Without humanity, everything we build is just statues and structures and experiments. Empty, hostile, and haunting. When we think about how people use what we make, and honor their diversity and ensure their inherent humanity, we always win.

This is The Black Urbanist Weekly with Kristen Jeffers, an email newsletter that highlights the Black Queer Feminist Urbanist thoughts and commentary of me, Kristen E.  Jeffers, an internationally-known urban planner,  fiber designer, and contributing editor. Think of this as an editorial page column, but directly in your email.

Let’s get started with a few words of reflection from me, then my weekly section on my Black queer feminist urbanist principles, “The Principle Corner”, then By the Way where I highlight articles and projects I had a hand in externally.; On the Shelf, On the Playlist where I share book and music recommendations, and finally Before You Go, where I share any ads and announcements if I have them and ways to support this work financially and externally. 

So, I’m trying to not open these emails with a sermon, but right now, I have to highlight that we are in a very real crisis of unsafe spaces. Note that I don’t say uncomfortable spaces, because there’s a difference. 

Not parsing out that difference is costing us lives. 

In my definition, unsafe space is someone threatening verbal or weaponized violence against you for covering your face or not looking, sounding, or even feeling the way you’re “supposed” to feel for them. Unsafe space is also space that is physically inaccessible. 

An uncomfortable space is when someone’s behavior or look isn’t pleasurable or appealing to you, but they aren’t endangering your life or well-being for being in the space. Also, their being in the space isn’t keeping you from coming in and thriving, either on your own or with assistance.

These distinctions get muddy when we have faith traditions that teach that being allowed to be in the presence of the Divine means looking or acting or being a certain way. Never mind humans, even if you believe we just evolved without any overarching actor, just are. No qualifications or questions. However, in our souls, we’ve decided that sometimes some people don’t belong or aren’t good enough.

Sometimes the person we decided wasn’t good enough is us.

And in a world where we’ve created tools that can make dirt and powder weapons of mass destruction, where we use our bare hands to snuff out the breath or beat down the brains of those we don’t like, the lines are further blurred between uncomfortable and unsafe spaces.

But we owe it to ourselves, as cliche as all of this sounds, to be in the right relationship with humans. 

And if you ever wonder, especially if you’re new around here why I spend so much time talking about who actually uses those 15-minute cities, those shiny new office cubicles with HEPA filters and the outdoor seating cafes, and yes, the bus, it’s because they’re all for naught if they’re empty.

Because you want your building to be more than a tall, expensive statue of windows.

You want your transit system to be more than a life-sized, gas or electric-powered Hot Wheels toy set on a fixed track.

Because we are all worthy and none of our labor is in vain.

(Also, I want to shout out my therapist for nudging me to start thinking about what’s uncomfortable vs. what’s unsafe. I want to put in a note here to encourage you to find a therapist that knows that much of what we consider mental health is just health and who can help you handle systemic oppression while also learning how to break it down).

The Principle Corner

Each week, I’m taking a moment to share how I’ve been building the Black Queer Feminist Urbanist practice and ethic, so we can approach this work from a similar starting point.  This week, I wanted to pause with the specific principles and talk a little more about this Black Queer Feminist Index I’m shaping.

So last week, we ran into a bit of a technical difficulty with my Personal Space Comfort Index.  

However, this week, rather than panicking when my measure didn’t work right and dumping it (see, I’m just as guilty as others of discarding data and measures, not because they don’t work, but because they don’t seem to work), I am sharing as much of the index as I can, because next week, based on what we’ve been talking about in our opening reflections, I want to dig into why these spaces are uncomfortable for me. And, I want to find a survey software to help me make this easy for you to do so that I can collect and compare data.

In the meantime, you can just do your own 1-10 list on a piece of paper or list from the most comfortable, to least comfortable, spaces that you are most comfortable in. Another advantage of doing this is that you can write out the names of the spaces in the way you know them, not just in the way that others code them for analysis.  If you’d like me to compare and contrast, feel free to email me at kristen@theblackurbnanist.com if this is not already in your inbox. If it is in your email, reply back or leave it in the comments on my website or Substack. 

Now, without further ado, the list. Here’s the vertical version of my Personal Space Comfort Index  from most to least comfortable:

Nature Trail/River Kayaking

Bookstores and Libraries

Craft circles, stores, and festivals

Places that sell and serve food (restaurants/grocery stores/bars)

Private residences

Public transportation

Schools and workplaces

Healthcare facilities

Hair Salons

Churches* (I’ll explain this asterisk in a few weeks when I break down why I feel least comfortable in a church but not necessarily in spiritual spaces). 

By the Way

Here’s where  I share other articles/videos that were noteworthy for me this week in this section. Apologies in advance for things behind a paywall. Some things I subscribe to and others I grab just before the wall comes down on me. I will start marking these articles and describing them. 

So yes, you might have seen that one of Lyft’s pages honored me and 9 of my colleagues as one of their top-ten people to follow in transportation and they drew me and four others on the list. I’ll echo here what I said on my personal Facebook when I posted it there earlier today: 

In the fall of 2017 and spring of 2018 I was driving Lyft to help build up my budding transportation, design, and media business, and now I’m one of their top-ten leaders.

While a lot of these rankings can be political and yes, even petty, I do honor that I’m not doing the work in a vacuum or in vain.

Also, we all need to be lifting each other up when we can. It’s why appreciate so much the opportunity earlier this month to be on KBOO Community Radio’s monthly The Bike Show, currently co-hosted by my dear friend in the urbanism space,  Nedra Deadwyler.  I haven’t shared it before now because I felt super rambly and we had technical difficulties. But again, what I think is rambles, many of you get insight and light, especially those of you with whom we share marginalized intersections. I hope this interview and the Lyft article above empower you. Not just in your work, but you as a human. 

And since we are talking data, I absolutely support disaggregation of ethnicities within assumed ethnicities like Asian and African-American. We have a similar thread, but we are not all the same and it matters when people are baselining average salaries and presumed well-being on a number that’s skewed by those doing the best in our community. 

Finally, I’m also still thinking of this after watching this documentary by Tracee Wilkins of NBC Washington about how Charles County has become the new destination county for Black folks of means in the DC area. In addition to everything that’s been said by myself and other writers that I highlighted some of last week, I really worry that our classism is going to do us in. It’s also why I’m somewhat hesitant to disaggregate some data points, but I know that we need both measures to ensure the actual liberation of all oppressed people.

On the Shelf, On the Playlist

It’s that time of year that I look to blast soft, airy, spring-like jazz and R&B music. In 2020 and again in 2023 with his new record, Braxton Cook’s jazz has floated to the top of my list. Additionally, Maxwell’s Embrya is back in my rotation, as it celebrates its 25th anniversary. But, I finished today’s newsletter with both of Kelela’s full-lengths back-to-back.

And I pulled Moya Bailey’s breakdown of how she crafted the concept of misogynoir off my physical shelf. It’s already in the canon, because, reasons, but as we continue through this month, I want to really soak in and understand this concept as a creator of media.

Before You Go

This is our last section, where I have classified advertisements for others, but I also advertise things that I’m doing that are for sale or for hire. Rates start at $75 a week for a four-week commitment and $150 for just one week. Learn more and get started with your ad!

Mpact: Transit + Community conference (formerly called Rail~Volution) is inviting you to submit a proposal to speak at the 2023 conference coming to Phoenix, AZ, in November. If you work on transit, connected mobility options, supportive land use & development, share your experience via a proposal. Full information here: https://www.mpactmobility.org/conference/speakers/. 

The deadline to submit is March 31, 2023. 

The conference is known as a place to learn new tools and forge cross-sector connections. It focuses on the whole community built around transit and multimodal investments, from the modes themselves to housing, business, and economic development, including the implications for health, safety, equity, sustainability, access to opportunity, and overall quality of life. 

To submit a proposal, review the Call for Speakers Information packet, download the worksheet to draft your submission, then submit using an online form. (All the links are on this page: mpactmobility.org/speakers.) Your proposal is an indication that you are willing and able to be in Phoenix for the conference. Speakers can attend for free for the day they are speaking (session schedule will be available in July) or will need to pay the full rate to attend the entire conference. Scholarships are available to people affiliated with community organizations and non-profits. 

The 2023 conference comes at a time when transit and development models are in flux and (in the US) federal infrastructure funding is rolling out. How are your projects or initiatives changing to respond to challenging times? How are you doing things differently to achieve better outcomes for your community? What are specific approaches to reversing disparities? To innovative financing? To more sustainable energy choices? To engaging community members in decision-making? To success in mitigating heat, fires, and flood or taking a systemic approach to 

climate change? 

The Call for Speakers for Mpact Transit + Community 2023 is your chance to join the conversation and shape the vision for how our communities move and thrive.

***

Free training on data analysis and storytelling for organizations working in urban equitable development

The Equitable Development Data Insight Training Initiative (EDDIT) teaches organizations, non-profits, and local governments in the U.S. and Canada how to use their data and resources to document, reflect, evaluate, and communicate the impacts of their work to stakeholders and communities.  

Our skilled data analysis and storytelling experts help organizations reach new audiences using data and resources they already own. We work closely with your organization to create 20-30 hours of personalized modules designed to meet your data and narrative needs. Organizations located in small to mid-sized cities (with populations less than 500,000) are eligible for our Initiative.

We are looking for a wide range of equitable development projects, from a local community garden to a city-wide public transportation plan. If you know an organization who could benefit from free training in data analysis and storytelling, we encourage you to share this Initiative. Let’s build equitable cities together. There is no cost to apply. 

Find out more on our website.

The Equitable Development Data Insight Training Initiative (EDDIT) is a collaboration between UC Berkeley Centre for Community Innovation and University of Toronto School of Cities, funded by a $2.2 million (USD) grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

***

Postdoctoral Scholar Fellow – Homelessness Hub

Location: University of California, San Diego

Homelessness Hub, a research entity in the Department of Urban Studies and Planning at UC San Diego, invites applications for a postdoctoral fellow working in the area of homelessness and/or housing precarity.

The official postdoctoral scholar fellowship appointment will be through the UC San Diego Department of Urban Studies and Planning. The postdoctoral scholar will work under the supervision of the Homelessness Hub leadership team: Dr. Jennifer Nations, Dr. Mirle Rabinowitz Bussell and Dr. Leslie Lewis.

