I’m Kristen…

I write about place.

I love great places.

I am Black.

I am Urban.

I am Queer

I am a Feminist.

I am an Urbanist.

My (late) Black North Carolinian dad was a key influence in my being interested in the city. We used to bike around our working-class neighborhood, walk to the neighborhood ballpark and go downtown to all the festivals. He also took me to more school buildings than I would care to share. My Black North Carolinian mom taught in some of those school buildings and encouraged me to write my first books, make my first crafts, dance on beat and have a moral center. Between the two of them and my years in Greensboro, Raleigh, Durham, Kansas City, Washington, D.C., and Baltimore, I grew up and into a love of architecture, streets, trees, buses, trains, and lots of other things in the environment. Now I bring this to you in a format that is straightforward about who I am, a Black urbanist, a young queer cis woman of African-American, specifically North Carolina, descent who likes all things built environment, especially when it comes to cities.

What this platform/my work is NOT:

  • A complete slam of suburban and rural living. I’m all for better design, communities, and planning, no matter if you are highly dense (urban) or you are unincorporated (rural).
  • Consciously classist, sexist, queer/transphobic, xenophobic, ableist.
  • The only expert analysis from a Black queer cis Southern woman on these issues.
  • Your one Black (or Queer, Feminist) friend, colleague, preferred design team consultant, or constantly unpaid educator on issues of racism in urbanism and design.

What this platform and my work IS:

  • A place that centers Black Queer Feminist Urbanist thought, practice and ethics.
  • My livelihood– support me by checking out my resource list, becoming a Patreon to support the information I share on my social media accounts, as well access my educational audio and video content.
  • A learning experience.
  • A chance to change the world.

My Formal Bio

Kristen E. Jeffers (she/her)  is the founder and editor-in-chief of The Black Urbanist multimedia platform, as well as an author, textile artist and designer, urban planner and activist.  She holds a Master of Public Affairs focused on community and economic development from the University of North Carolina Greensboro, and a Bachelor of Arts in communication with a concentration in public relations from North Carolina State University. She has presented at the annual gatherings of the Congress for New Urbanism, YIMBYTown, Walk Bike Places, CityWorksXpo, APA Virginia, NACTO, and to communities around the US and Canada, using her personal story to illustrate what land use and planning really means and really does, plus encourage practitioners, both young and old in best practices. She is a Streetsblog Network member and has also contributed articles to CityLab, Greater Greater Washington, [Greensboro] News & Record, Yes! Weekly, Grist, Next City, Better! Towns and Cities, Triad City Beat,  Urban Escapee, and Urbanful and appeared on several NPR affiliate stations (KCUR, WAMU, and WUNC)  as a commentator and expert.

Members of the press on deadline can call me at (336) 317-3054 and leave a detailed message for me to follow up. All others can email me at kristen@theblackurbanist.com and I will then send along a Calendly link to set up a time to discuss speaking gigs, partnership opportunities, and platform sponsorships.

Or, you can get to know me a little better by:

  • Listening to my podcast, Defying Gentrification

Gentrification is fascist, but it's not too late to stop either. Defying Gentrification

Today I am back to meet the moment with encouragement for us to meet our fears and comfort head on, around defying and ending gentrification, so that we can beat fascism, not just at the White House, US Capitol, and Supreme Court, but in our hearts, minds, neighborhoods, and communities.I encourage you the listener, to have faith, to ground yourself and to remember that you one, aren’t alone or powerless and two, you don’t have to stay got by the system, but you better wake up to the fact the system as it is is probably not in your favor.People and Things I Mentioned in the EpisodeThe songs I played (copyrights maintained by each performer)Kurt Carr and the Kurt Carr Singers, I Almost Let Go – Beautiful Chorus, I Am Enough – Toni Jones – Currensea – The articles I mentioned in the first halfHampton Insitute on Gentirfication as a Settler Colonial Project — makes the case for gentrification as settler-colonialismMore on Ruth Glass, the British scholar who gave us the word gentrification — s original definition of gentrification, which was more relatable to the context of London and how it had become “Americanized” (in her words)And I don’t mention this Liberation School article directly, but it ties gentrification back to what begat it, capitalism — https://www.liberationschool.org/gentrification-a-revolutionary-understanding/And finally, my podcast from earlier this year on building radical communities from a faith-based perspective with Rev. Dr. Andrew Wilkes Listen on YouTubeAnd of course, the full newsletter that I read from and played music from — https://theblackurbanist.substack.com/p/yes-gentrification-is-fascism-but?utm_source=activity_itemWays to Support Me That Help Me Pay the Bills in These Times— Become a Patreon — https://www.patreon.com/kristenejeffers— Become a Medium Member — https://medium.com/@blackurbanist— Go Paid on Substack — — Shop my Store on Bookshop.org – www.bookshop.org/shop/kristenejeffers— Shop my Kristpattern fiber arts supply shop — https://www.kristpattern.com— Watch the Defying Gentrification YouTube Channel —https://www.youtube.com/defyinggentrification— Watch the Kristpattern YouTube channel – https://www.youtube.com/kristpattern Get full access to Defying Gentrification, Crafting Liberation at theblackurbanist.substack.com/subscribe
  1. Gentrification is fascist, but it's not too late to stop either.
  2. Making Plenty Good Room with Rev. Dr. Andrew Wilkes
  3. The Grief that Gentrification Brings
  4. [PODCAST] Past and Present Black Migrations for Liberation with Arionne Nettles
  5. Past and Present Black Migrations for Liberation with Arionne Nettles

Are There Really Too Many Planners in Certain Metro Areas?

The Continuous Quest to Mentally Cope With Modern Civic Life as a Young Black Woman Professional

How Do You Define Your City? And Does Your City Define Itself in the Same Way?

Building on Theories and Practice of Black Urbanism in Our New World

Questions to Ask (and Traps to Avoid) When Considering a Career in Placemaking

The Quest for a Forever Home in an Era of Mass Gentrification

Place in A Time of Terror and Inequality

Why Road Gentrification Is Good Gentrification

Putting Place and Experience Back Into Retail

Why We May Never Have the Right Words for the Places We Live

Things that Should Never Be in Driving Distance

Whose Suburbs are We Talking About Again?

Can We Let the People Gentrify Themselves?

The Privilege of Urbanism, The Democracy of Placemaking 

Everything I Learned About Place, I Learned on Campus

The Common Man’s Legacy in A City

Coming Back to the Streets, Coming Back to Action

The American Expat, In America

Does it Matter Who Owns the Corner Store?

The Creative Class: Off the Record and On The Money

The One Key Reason Those Scary Housing Discrimination Maps Are Still True

Are There Really No Things to Do for Young Black Professionals in North Carolina?

You can invest in my work and this platform via Patreon on a monthly or annual basis. You can also contribute to my capital campaign powered by GoFundMe, invest in the currency of your choice via PayPal or send a little something via Cash.App or Venmo. Our store is open at our sister site, Kristpattern.

 

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A Black Queer Feminist Urbanist Resource created and curated by Kristen E. Jeffers