re a designer, advocate, developer, or organizer who believes space should serve people, not displace them, this one’s for you.
Event Details:
Wednesday, September 24 | 1–2 PM ET
A fireside chat with Paul Bauknight Jr., President of The Center for Transformative Urban Design, in conversation with Just Communities.
Meet the Faculty
Tsedey Betru
Tsedey is the Director of Just Communities at the Partnership for Southern Equity. Originally from Ethiopia, Tsedey’s experiences immigrating to the U.S. and growing up in Memphis, TN, have shaped and informed her 20-year career advancing racial equity in community and economic development.
She started her career as a community organizer for the National Voting Rights Institute and the 7th St. Community Improvement Initiative in Oakland, CA. After completing her graduate studies in urban policy analysis and nonprofit management, Tsedey worked at PolicyLink and at the Drum Major Institute for Public Policy in NYC before becoming the Vice President of Community LIFT in Memphis, TN.
More recently, she has moved into economic development and philanthropic advising, working as the Manager of Community Affairs & Strategic Initiatives for Invest Atlanta, as an economic development advisor to Memphis Mayor Wharton, and a philanthropic advisor to the Estee Lauder Charitable Foundation, Waverley Street Foundation, and Gates Foundation.
Tsedey currently serves on the City of Atlanta’s Urban Design Commission, the Atlanta BeltLine Public Arts Advisory, and raises funds for the African Diasporic Arts Museum of Atlanta.