Homelessness Hub is focused on research, education, and communications on housing andhomelessness-related topics for San Diego and neighboring regions. Equity and justice areintegral to our work and we center the experiences of individuals with lived experience of homelessness. We are actively expanding our research agenda and will do so by leveraging new and existing collaborations.

A highly qualified postdoctoral scholar is sought to contribute to all aspects of Homelessness Hub’s research process. Position duties include but are not limited to: developing research design and methods; data collection and analysis; writing manuscripts and grant proposals; and mentoring and supervising students and research assistants.

Program: https://homelessnesshub.ucsd.edu

Department: https://usp.ucsd.edu

Salary range: A reasonable salary range estimate for this position is $64,522-$72,000.

APPLY LINK: https://apol-recruit.ucsd.edu/JPF03524

***

If you want me to show up on your panel, keynote, or podcast book a complimentary consultation call. I still have open availability for 2023 and 2024.

***

I have created a special landing page, www.theblackurbanist.com/books, that’s not only a home for my upcoming volume, A Black Urbanist Journey to a Queer Feminist Future,  but all those books in the Black Queer Feminist Urbanist canon.

***

if you want to send me money for quick expenses or like a tip jar, you can Venmo me. If you become a Patreon, you can do that on a set monthly basis, along with a special thank you note each week! The GoFundMe is still alive if you want to make large donations quickly and you can subscribe on Substack, but know that nothing in this newsletter is going behind paywall, this is considered a love offering. 

***

And if you want to support my textile and fiber work, head over to www.kristpattern.com. 

Until next time,

Kristen

Yes, you can go off vibes and create a space. However, we can’t expect all of our vibes to always vibe together and that’s where the data comes in to meet us.

This is The Black Urbanist Weekly with Kristen Jeffers, an email newsletter that highlights the Black Queer Feminist Urbanist thoughts and commentary of me, Kristen E.  Jeffers, an internationally-known urban planner,  fiber designer, and contributing editor. Think of this as an editorial page column, but directly in your email.

 Let’s get started with a few words of reflection from me, then my weekly section on my Black queer feminist urbanist principles, “The Principle Corner”, then By the Way where I highlight articles and projects I had a hand in externally.; On the Shelf, On the Playlist where I share book and music recommendations, and finally Before You Go, where I share any ads and announcements if I have them and ways to support this work financially and externally. 

The grocery store used to scare me. 

And no, I’m not talking about three years ago when we first went into COVID-19 lockdown, but when I was younger, I thought all these people were staring at me and how weird I was.

As much as I love the mall now, I felt the same way up in there too.

However, and this should have been a clue, I never felt nervous at the fabric store. Well, other than when it came time to cut fabric or use the actual sewing machine. But my body was never an issue and after all, this was a space celebrating creativity, especially for femme-presenting folks. (This was the 1990s, we were just starting to do better about this in the South, only to reverse course in so many ways).

And at Borders in the mid-1990s, there was always another quirky nerdy, even Black, child sitting around and reading just like me every Tuesday and Thursday night that my dad would take me, so I wouldn’t have to spend all my time at the fabric store where my mom worked 

Once I realized my hair wasn’t going to fall out, and I had a stylist that wanted my hair to grow and thrive,  I started to relax at my hair salon.

It was ok to step in a little mud and frizz out my hair on the nature trails because I was gradually being reminded that I too belong in natural spaces. After all, we all came from the Earth!

Coming out fully gave me a larger voice in matters and spaces of gender and sexuality.

Likewise with spiritual spaces, but depending on the denomination and their commitment to justice and liberation, that can still be a fraught environment.

Work and school can also be hit or miss.

And as much as I know many of you trust my judgment and would make a space better anyway, just because I told you I needed you too, sometimes, we need the kinds of measurements that we can easily distill and use to convince others to make our spaces welcoming.

It’s also how we de-marginalize ourselves so that instead of being history and history alone, we have a role in the present times, exactly where we need to be and nowhere else.

So, are you ready to measure better with me? Let’s go and scroll.

The Principle Corner

Each week, I’m taking a moment to share how I’ve been building the Black Queer Feminist Urbanist practice and ethic, so we can approach this work from a similar starting point.  This week, I wanted to pause with the specific principles and talk a little more about this Black Queer Feminist Index I’m shaping.

So, I opened up the newsletter with that thought because the big drop this week is my new measure. Introducing the Personal Space Comfort Index.  How does it work?

I created 10 space types and I ranked them from one-ten based on one being the least comfortable and 10 being the most comfortable. Sadly, the table is only rendering in some platforms, but not others and I found this out just before I pushed send on Friday afternoon (today).

Be patient with me, we will have an index because we absolutely need a measurement.

By the Way

Here’s where  I share other articles/videos that were noteworthy for me this week in this section. Apologies in advance for things behind a paywall. Some things I subscribe to and others I grab just before the wall comes down on me. I will start marking these articles and describing them. 

First,  I really appreciate reading how other urbanists, architects, and planners of color are reckoning with how this work has oppressed us, yet taking it back in ways that can heal us.  This architecture firm is one of many and I appreciate their candid thoughts on why it’s harder for us to start and sustain design firms as Black folks.

It’s especially relevant to think about how much control in what we are building as last Sunday I called home to my mom and she told me that Smith Homes, the housing project I spent my first nine years living with my mom and dad adjacent to, and several years visiting my dad in, until his untimely death almost a decade ago, is now being torn down. 

And not just bulldozed for replacement housing, of which I’m not sure the terms, but used as a training facility by the Greensboro Police and Fire departments. This was reported on back in November and December, but I was super busy and I didn’t make it to North Carolina in person then after all as I had hoped. 

Between this and the well-meaning, but off-base execution of the temporary tiny homes and safe sleeping lot for cars, I feel like my childhood home continues to slip away. No amount of Boomeranging will bring my dad and the lives and community back that seem to require one to have a certain salary or affiliation, even in my mid-sized hometown in the South. Plus, what will come of the community efforts to end violence and provide resources in these areas as the replacement housing is at least five years away, and there’s no guarantee that even if everyone is eligible to come back, they will. 

And this news comes to me as we continue to process the aftermath of yet another fire at the apartment complex in Silver Spring, Maryland now known as Arrive Silver Spring.  My friend and GGWash colleague Dan Reed spent several key childhood years in this building under another name and has broken down how this building came to be and every single vein of problems it has, past and present. They also manage to slide in their personal story in the most perfect way as they always do when they write about their life vis-a-vis urbanism.  

However, Dan’s story was one of my proudest edits thus far as one of GGWash’s contributing editors,  This story, from writer Olubusayo Shabi, is the other. She broke down the promised land myth people put on the Black communities of the DC metro area (which we affectionately call the DMV) and I’m so happy to have ushered in her first professional byline! There will be more! 

Finally, this may have not left Black feminist and queer/trans-Twitter, but yes Alice Walker has clearly and definitely joined the TERF squad. Unpacking everything around this is a whole other newsletter, but I wanted y’all to know that I saw it and it underscores why we have to make this month about gender marginalization and liberation and not just “womanhood”.

On the Shelf, On the Playlist

It’s something about Omar’s The Anthology that can always bring me comfort. Last March Omar’s song Winner popped up in one of my Get Up! Mixes on Apple Music and I ended up going down the entire rabbit hole of the album as it streams on Apple Music (which leaves out a few songs, for reasons I’m assuming are related to samples and contracts). I’ve not been an Omar fan as long as some, I came into the fold with his 2013 record, The Man. However, listening to this retrospective record, in part or whole can completely shift my mood. It got me through anticipation around my surgery last year and as I await if I have to go onto another round, I am happy to soundtrack it with our very early cherry blossoms this year.

Meanwhile, we talked a lot about Greensboro and DC in the last section and I’m digging into I Am Debra Lee, to learn more about one of my elders who made the NC to DC leap, with a whole lot of other places in the middle. And yes, it’s also a media memoir. I also have Jemele Hill’s memoir in the queue and it was an honor to read Dorothy Gillam’s memoirand meet her in person. Living Black woman/ femme-presenting media legends give me life as I both continue to write for you and nurture other writers! Especially as it continues to be hard out here for many of us to do our work and speak up.

Before You Go

This is our last section, where I have classified advertisements for others, but I also advertise things that I’m doing that are for sale or for hire. Rates start at $75 a week for a four-week commitment and $150 for just one week. Learn more and get started with your ad!

Mpact: Transit + Community conference (formerly called Rail~Volution) is inviting you to submit a proposal to speak at the 2023 conference coming to Phoenix, AZ, in November. If you work on transit, connected mobility options, supportive land use & development, share your experience via a proposal. Full information here: https://www.mpactmobility.org/conference/speakers/. 

The deadline to submit is March 31, 2023. 

The conference is known as a place to learn new tools and forge cross-sector connections. It focuses on the whole community built around transit and multimodal investments, from the modes themselves to housing, business and economic development, including the implications for health, safety, equity, sustainability, access to opportunity and overall quality of life. 

To submit a proposal, review the Call for Speakers Information packet, download the worksheet to draft your submission, then submit using an online form. (All the links are on this page: mpactmobility.org/speakers.) Your proposal is an indication that you are willing and able to be in Phoenix for the conference. Speakers can attend for free for the day they are speaking (session schedule will be available in July) or will need to pay the full rate to attend the entire conference. Scholarships are available to people affiliated with community organizations and non-profits. 

The 2023 conference comes at a time when transit and development models are in flux and (in the US) federal infrastructure funding is rolling out. How are your projects or initiatives changing to respond to challenging times? How are you doing things differently to achieve better outcomes for your community? What are specific approaches to reversing disparities? To innovative financing? To more sustainable energy choices? To engaging community members in decision-making? To success in mitigating heat, fires and flood or taking a systemic approach to 

climate change? 

The Call for Speakers for Mpact Transit + Community 2023 is your chance to join the conversation and shape the vision for how our communities move and thrive.

***

Postdoctoral Scholar Fellow – Homelessness Hub

Location: University of California, San Diego

Homelessness Hub, a research entity in the Department of Urban Studies and Planning at UC San Diego, invites applications for a postdoctoral fellow working in the area of homelessness and/or housing precarity.

The official postdoctoral scholar fellowship appointment will be through the UC San Diego Department of Urban Studies and Planning. The postdoctoral scholar will work under the supervision of the Homelessness Hub leadership team: Dr. Jennifer Nations, Dr. Mirle Rabinowitz Bussell and Dr. Leslie Lewis.

Homelessness Hub is focused on research, education, and communications on housing andhomelessness-related topics for San Diego and neighboring regions. Equity and justice areintegral to our work and we center the experiences of individuals with lived experience of homelessness. We are actively expanding our research agenda and will do so by leveraging new and existing collaborations.

A highly qualified postdoctoral scholar is sought to contribute to all aspects of Homelessness Hub’s research process. Position duties include but are not limited to: developing research design and methods; data collection and analysis; writing manuscripts and grant proposals; and mentoring and supervising students and research assistants.

Program: https://homelessnesshub.ucsd.edu

Department: https://usp.ucsd.edu

Salary range: A reasonable salary range estimate for this position is $64,522-$72,000.

APPLY LINK: https://apol-recruit.ucsd.edu/JPF03524

***

If you want me to show up on your panel, keynote, or podcast book a complimentary consultation call. I still have open availability for 2023 and 2024.

***

I have created a special landing page, www.theblackurbanist.com/books, that’s not only a home for my upcoming volume, A Black Urbanist Journey to a Queer Feminist Future,  but all those books in the Black Queer Feminist Urbanist canon.

***

if you want to send me money for quick expenses or like a tip jar, you can Venmo me. If you become a Patreon, you can do that on a set monthly basis, along with a special thank you note each week! The GoFundMe is still alive if you want to make large donations quickly and you can subscribe on Substack, but know that nothing in this newsletter is going behind a paywall, this is considered a love offering. 

***

And if you want to support my textile and fiber work, head over to www.kristpattern.com. 

Until next time,

Kristen

Yes, some things need to be measured properly to work. However,  when we measure actual humans in a certain way, it just creates marginalizations rather than liberation.

This is The Black Urbanist Weekly with Kristen Jeffers, an email newsletter that highlights the Black Queer Feminist Urbanist thoughts and commentary of me, Kristen E.  Jeffers, an internationally-known urban planner,  fiber designer, and contributing editor. Think of this as an editorial page column, but directly in your email.

 Let’s get started with a few words of reflection from me, then my weekly section on my Black queer feminist urbanist principles, “The Principle Corner”, then By the Way where I highlight articles and projects I had a hand in externally.; On the Shelf, On the Playlist where I share book and music recommendations, and finally Before You Go, where I share any ads and announcements if I have them and ways to support this work financially and externally. 

For years I thought I was a horrible writer.  Go ahead and laugh at this, but I’m serious. 

This was based on my not doing so well on the statewide writing assessment North Carolina gives to students in the fourth, seventh, and tenth grades. I learned through reading this document on the writing assessments as I knew them in school, that my class year of fourth graders was the first class to take the writing test in the fourth grade in the spring of 1996.

I do remember us being pushed hard and being told that it would have a huge impact on our future.  I also remember that this assessment tested how well we could write on a particular document. The document had some scanning bubbles for our demographic information, a page and a half of pre-written lines to limit our writing space and help us stay on prompt,  and the choice of said prompts. The tests were randomized by colors: Christmas red and green, plus grape soda purple which was supposed to keep us from cheating on each other.  

When my test came back, I had a level three. Which wasn’t bad and it lined up with what my natural abilities were at the time, but I felt like I just wasn’t good at persuasive or descriptive or declarative writing.

Despite having won a schoolwide, grade-wide writing award in the spring of 1994 that allowed second-grade me to go to my first invite-only writing conference at UNC-Greensboro. 

I’ll share more of that story in my book, but I won that award because I was good at making picture books I wrote and illustrated by hand.  We didn’t even have this software yet to type directly into the computer and we were many, many years away from iPads that render handwriting and scribbles.  However, with my mom’s help in proofreading and teaching me how to properly use a glue stick to cut out and tape my best illustrations in the book, after plenty of practice, I  had an award-winning book!

Looking back now, I realize that, the standard in the fourth grade was based on speed and tokenization. We were told that children in other countries could write persuasively and perfectly on demand in the fourth grade, why can’t us? And of course,  as I mentioned before, the test had been previously given in the sixth and ninth grades. Why the rush make us as fourth graders consume and process more information?

Never mind that adults get editors all the time. Some even get ghostwriters. And sadly, I wasn’t the only child that struggled with this particular assessment.

I share this now as I launch back into building the Black Queer Feminist Urbanist Index, in solidarity with similar efforts, some that I’ll link to further down in the email. The index as I continue to refine it will have different measures. These other researchers have different measures.

We are all people and everything about us is a data point. However, we will never all fit into one measurement and that’s more than ok!

Keep this in mind as we continue to honor these “marginalized months” and craft a world where we are honored and celebrated every single day without qualification.

The Principle Corner

Each week, I’m taking a moment to share how I’ve been building the Black Queer Feminist Urbanist practice and ethic, so we can approach this work from a similar starting point. This week, I wanted to pause with the specific principles and talk a little more about this Black Queer Feminist Index I’m shaping.

In 2018, I read this article in CityLab ranking cities for Black women. It turned my gears. First, because technically, this online platform predates CityLab (and its predecessor The Atlantic Cities) by about 2-3 years. 

Some of you may remember reading me the first time as a “contributor” to the site. I say “contributor” because this was the time before digital writing fees had caught up to print writing fees, and blogs were just wayward, say ghetto, children of The Press. I was also a 25-year-old millennial who had been told that the press was dead when all they really wanted to do was not figure out how to pay people. I say all this to say, the site never paid me and I have yet to ever have a paid article, drafted on either Atlantic site. Yes, I’ve had opportunities, but they all just seem to fizzle into the night.

So already, I’m concerned when I see this article, not because of its byline, but because of the platform and how the measure only seemed to pick up on education, healthcare, and the ability to get a job and house. Never mind there are so many other elements to living in a racialized Black, feminized body in cities across the globe.

So I added eight more measures and launched my first survey to assess them in 2019.

Then, I realized that the further we got away from that 2018 assessment, and the more y’all would come to my page first as an authority on Black feminisms and queer/trans life in cities, I wanted you to know the width and breadth of everyone doing this work and why.

I also wanted to make sure folks got proper credit. Hence the creation of the Black Queer Feminist Urbanist Canon.

And, I am passionate about helping folks find the right place for them. A friend in the industry told me earlier this week that I’d been speaking about healing and collective care in urbanism even as far back as our podcast recording in the spring of 2018. The manifestation in this case is coming together.

And so, you’ve been waiting for the results of what we call the Black Queer Feminist Urbanist Index. I don’t have results today, and soon I’ll have a new measure that you can take and help me in building this canon of research.

 I am also still committed to sharing other canons of research into Black feminisms and how Black folks, especially Black gender marginalized folks, navigate metro areas.

Next week, in this section, I’ll introduce our new measure. Then in the following weeks, we’ll get back to sharing the different principles of Black Queer Feminist Urbanism.

By the Way

Here’s where  I share other articles/videos that were noteworthy for me this week in this section. Apologies in advance for things behind a paywall. Some things I subscribe to and others I grab just before the wall comes down on me. I will start marking these articles and describing them.

I took notes on this article on conservatives who are moving to the American West (paywall) because they think that oligarchy will cause a world war.  While there’s overlap with the concerns on people becoming serfs or re-enslaved, the racism, ableism, and queer/trans antagonism stick out greatly, namely in how some in the article are conflating elite capture of Black Lives  Matter and LGBTQIA+ progress with the actual people and grassroots movements that demand our humanity.  Plus, many of these people running away are capable of fixing the problems they bemoan.

Meanwhile, you don’t have to like us, but, I wish folks wouldn’t impede on our ability to raise money and for cities to provide reparations,  like this Alexandria, VA  grant program that was canceled. (Paywalled, but here’s another and a gifted one describing what’s happened here)

This past week was declared Black Women’s History Month,  by Feminista Jones. I didn’t realize we were on this same wavelength and an official bridge week between Black and Women’s History Month had been created, but we are certainly in solidarity.  

And the same with the Movement for Black Lives declaring this month Black Feminisms Month. Here they break down the reason why we speak of Black feminisms,  as we come to the table together, as individuals in solidarity.

On the Shelf, On the Playlist

I finally finished Women Talk Money, the amazing volume on money and wealth with a decolonial, abundance for all lens compiled by Rebbeca Walker, daughter of Alice and feminist and writer in her own right.  It is now in the official Black Queer Feminist Urbanist Canon and I encourage you to pick it up and read it,  along with  We Should All Be Millionaires by Rachel Rodgers and  It’s About  Damn Time,  by one of my closest business mentors,  Arlan Hamilton. Especially after reading that link about the conservative version of the apocalypse,  those of us who have been marginalized economically in one shape or form, need to understand how to manage money without exploiting our Earth and fellow human beings and creatures.

If you’re having trouble with those direct Bookshop links, go to my Books section on my homepage and you can access the store through that link. You’ll then need to scroll across to each book and click on its cover. And yes, as an affiliate, I do benefit financially, but this is one additional way to support this work.

And because it’s finally streaming, I played Logic’s new record as Les and I drove the George Washington Parkway back from a doctor’s appointment in Bethesda and to our regular pickup at Whole Foods in Navy Yard. (I don’t care what anyone says, anything south and west of 695, but east of South  Capitol Street is Navy Yard. Fight me later). I really, really love having area-specific hip-hop for the Mid-Atlantic.  I am very intrigued by Logic’s ability to spit rhymes and reboot the audio skit for the next generation of hip-hop and honestly all music period. Also, that cover image y’all!

Before You Go

This is our last section, where I have classified advertisements for others, but I also advertise things that I’m doing that are for sale or for hire. Rates start at $75 a week for a four-week commitment and $150 for just one week. Learn more and get started with your ad!

Mpact: Transit + Community conference (formerly called Rail~Volution) is inviting you to submit a proposal to speak at the 2023 conference coming to Phoenix, AZ, in November. If you work on transit, connected mobility options, supportive land use & development, share your experience via a proposal. Full information here: https://www.mpactmobility.org/conference/speakers/. 

The deadline to submit is March 31, 2023. 

The conference is known as a place to learn new tools and forge cross-sector connections. It focuses on the whole community built around transit and multimodal investments, from the modes themselves to housing, business and economic development, including the implications for health, safety, equity, sustainability, access to opportunity and overall quality of life. 

To submit a proposal, review the Call for Speakers Information packet, download the worksheet to draft your submission, then submit using an online form. (All the links are on this page: mpactmobility.org/speakers.) Your proposal is an indication that you are willing and able to be in Phoenix for the conference. Speakers can attend for free for the day they are speaking (session schedule will be available in July) or will need to pay the full rate to attend the entire conference. Scholarships are available to people affiliated with community organizations and non-profits. 

The 2023 conference comes at a time when transit and development models are in flux and (in the US) federal infrastructure funding is rolling out. How are your projects or initiatives changing to respond to challenging times? How are you doing things differently to achieve better outcomes for your community? What are specific approaches to reversing disparities? To innovative financing? To more sustainable energy choices? To engaging community members in decision-making? To success in mitigating heat, fires and flood or taking a systemic approach to climate change? 

The Call for Speakers for Mpact Transit + Community 2023 is your chance to join the conversation and shape the vision for how our communities move and thrive.

***

If you want me to show up on your panel, keynote, or podcast book a complimentary consultation call. I still have open availability for 2023 and 2024.

***

I have created a special landing page, www.theblackurbanist.com/books, that’s not only a home for my upcoming volume, A Black Urbanist Journey to a Queer Feminist Future,  but all those books in the Black Queer Feminist Urbanist canon.

***

if you want to send me money for quick expenses or like a tip jar, you can Venmo me. If you become a Patreon, you can do that on a set monthly basis, along with a special thank you note each week! The GoFundMe is still alive if you want to make large donations quickly and you can subscribe on Substack, but know that nothing in this newsletter is going behind paywall, this is considered a love offering . 

***

And if you want to support my textile and fiber work, head over to www.kristpattern.com. 

Until next time,

Kristen

We demonize the feminine and its sibling marginalizations at our peril, especially when much of what’s coded feminine in this iteration of society and urbanism are the things we all have to do and make to even survive as Earthlings.

This is The Black Urbanist Weekly with Kristen Jeffers, an email newsletter that highlights the Black Queer Feminist Urbanist thoughts and commentary of me, Kristen E.  Jeffers, an internationally-known urban planner,  fiber designer, and contributing editor. Think of this as an editorial page column, but directly in your email.

 Let’s get started with a few words of reflection from me, then my weekly section on my Black queer feminist urbanist principles, “The Principle Corner”, then By the Way where I highlight articles and projects I had a hand in externally.; On the Shelf, On the Playlist where I share book and music recommendations, and finally Before You Go, where I share any ads and announcements if I have them and ways to support this work financially and externally. 

I feel that being a Feminist is more fraught than being Black, Queer or Urbanist, especially when you put all four words together.

Yes, Black and queer can get me killed outside of home. Urbanism debates what kind of home that is. Feminist can get me killed for all three even if the first three don’t succeed.

Of course, this assumes that I have a home and an exterior community that embraces me being Black and queer. Yet, there’s this rub, based on my feminine presentation on what I can and can’t do, even though I have a place of belonging, in both Black and queer communities. 

It’s also two rubs, that femininity isn’t mine as a Black woman or femininity is a colonial construct or femininity is weak or stupid or dumb or crazy.

Hello ableism and misogynoir and classism and colorism!

Today, I declare to you that my femininity and feminism is none of these things. 

I also release the expectations of all these isms and titles.

I call for unity, the kind that doesn’t require me to be extra clothed or extra tough walking the streets.

The kind that says my textile talents are a backbone of our village creation, not a burden of my appearance and supposed brain capacity.

The kind that releases the chains of enslavement, because I’m supposed to be extra strong or wise, but only worthy of exploitation!

I’m breaking through that kitchen picture window.

I’m coming off the mannequin podium and from behind the makeup counter

I’m dressed up and made up and I’m taking it to the streets.

And claiming my corner, with the fruits of the field I cultivate at the end of the rail line.

I’m roaring, but I choose to roar. I’m roaring because roaring is my birthright.

The Principle Corner

Each week, I’m taking a moment to share how I’ve been building the Black Queer Feminist Urbanist practice and ethic, so we can approach this work from a similar starting point.  This week, I wanted to highlight my working feminist definition.

So how do I define feminist in my practice statement?

A person and a movement that honor genders marginalized under patriarchy, traditionally those tagged as feminine or outside traditional gender binaries.

Did you notice I say nothing about who is a woman or not?  Notice that I don’t include hair length and texture, adornments, mannerisms, smells, vocal quality, or really anything bodily.

I take it back to what creates this distinction in the first place and that is patriarchy. Outside of patriarchy, which yes, this is something we have zoomed back pretty far in human history to find, especially if we are thinking about the last  300-500 years of many civilizations, any gender can reproduce and yes, more than one gender can and does exist in  the human species and has for years.

It does not diminish us to function more like our fellow animal creatures. If anything, it may be their advantage that so many are not pressed about gender and yes, some even change their sexual roles, with the aid of other members of the species.

Just like we have to walk away from skin color marginalization, we have to do the same with other body parts and functions. 

We have to stop creating and building environments that are abelist and sexist for all, not just for certain preferred body characteristics. 

And yes, we can still celebrate our diversity and rejoice and share with each other.

By the Way

Here’s where  I share other articles/videos that were noteworthy for me this week in this section. Apologies in advance for things behind a paywall. Some things I subscribe to and others I grab just before the wall comes down on me. I will start marking these articles and describing them.

Kate Wagner always writes things that make us uncomfortable about our architecture and this piece is probably the best I’ve read of hers, where we get into why we shouldn’t be doing architecture just for the money and in ways that destabilize the globe, both its resources and people.

I’m striving as  I do my work to not encourage folks to collect Black leaders like baseball cards, but integrate and affirm our humanity as Black/African folks. Really appreciate  Karen Attiah’s note this morning on her thoughts on how we approach Black History  Month and how we’ve left so many leaders to die or dwell in squalor.

On the Shelf, On the Playlist

I finally streamed the entire SZA album. I will say that this is absolutely a night/low mood album and to prepare your ears accordingly. Plus, Danyel Smith is always a gift in giving us a mood and a means for reading and affirming our Black woman musical geniuses.

However, as I include a gift link to the New York Times,  I do want to announce again here that as of March 12, in solidarity and to push forward the dismantlement of this idea of a “paper of record” that can do no wrong, even when it consistently dehumanizes non-white, queer, trans, and even poor folks, I am letting my New York Times subscription lapse. Here are the tweets from when I made this decision. If I consume the paper in the future, it will be through library access and even then, I will be featuring writers who I know support trans and nonbinary rights, along with Black liberation and disabled pride. 

On the book side, I’ll be reading this essay collection on Edna Lewis, the Black woman who is not lauded enough as the creator of the concept of serving restaurant food directly from the farm to the table and for lifting up the cuisine many of her ancestors created as enslaved people into a highly regarded cuisine.

Before You Go

This is our last section, where we normally have advertisements for others, but I also advertise things that I’m doing that are for sale or for hire. 

***

Once again, if you want me to show up as I did above on your panel or for a keynote, book a complimentary consultation call. I still have open availability for 2023 and 2024.

***

Also, you can still advertise in this newsletter,  although no one chose to this week! Rates start at $75 a week for a four-week commitment and $150 for just one week.

***

I have created a special landing page, www.theblackurbanist.com/books, that’s not only a home for my upcoming volume, A Black Urbanist Journey to a Queer Feminist Future,  but all those books in the Black Queer Feminist Urbanist canon.

***

if you want to send me money for quick expenses or like a tip jar, you can Venmo me. If you become a Patreon, you get detailed reporting on my progress as we shift operations into both a for-profit and non-profit model, along with a special thank you note each week! The GoFundMe is still alive if you want to make large donations quickly and you can subscribe on Substack, but know that nothing in this newsletter is going behind paywall, this is considered a love offering  

***

And if you want to support my textile and fiber work, head over to www.kristpattern.com. 

Until next time,

Kristen

I took for granted that I grew up in a place that saw itself as a refuge and that had abundance. Now, I’m seeking to create that everywhere I go, embracing that change is also growth.

This is The Black Urbanist Weekly with Kristen Jeffers, an email newsletter that highlights the Black Queer Feminist Urbanist thoughts and commentary of me, Kristen E.  Jeffers, an internationally-known urban planner,  fiber designer, and contributing editor. Think of this as an editorial page column, but directly in your email.

 Let’s get started with a few words of reflection from me, then my weekly section on my Black queer feminist urbanist principles, “The Principle Corner”, then By the Way where I highlight articles and projects I had a hand in externally.; On the Shelf, On the Playlist where I share book and music recommendations, and finally Before You Go, where I share any ads and announcements if I have them and ways to support this work financially and externally. 

I’d like to think that the voices we heard last Friday going into Saturday night in our room at the Millenium Hotel across from the World Trade Center complex were people who were there on September 11, 2001, telling us to have the best weekend we could possibly have.

Now I know that when I talk about this woo/ancestors stuff, y’all might run and click that unsubscribe button with the quickness, but hear me out.

Staying in the Financial District already means we are at the site where enslaved Africans were brought in and sold onto the Lenape lands that became known as New York City and its five boroughs.

However, the minute I got back in our car at Union Station on Monday, and a long-awaited check was in the mail, I knew I had to make a significant move. 

***

Transportation and textiles are what made my hometown more than a colonial village designated as the seat of its colonial power. It bounces back from tragedy and it does its best to be a shelter for all those that wash up on its shores. This is despite not having a natural shoreline and being in the center of a state that doesn’t always appreciate how unique it is.

I was drawn to its much bigger cousin because of its multitude of transportation, textiles, and human beings from a very young age. However, when I watched the Manhattan skyline shatter in the course of 90 minutes, I decided that I needed to live somewhere where the skyline just doesn’t. Now, DC was already a second choice living place for me, and it wasn’t without scars that same day, but it just felt safer to be somewhere that never really visibly changed.

Then I visibly changed. Then I started to move. Then I realized that it’s nothing wrong with having a city be a 24-hour ecosystem. There’s no sin in being awake in the middle of the night. There’s no sin in a lot of the things I care about the most.

What I needed so much, and what I’ve been moving about for years to find, is a city of refuge.

A city with unlimited opportunities and spaces for me to grow. A city with raw materials that I could draw from, that would regenerate itself and create wealth for all in its boundaries, while acknowledging that its boundaries can and should grow.

What I know now is that cities don’t have to grow at the expense of others. They can change and that change is a net positive. They can also change negatively, but they can be resolved.

This is what I got from being in New York, especially in the parts of New York I spent last weekend in, last weekend. 

Sometimes when you’re in a place that doesn’t change, it can stifle you. However, everywhere needs to change and now, I have a little bit more motivation to get that change started.

Next week, I’ll talk about pushing back against those that say I’m too (insert sexist or misogynoric statement here) to do the things I want to do in my city of refuge.

The Principle Corner

Each week, I’m taking a moment to share how I’ve been building the Black Queer Feminist Urbanist practice and ethic, so we can approach this work from a similar starting point.  This week, I wanted to highlight my working urbanist definition.

So I’m changing the order of the principles this week with my reflection, because I wanted to highlight the working definition I use in my more academic examination of what I mean by urbanism, against what the Charter of the New Urbanism defines as urbanism before I talk about how my perceived femininity makes city dwelling less of a refuge and more of a fortress.

So, my definition:

A person and/or a movement that promotes the conglomeration of ideas, services, and objects in centralized locations, governed democratically, given freely and fairly, and connected by public transit and other people-powered transportation networks such as sidewalks and multi-use bicycle and pedestrian paths. Not mutually exclusive to rural expressions, but the natural output of natural and rural environments that have high levels of human interaction.

So as I’ve typed this (and yes, even after I presented this in person just a couple of weeks ago) I realized the definition is missing housing. This is not an on-purpose omission. However, the more I think about it, I feel like housing is a human right and is assumed to be part of this definition. But, one of the other things I’ve learned is that I have to be specific in all my definitions.  So, expect a revised version of this definition the next time you see it.

One that firmly defines what it means for me to feel like I’m at home in a city.

By the Way

Here’s where  I share other articles/videos that were noteworthy for me this week in this section. Apologies in advance for things behind a paywall. Some things I subscribe to and others I grab just before the wall comes down on me. I will start marking these articles and describing them.

As sad as I am to hear that an eighth student has died on NC State’s campus this year, the third of suicide, I’m happy to see the Indy Week, an alt-weekly I never missed picking up on Friday afternoons on campus,  publish a reflection on how we as Black folks need space to “fail” and to get the help we need even if we are not children of promise.

And I’m happy to have made my home in a state that demands we teach gender variety and “say gay” at school!

On the Shelf, On the Playlist

Of course, I made sure I streamed Janelle Monae’s first official single in five years. Will we be getting an album set in our present-day dystopia? And Apple dropped this Mariah Carey single right next to it on my personal new releases dashboard. 

Shelfwise, via Scribd, I’ve been reading poet and Vibe Check podcast co-host Saeed Jones’s 2019 memoir. As someone in the same age bracket that also lost a parent in their mid-twenties (and is coming up on the tenth anniversary of losing that parent), all I can say is that I am working to make sure my memoir manifesto has enough happiness in it so that people know that there’s light at the end of the tunnel, but only if the people in our lives show up for us as consistently as we do for ourselves. 

Before You Go

This is our last section, where we normally have advertisements for others, but I also advertise things that I’m doing that are for sale or for hire. 

***

Once again, if you want me to show up as I did above on your panel or for a keynote, book a complimentary consultation call. I still have open availability for 2023 and 2024.

***

Also, you can still advertise in this newsletter,  although no one chose to this week! Rates start at $75 a week for a four-week commitment and $150 for just one week.

***

I have created a special landing page, www.theblackurbanist.com/books, that’s not only a home for my upcoming volume, A Black Urbanist Journey to a Queer Feminist Future,  but all those books in the Black Queer Feminist Urbanist canon.

***

if you want to send me money for quick expenses or like a tip jar, you can Venmo me. If you become a Patreon, you get detailed reporting on my progress as we shift operations into both a for-profit and non-profit model, along with a special thank you note each week! The GoFundMe is still alive if you want to make large donations quickly and you can subscribe on Substack, but know that nothing in this newsletter is going behind a paywall, this is considered a love offering  

***

And if you want to support my textile and fiber work, head over to www.kristpattern.com. 

Until next time,

Kristen

Because I defined myself for myself, I’m already living in my Black queer feminist future. However, it still comes with a lot of awe and absolute linkage to my past as a child of those brought to the so-called North Carolinian shores and cultivated through what makes us a city. Oh, and I did ok “outside” this week! 

This is The Black Urbanist Weekly with Kristen Jeffers, an email newsletter that highlights the Black Queer Feminist Urbanist thoughts and commentary of me, Kristen E.  Jeffers, an internationally-known urban planner,  fiber designer, and contributing editor. Think of this as an editorial page column, but directly in your email. Let’s get started with a few words of reflection from me, then my weekly section on my Black queer feminist urbanist principles, “The Principle Corner”, then By the Way where I highlight articles and projects I had a hand in externally.; On the Shelf, On the Playlist where I share book and music recommendations, and finally Before You Go, where I share any ads and announcements if I have them and ways to support this work financially and externally. Ok, now, onward to our reflection this week, which I kinda teased above.

I took a deep breath when I sat on the fancy hotel bed Monday afternoon and cut my strings to my green crocheted dress. 

I always do some kind of drum roll or breathing practice when I cut a garment’s final strings or send a piece out for final edits or push the publish button on a set of Breakfast Links or a really important, but possibly controversial piece or a design frame that’s going to influence how people comprehend a very important set of information.

And add on that, that we are still in a global airborne respiratory pandemic and we are in a gun violence epidemic and people really are being loud and wrong about Black folks and queer/trans folks and even bodies that have uteruses being able to use them how they see fit. We have solutions for all of these things, but none of them are used enough for us to truly feel safe, even in an academic space where discussion is supposed to be safe.

But Monday afternoon on that bed, with the sun streaming in from nearby Central Park, I found peace and convergence. 

I had just read my slides again to make sure they would make sense, especially when people weren’t going to see my mouth. The pictures on the slides, the gestures my hands make, my Southern yet Black language inflections,  the variegated blue and yellow tones in the green dress and the purple designer but more durable shoes, plus my purple strands making their lecture room debut, would have to do.

And they did, they so did. 

If you were in the room on Tuesday afternoon and wondered why I spent so much time talking about humanity when you might have expected me to say build a sidewalk X inches wide, flush to the ground and take down X fences around parks,  or put X more subway stops in Queens,  Brooklyn, and upper Manhattan,  know this.

This being that everything we do for people, plan for people, and design for people, starts with us knowing that the people are people. People with all kinds of shapes, sizes, identities, and inner worlds. 

Don’t ever start your plans for people, without knowing their essence. Otherwise, you’ll keep designing the same way, wondering on your inside why it doesn’t seem to work or someone keeps declaring they feel missing or empty or alone in the room or on the plaza or on that very special shiny train.

And when you get to the point in your career, where you’ve reached a pinnacle or you’ve found the Pinnacle to be too much to bear, you’ll have strength in knowing that you are specially trained in the tools to build your pinnacle, and you can draw from these touchy/feely design principles to shape your place. 

You’ll look up and you’ll be in a community that’s home.

Meanwhile, New York.  You captured my heart again. So much so, that I’m doing a bonus round this weekend for one of the big design conferences. Next week, I’ll have more thoughts about experiencing the city itself, especially in the shadows of 9/11 and COVID.

And of course, thank you to the Black Student Alliance of the Columbia University  Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation (GSAPP), especially Jennah Jones and Kian Goldman,  for having and hosting me, my fellow panelists Michael Ford and Dr. Deshonay Dozier for mixing some amazing theory and practice into the room with me and of course my dear Les for these beautiful pictures and tagging along. We will be gearing up on February 23rd at 7:30 pm to do a needed conversation on Black LGBTQIA+ health in the frame of the story of Henrietta Lacks and how her experience and our experience with the same hospital differed. The conversation is free and virtual and you can register here. This will be posted online after the event as well.

The Principle Corner

Each week, I’m taking a moment to share how I’ve been building the Black Queer Feminist Urbanist practice and ethic, so we can approach this work from a similar starting point.  This week, I wanted to highlight the three working definitions of Queer that have been influencing this process.

So, this is my working queer definition from the principles.

Queer: A person who has a gender presentation, gender identity, gender journey/relationship, or sexual orientations that differ from traditional Western colonial thoughts on such ideas. Also refers to cultures that develop from this state of being.

Let me say that I don’t mean to center this against the Western definition on purpose. However, so much of what we understand as sexuality and gender has been funneled through a “Western/European” lens and cemented in the practices of conservative faith traditions that insist on just two genders, based on reproductive capabilities and capacities, with an emphasis on patriarchy.

However, this 2014 speech that birthed bell hooks’ infamous remarks on her personal queerness and the trans imagination, already wrapped up a talk and panel encouraging folks to consider how they were enslaved, builds on Audre Lorde’s admonition to define oneself for oneself, while also allowing folks to create their own imaginations.

As we make our definitions, let’s not forget to imagine first, so we can broaden our worlds! Next week, digging more into the feminist definition.

By the Way

Here’s where  I share other articles/videos that were noteworthy for me this week in this section. Apologies in advance for things behind a paywall. Some things I subscribe to and others I grab just before the wall comes down on me. I will start marking these articles and describing them.

So, for the record, still testing negative and still testing regularly (tested right before I went to the building on Tuesday and the last two days, with all my traveling). However, we are in a holding pattern where everyone should still be masking, helping with ventilation and access to medicine. 

It’s either stay in the house as a shut-in and be “forgotten” because you’re too disabled or forced to change because that disability is only cool when its time for a photo op, or be out here with no restrictions and acting like that there’s no such thing as illness and if you claim it is, you are not a real human. So yes, I’m in the travel with restrictions, limit access and lower viral load camp.

I’m very concerned that once we no longer have a public emergency declaration, this might send me back into the house. And all the folks shut in will never have a chance to see the light. We may be an ableist society, but that doesn’t mean we need to stay in one.

***

On one of my next trips to New York, I hope to become part of the “#TamFam” either in the audience or on the stage with this work. Also pinching myself that I was super close to running into Erika Alexander, who in addition to bringing one of my favorite Black feminist urbanist characters to the screen in the 1990s in Living Single continues to make a way for Black women on and off camera. Here’s Erika on Tamron Hall, where she talks about also being on Columbia University’s campus this week receiving an award.

***

And sadly, the quiet part about who is living in center cities and the conflicts created is now out loud in mainstream media, thanks to the Washington Post writing this digital headline: White people have flocked back to city centers — and transformed them (this is paywalled, with no option to gift a link) . 

I will say that as someone who does almost everything these days almost but sleep and get my hair done in Navy Yard (and the same with Les), I’m glad that the changes are concentrated, but if you watch this episode of the wonderful local WETA production of If You Lived Here, you’ll see another example of how its not all sunshine and rainbows with our gentrification. 

I only feel good about this because our financial position has changed. However,  I know the way our finances have changed is not applicable or replicable to anyone but us. I see my parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and church families in all the Black folks I see on the edges. Broke living downtown. Doing well in the burbs, but way out and away from where the action is really happening. 

This is where the fire from my work is coming from. DC knows that something is going to have to change. However, will things change where they need to and will we collectively have the courage to make the changes in how we attract, move and house people in this region (and period!)?

***

And that’s a good segue to attaching my complete remarks from Tuesday afternoon. We do not have complete audio, but I’m happy to bring these slides to your school, house of worship, workplace, or fraternal organization. Book one of these sessions and let’s talk more about building an urbanism from a Black queer feminist perspective.

On the Shelf, On the Playlist

This year, I’m challenging myself to read more books, versus reading long-form articles and hot takes. I also want to strengthen the Black Queer Feminist Urbanist book canon, by re-reading several of its titles. Realistically, I’ll probably be curating and skimming some of these titles, but I still want to lift them up to you as my readers, in case you’re self-educating, doing teach-ins, or need more materials than your university or school has provided on several of these topics. And sometimes, but not every week, I’ll be sharing some of my musical favorites, as I’ve been resurrecting my musical and DJ roots lately.

I was really pleased to walk into the Tyson’s Corner Center Barnes and Noble last night and find not just an issue of Baltimore magazine, but yet another one dealing with a major social issue that speaks to the marginalization of Black Baltimore, the Highway to Nowhere and said issue being the main focus of the cover. Les and I often peruse the magazines at the Potomac Yard one and I tend to hang out on the crochet, fashion, local use, and sometimes the music and wellness end, especially with so many of the big-name magazines being readily available online. 

I love that Baltimore magazine is not afraid to put social issues up front, highlight innovators and artists challenging systems and structures, plus, they do all the travel and tourist and best doctor/lawyer/real estate agent stuff. I’m sure they had to be nudged at some point to do this, but the point is that they aren’t afraid to make the cover and the front page of the website look the way it does at the moment, rather than try to hide the rough (and sometimes even the diverse) stuff.

More of our local magazines (looking at you Our State and Washingtonian because I care about you the most besides Baltimore), should be more courageous and willing to put these things on the cover, versus sneaking things in the back or waiting until they are more historical than current.

Meanwhile, we were at Tysons so I could join team iPad (and get some steps on my fairly new Apple Watch after seeing how much movement I was able to do in Manhattan), and very excited to try out Apple News and see so many overlapping magazines. I feel like I’m going to power through a lot of ebooks and magazines this way, plus get into doing surface patterns again with Procreate.

This week’s musical selection is my 2013 comprehensive list from Apple Music, which is a list of all the songs I actually bothered to download hard copies and purchase and burn on CDs that calendar year. 2013 was my first business trip to NYC and as I do so again over these next couple of weeks, I wanted us to revisit this volume of songs.

Finally, if you want to hear more of the sound of my voice, check out my recent episodes with the Black Women’s Wellness Agency podcast, where I speak of wellness as someone who is creating a different relationship with the Black feminine and Urban Planning is Not Boring where I tease my upcoming book!

Before You Go

This is our last section, where we normally have advertisements for others, but I also advertise things that I’m doing that are for sale or for hire. 

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Once again, if you want me to show up as I did above on your panel or for a keynote, book a complimentary consultation call. I still have open availability for 2023 and 2024.

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Also, you can still advertise in this newsletter,  although no one chose to this week! Rates start at $75 a week for a four-week commitment and $150 for just one week.

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I have created a special landing page, www.theblackurbanist.com/books, that’s not only a home for my upcoming volume, A Black Urbanist Journey to a Queer Feminist Future,  but all those books in the Black Queer Feminist Urbanist canon.

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if you want to send me money for quick expenses or like a tip jar, you can Venmo me. If you become a Patreon, you get detailed reporting on my progress as we shift operations into both a for-profit and non-profit model, along with a special thank you note each week! The GoFundMe is still alive if you want to make large donations quickly and you can subscribe on Substack, but know that nothing in this newsletter is going behind paywall, this is considered a love offering  

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And if you want to support my textile and fiber work, head over to www.kristpattern.com. 

Until next time,

Kristen

Black History Month wasn’t always Black History Month. And for me, a proud Black queer feminist urbanist 365 (366 on leap year) days of the Gregorian calendar year, I don’t need that prompt to remember and embody my history. However, I’m happy and ready to plot my Black future and yours too. 

This is The Black Urbanist Weekly with Kristen Jeffers, an email newsletter that highlights the Black Queer Feminist Urbanist thoughts and commentary of me, Kristen E.  Jeffers, an internationally-known urban planner, fiber designer, and contributing editor. Think of this as an editorial page column, but directly in your email. This week is the first of our deep dive into the Whys of Black Queer Feminist Urbanism and how you can apply them, no matter your background. Let’s get started with a few words of reflection from me, then my weekly section on my Black queer feminist urbanist principles, “The Principle Corner”, then By the Way where I highlight articles and projects I had a hand in externally.; On the Shelf, On the Playlist where I share book and music recommendations, and finally Before You Go, where I share any ads and announcements if I have them and ways to support this work financially and externally. Ok, now, onward to our reflection this week, which I kinda teased above.

I know I sound like I hate February and Black History Month in the lead. I don’t. What I hate is that feeling I have to do extra things above and beyond what I already do, namely on a weekly basis in this newsletter. 

And I already said last week I’m not here to prove anything to you about my identity. However, I enjoy having the opportunity to school you and share with you elements of my life and culture. I love helping people make connections with who they are and the places they inhabit.

I really enjoyed when I was actively teaching the Black Queer Feminist Urbanist School (which if you become a Patreon at any level this month, you’ll have access to all the archives) discovering that folks like Mary Ann Shadd Carey, Ida B Wells-Barnett, and W.E.B. DuBois were some of the first Black urbanists and social scholars. They were asking key questions about where we lived and who we lived for and what could we do with this colonized state we found ourselves under, even if we were emancipated from enslavement.

One of the other things I learned was that this work has value and is necessary for everyone, but for different reasons. Hence why I ran an equity caucus and a white space for the course the first time. I realized that running community groups online wasn’t something you do alone, especially if you want to avoid any kind of mistakes or stressors. However, we need something every day that allows us to reckon with our biases and acknowledge our histories.

It doesn’t need to be in just one month, but I know we love having X Month for causes and conditions, and identities that are often marginalized. However, having these months has often become a painful showcase of people trying to look supportive and say all the right things, while going right back to their old ways the next day.

I’m especially frustrated and disappointed this week that I continue to hear that companies inside of the architecture, planning, real estate, and development industries, along with adjacent advocacy groups, movement spaces, publications, and research centers are not reckoning with what makes it hard for marginalized identities outside of their favored months.

Addressing the disparities of the sector and related activities is a key thing I do both in this newsletter, in my lectures, and in my online and offline workshops. This is nothing new. What is new is that after all of the promises and pledges of Juneteenth and Black History Months 2020, 2021, and 2022, we are already starting off 2023 with skewed expectations.

We’ve become happy just to have a person, maybe two or even a good 25-30%  but never a majority, on staff, especially if that person is naturally inclined to be a community builder. We’ve gotten comfortable with doing our salary adjustments. Many more of us have done our implicit bias assessments and training and we know exactly what our biases are. 

We insist that it’s unfortunate that not every firm (or movement or advocacy group or government entity)  is as equitable or knowledgeable or generous with their time and benefits as we are. However, we are now at the point where we have to address that our systems for creating equity are not failing because we aren’t trying.  The system we’ve set up, not just for equity, but for how we conduct business and we share resources is working as it is supposed to because it was not set up for true liberation and abundant resource sharing.

The challenge I want to leave us with this month and every month we celebrate marginalized identities and conditions and places, is to ask ourselves why we chose to create the systems we have, for the things we love to do and promote. 

Why do we have to work to earn things that the Earth can generate on its own? Why do we have to work or look or sound or feel a certain way just to be deemed worthy as a human?

 If we choose to engage in technological processes, why do we put a premium on access to those processes and learning how to make them?

It’s ok to want to barter for something we created, that’s artistic, that’s unique to us, but why does that trade have to be so degrading and at times unequal based on certain capabilities? Why can’t we just share, knowing that many things that are at the human scale are infinite? And for what is not, we have the tools to make these decisions equitably. Why don’t we use them?

And finally, to create the future, we have to understand why we did these things in the past and we have to reckon with what we are doing in the present that’s doing more harm than good when it comes to our work.

We have to stop demonizing people who have the passion to make places but don’t always have a formal title. We have to stop making it seem like a person has to always work, to be worthy as a human. 

No, everyone can’t be planners, architects, or engineers, even run their own venture or write, like I’m doing. However, every single firm, even if it’s just you or a few other people, need to have a plan internally and externally. That plan needs to cover at the minimum, how you will manage when your work in the past has caused cultural harm, beyond an I’m sorry plaque, especially if you have the means to provide repair services for the harm done. In your present, it means to keep doing the work to understand your worldview, and complete transparency around your hiring and firing decisions, as well as choices to work with particular communities. 

As a powerful entity with control of your workforce, your company and the parts of the contract you’re contracted for, you’re still being inequitable if you fall into doing the following:

— Sending the email stating you’re sorry we can’t hire you, but not offering to give feedback or acknowledging the feedback may warrant or need further mediation. If you’re trying to escape a lawsuit or EEOC complaint in the United States, unfortunately, you may not be able to, but you could resolve the situation in mediation and more evaluation of where you sit in the nexus of an inequitable industry and your own personal needs and biases.

— Tokenizing. Clearly, the work that’s been done since the original Untokening is still not sinking in or running up against systemic barriers. Continuing to diversify not just your workforce, but your executive teams, boards, partnerships, and joint ventures is what’s needed to resolve this along with that system dismantlement work.

— Punishing your colleagues and employees internally for not meeting standards but demanding that clients and communities put aside their struggles or that we accept how people naturally do their work and art and practice.  Yes, have a mediation practice, yes, express concern about performance. But don’t be dictatorial to your employees, when you embrace others fully. No, you don’t tokenize externally, but you need to stop doing it internally.

Whatever you do, don’t run away from hard conversations. Otherwise, when the system finally crashes, you’ll be underneath it, instead of part of the solution.

The future, especially the future I can help you create from my Black queer feminist urbanist framework, will help you be part of the solution.  You’ll get new action steps, ways of being, and ways of generating abundance in income and well-being.

Finally, my dear Black siblings. Don’t feel obligated to educate anyone or even do extra digging up of history or culture this month. Don’t beat yourself up if you don’t get that formal position in the industry, especially if you already have a community tie and you have a means of income that allows you to give back to said community.

Now, if you feel called to explore more of your ancestors and elders and learn more about a place out of genuine curiosity, please do! If you love sharing your thoughts and your knowledge on social media, please do. And finally, it’s ok to not know everything and be on your own self-affirmation journey. It’s ok to want a better job or home or career and start the process of affirming that I’m here for you and I would love to be helpful. 

The Principle Corner

Each week, I’m taking a moment to share how I’ve been building the Black Queer Feminist Urbanist practice and ethic, so we can approach this work from a similar starting point.  This week, I wanted to highlight the two working definitions of Black that have been influencing this process.

So, in case you missed it last week, this is my working definition of Black: 

Black: A person of African descent, often with visibly melanated skin, who has been subjected directly or through ancestry to enslavement, colonization, discrimination, or mistreatment as a result of their ethnicity, past and present marginalization, and/or skin color. This also refers to the cultures derived from these activities and their adaptation to their environments.

This is a definition that comes from both my lived experience and my academic environment experience. I was thrilled to find this definition that makes it even more succinct:

“We know race is a construct, an invention of racism. Race was created to justify imperialism and the slave trade. Blackness is not intrinsic to anyone. Blackness is definitely not monolithic. Yet, Blackness, entwined with the enslavement of Africans, colonization of the continent and the subjugation of a massive diaspora– has become an indelible concept” — Sebene Selassie, as quoted in the foreword written by Gaylon Ferguson of Black and Buddhist: What Buddhism Can Teach Us About Race, Resilience, Transformation, and Freedom

So yes, race is a construct. However, we’ve had actual, sometimes positive, sometimes negative consequences over centuries as a result of this construct and we must not ignore or explain away Blackness.

By the Way

Here’s where  I share other articles/videos that were noteworthy for me this week in this section. Apologies in advance for things behind a paywall. Some things I subscribe to and others I grab just before the wall comes down on me. I will start marking these articles and describing them.

Who was Carter G. Woodson, the founder of what has become Black History Month? Reading this I felt a very familiar sentiment to what I said above. I think if he were here, he would absolutely support the movement to observe this month as Black Futures Month.

My fellow Substacker Robert Jones, Jr. (author of The Prophets) has an amazing primer of Black gender-nonconforming and same-gender loving (terms that speak to Black LGBTQIA+ experiences) histories and the means of uncovering these ancestors and elders.

Meanwhile, people tried to tell me North Carolina was improving on this front, but none of our “safe areas” are immune from statewide intervention from the General Assembly and other entities that emit power from Raleigh which the whole state must bow down. I know we are ready to organize against this “Don’t Say Gay” bill, but how much of this do we endure before we ask our neighbors and family what’s going on with them that they don’t want us to exist? And even better, why do we let them get so loud and emboldened in the first place?

That last question in the blurb above was even more enhanced after I listened to this podcast and commented about what I thought my life would be like if I had continued to do this work in North Carolina.

On the Shelf, On the Playlist

This year, I’m challenging myself to read more books, versus reading long form articles and hot takes. I also want to strengthen the Black Queer Feminist Urbanist book canon, by re-reading several of its titles. Realistically, I’ll probably be curating and skimming some of these titles, but I still want to lift them up to you as my readers, in case you’re self-educating, doing teach-ins, or need more materials than your university or school has provided on several of these topics. And sometimes, but not every week, I’ll be sharing some of my musical favorites, as I’ve been resurrecting my musical and DJ roots lately.

So as you saw above in the Principle Corner, I’ve started to allow myself to explore other faith traditions and their intersection with Black ancestry and political status. I happened to be in the faith section of the Columbia Mall Books-A-Million, which despite its size had about ten shelves for all kinds of Christian books and had all the other faith books, including other holy texts that carry similar weight to the Christian Bible, rammed together on a bottom shelf, just inches to the floor. It was a true miracle that I found Black and Buddhist: What Buddhism Can Teach Us about Race, Resilience, Transformation, and Freedom. I have been attending sanghas off and on both on Zoom and in person since around 2019 and I’m looking forward to learning how my identity meets this faith tradition.

And as I continue to explore new and old music, I have been stuck on Lucy Pearl’s singular, self-titled R&B album from 2000. Reading their Wikipedia, you can see that the supergroup might have been doomed to failure before it even really got started. However, I love the grooves and it’s bringing back my 8th-grade year. That’s one benefit of streaming, for hard-to-find titles. However, I encourage everyone to purchase anything I list that’s actually in print, from online sites like Bandcamp or go to their shows (ok, maybe not Beyonce if you can’t win her lottery!)

Before You Go

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The  Columbia University Graduate School of Planning symposium on Black Urbanism I’m participating in is open to the public and free and will be held in Fayerweather Hall Room 209 on the main campus Tuesday, February 7 from 1-4 pm  It will also be recorded!   

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I have created a special landing page, www.theblackurbanist.com/books, that’s not only a home for my upcoming volume, A Black Urbanist Journey to a Queer Feminist Future,  but all those books in my canon that I mentioned above.

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if you want to send me money for quick expenses or like a tip jar, you can Venmo me. I’m still working on introducing a paid tier for Substack and Medium users to also function like a tip jar and if you become a Patreon, you get detailed reporting on my progress as we shift operations into both a for-profit and non-profit model, along with a special thank you note each week!  Also, you can still advertise in this newsletter,  although no one chose to this week!

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Until next time,

Kristen

My urbanism is enough because we are an interconnected web of urbanisms. 

This is The Black Urbanist Weekly with Kristen Jeffers, an email newsletter that highlights the Black Queer Feminist Urbanist thoughts and commentary of me, Kristen E.  Jeffers, an internationally-known urban planner, fiber designer, and contributing editor. Think of this as an editorial page column, but directly in your email. This week is the first of our deep dive into the Whys of Black Queer Feminist Urbanism and how you can apply them, no matter your background. Let’s get started with an introduction

It is what it is. A while back I wrote out what I then called the “why’s” of Black Queer Feminist Urbanism. 

I called them why’s because I didn’t feel wise enough to call them principles. I came up through the old-school CNU salons that mimicked Greek town squares and more formal architectural juries that made you prove your worth at every step.

I understand this method for physical structures and for combating abject hate and antagonism at certain elements of humanity.

However, I’m confident that I have created a set of principles of Black Queer Feminist Urbanism, based on the particular definitions I’ve given them, that will hold up to peer review.

And please, review them and tell me what you think needs adding. Make this your own. Apply this to your hood and your spot and your corner and your people.

This is my gift to the collective, a frame that is rooted in the constructs I and others like me have been given, to get us back to humanity. It is one of many urbanisms, including Black urbanisms.

For the next several newsletters, I’ll be breaking down each principle, but just for the record, let me drop my definitions of Black Queer Feminist and Urbanist so we know what we’re starting from in our analysis.

• Black: A person of African descent, often with visibly melanated skin, who has been subjected directly or through ancestry to enslavement, colonization, discrimination, or mistreatment as a result of their ethnicity, past and present marginalization, and/or skin color. This also refers to the cultures derived from these activities and their adaptation to their environments.
• Queer: A person who has a gender presentation, gender identity, gender journey/relationship, or sexual orientations that differ from traditional Western colonial thoughts on such ideas. Also refers to cultures that develop from this state of being.
• Feminist: A person and a movement that honor genders marginalized under patriarchy, traditionally those tagged as feminine or outside traditional gender binaries.
• Urbanist: A person and a movement that promotes the conglomeration of ideas, services, and objects in centralized locations, governed democratically, given freely and fairly, and connected by public transit and other people-powered transportation networks such as sidewalks and multi-use bicycle and pedestrian paths. Not mutually exclusive to rural expressions, but the natural output of natural and rural environments that have high levels of human interaction.

And in the meantime, I challenge you all to think about what your personal definitions are of your specific identities. How do they create your urbanism?  Map it out, in your head or on paper, or in GIS software, and feel free to share them with me on the socials or reply back.

By the Way

If you’re new here, I write out my grand thesis of the week above, then I share other articles/videos that were noteworthy for me this week in this section. Apologies in advance for things behind a paywall. Some things I subscribe to and others I grab just before the wall comes down on me. I will start marking these articles and describing them.

So, in addition to editing a lot of stuff for GGWash lately, I also spent a good chunk of time over the last couple of months doing the main design and layout for this year’s Foot Traffic Ahead report, a joint venture between Smart Growth America and Places Platform, LLC. I had the honor of designing the 2019 report as well and I’m really pleased to see how it’s evolved, both in the design story I was tasked to tell and how social equity and the pandemic-related environmental changes have shifted how the report is presented and written. I’ve seen some of your tweets of shock over the city rankings, and trust me, I had those feelings too as I was laying out the pages.

Sadly, the coffeehouse chain I worked at here in DC for a few months after my 2018 summer trips is closing semi-abruptly.  The current employees at my old store are very close to meeting their gofundme goal to cover extra expenses on top of their severance payments.

I’m very proud to be from one of the Southern (US) cities with the most long-term philanthropic support for LGBTQ2IA+ folks. (This might be paywalled).

Even though a lot is not working well in Atlanta at the moment, namely MARTA rail, really cool to read about how MARTA’s bus operators keep winning all those bus rodeos.

I am even more motivated to work on bringing back the Black Queer Feminist Urbanist School when I hear about all the queer book bans and of course the AP African-American History ban in Florida. Here’s some suggestions for foundational texts if you’re self-educating young folks in your life (or yourselves, also scroll down to my new book and music recs section for more of these kinds of things). We can’t keep ignoring how educational apartheid affects our maps and our “desirable” neighborhoods and their tenuous economies.

On the Shelf, On the Playlist

This year, I’m challenging myself to read more books, versus reading long-form articles and hot takes. I also want to strengthen the Black Queer Feminist Urbanist book canon, by re-reading several of its titles. Realistically, I’ll probably be curating and skimming some of these titles, but I still want to lift them up to you as my readers, in case you’re self-educating, doing teach-ins, or need more materials than your university or school has provided on several of these topics. And sometimes, but not every week, I’ll be sharing some of my musical favorites, as I’ve been resurrecting my musical and DJ roots lately.

I got my hands on some digital copies of Paolo Friere’s The Pedagogy of the Oppressed and bell hooks’ Teaching to Transgress, which builds upon the theories of Pedagogy from a Black feminist lens. I’m using these to shape how I prep my reboot of the Black Queer Feminist Urbanist school and yes, even how I share and educate with this newsletter. I anticipate that both of these will go to the canon, but I’ll let you know when they officially move up.

And I broke down and purchased Black Women Writers at Work with Haymarket Books’ sale which also includes both the e-book and the paperback for less than $20. I suspect this will move into the official canon as well. Also, I’ve needed something to help me process the lingering survivor’s guilt of this pandemic and After Life seems like a good candidate (and it helped me with my free shipping).

I’ve also set the theme of my yearly playlist as Awake. I’ll share it in full in future emails but for now, it’s lifting me up during my showers and I’ll see how hard it bumps in the car and in the headphones as I roll on Metro. However, I will lift up the latest Oddisee record, To What End. I adore my Mid-Atlantic indie rappers and this record is just a healthy addition to his canon. (I’ve also revisited Little Brother’s May the Lord Watch for a North Carolina reference-focused companion to this thanks to my Apple Music auto-plays). 

Before You Go

The folks at the University of California, San Diego would love for you to know about not just one, but two tenue-track jobs they have available next year. And the City of Kalamazoo Michigan is looking for a Planner I. Plus, some housekeeping about our little space. First the three jobs.

ASSISTANT PROFESSOR IN URBAN STUDIES AND PLANNING

The Department of Urban Studies and Planning at the University of California, San Diego invites applications for a tenure-track Assistant Professor working in the area of urban studies and planning to begin July 1, 2023.

This is a position for a tenure-track assistant professor in the Department of Urban Studies and Planning at UC San Diego, a rapidly-growing department with strategic emphases on social and spatial justice; climate justice; and multinational planning.

The department is interested in candidates who have demonstrated commitment to excellence by strong engagement in teaching, research, and service toward building an equitable and diverse scholarly environment. The successful candidate will be an excellent scholar with an active research program in one or more of the following areas: transportation planning; climate change mitigation and adaptation; environment and land use planning; health and wellness, and/or spatial analytics.

The University of California, San Diego is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer advancing inclusive excellence. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, age, covered veteran status, or other protected categories covered by the UC nondiscrimination policy.

Department: https://usp.ucsd.edu

Apply link: https://apol-recruit.ucsd.edu/JPF03452

Open date: November 21, 2022

Next review date: Tuesday, Jan 31, 2023 at 11:59pm (Pacific Time)

Apply by this date to ensure full consideration by the committee.

Final date: Friday, Mar 31, 2023 at 11:59pm (Pacific Time)

Applications will continue to be accepted until this date, but those received after the review date will only be considered if the position has not yet been filled.

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And…

ASSISTANT PROFESSOR IN URBAN STUDIES AND PLANNING WITH A

FOCUS ON DESIGNING JUST FUTURES

The Department of Urban Studies and Planning seeks faculty candidates at the level of Assistant Professor whose research, teaching, and service will advance scholarship and institutional solutions for designing more just and equitable systems and structures.

This faculty member will advance UC San Diego’s commitment to the inclusion of Indigenous, Black, and migrant communities, anti-racism, anti-oppression, equity, and social justice. We especially welcome candidates whose professional experience, community engagement, and personal background have facilitated their understanding of and ability to better serve students from Indigenous and other underrepresented populations.

Faculty hired under this Initiative will join the UC San Diego campus, the UC San Diego Design Lab (https://designlab.ucsd.edu/), and the Indigenous Futures Institute (https://ifi.ucsd.edu/) to forge a new paradigm of engagement and collaboration that draws on the geographic, academic, institutional, and cultural strengths of our tri-national region across Southern California, Baja California, and the Kumeyaay region.

This search is part of a UC San Diego-wide cluster hire on Designing Just Futures (https://www.design-just-futures.ucsd.edu/) that aims to recruit scholars who can contribute to the advancement of design, social justice, and Indigenous, Black, and migrant futures and seeks engagement with scholars across disciplines to address issues of territory, access, and equity, and social and political debates pertinent to Indigenous, Black, border, and migrant communities, while also working within their home departments and professional communities.

Department: https://usp.ucsd.edu

Apply link: https://apol-recruit.ucsd.edu/JPF03484

Next review date: Tuesday, Jan 31, 2023 at 11:59pm (Pacific Time)

Apply by this date to ensure full consideration by the committee.

Final date: Friday, Mar 31, 2023 at 11:59pm (Pacific Time)

Applications will continue to be accepted until this date, but those received after the review date will only be considered if the position has not yet been filled.

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POSITION: Planner

SALARY: P1 ($54,000 – $77,000)

OPENING DATE: January 4, 2023

CLOSING DATE: January 20, 2023 11:59 PM

LOCATION: Planning Division, 245 North Rose Street, Kalamazoo, Michigan

DEPARTMENT: Community Planning & Economic Development

Description/Distinguishing Features: The primary role of the Planner is development review. This includes working with applicants through the multiple stages of development – from idea to closing out the finished site plan – and with both very experienced and first-time developers. The Planner is the manager of the Site Plan Review Process. This critical process is run administratively and includes staff from departments across the City that come together weekly to support the development process. The Planner runs this committee, facilitating the review of all projects. The Planner must have a strong background in planning and zoning, but also familiarity with building codes, utilities, streets, and stormwater functions. In addition to site plan review, the Planner attends the regular Projects Meetings designed to support development projects in their early stages. The Planner’s role in the development process is critical and requires attention to detail, the ability to facilitate large group meetings, and skill in guiding conversations in order to reach a consensus or understanding of next steps. The Planner also supports the administration of the zoning code, working with the Zoning Administrator and Code Inspectors. 

The Planning Division is part of the Community Planning and Economic Development (CPED). The division leads community engagement across the City; is the primary keeper of the Master Plan, supporting its implementation across all departments; supports Public Services with transportation projects; and administers, updates, and supports development policies from zoning to historic preservation to Brownfield Redevelopment. Within Planning, there are staff who focus on short-range, everyday planning and development support and staff who focus on medium and long-range planning and engagement.

Examples of Duties:

• Guiding applicants through the Site Plan Review Process
• Coordinating the review of projects by staff both within and outside of the Community Planning & Economic Development Department
• Attending development review meetings
• Meeting with prospective developers – big and small
• Working with applicants to troubleshoot development hurdles
• Review plans and provide clear feedback
• Site inspections as necessary to support projects moving through the development process

Minimum Qualifications:

• A bachelor’s degree in urban planning, geography, landscape architecture, geography, urban design, or a related field; master’s degree preferred. AICP certification is a plus.
• Three or more years of planning experience that includes plan review and meeting facilitation.
• Strong communication skills and ability to discuss and write on complicated topics in a way that is easily understood by both experienced developers and the average resident.
• Out-of-the-box, critical thinker with a willingness to develop new techniques, and turn the critical review lens on internal processes and activities.
• Understanding the development pro formas and ability to speak engineering and design a plus
• Ability to say no while offering alternatives and/or next steps.
• Understanding of the concepts from Congress of New Urbanism, Smart Growth America, Project for Public Spaces, and other similar best practices with training in form-based codes, public engagement, and urban design through such certifications by the Form-based Code Institute (FBCI), National Charrette Institute (NCI), Congress for New Urbanism (CNU), or American Planners Association/Michigan Association of Planners or similar is plus.
• Understanding the greater community vision of Kalamazoo (currently Imagine Kalamazoo 2025) and how it influences all work in the Planning Division.
• Working knowledge of GIS, Adobe Creative Suite, Microsoft Office, and databases. 

***

I have created a special landing page, www.theblackurbanist.com/books, that’s not only a home for my upcoming volume, A Black Urbanist Journey to a Queer Feminist Future,  but all those books in my canon that I mentioned above.

***

if you want to send me money for quick expenses or like a tip jar, you can Venmo me. I’m still working on introducing a paid tier for Substack and Medium users to also function like a tip jar and if you become a Patreon, you get detailed reporting on my progress as we shift operations into both a for-profit and non-profit model.

***

Until next time,

Kristen

I can’t preach at y’all about moving from industry to collective without making my own pledges. This is how I intend to do it, with ease and with affirmation that I have the right answers already, this calendar year.

This is The Black Urbanist Weekly with Kristen Jeffers, an email newsletter that highlights the Black Queer Feminist Urbanist thoughts and commentary of me, Kristen E.  Jeffers, an internationally-known urban planner, fiber designer, and contributing editor. Think of this as an editorial page column, but directly in your email. This week is the third and final in my “Origins” series, as I prepare to make some needed, but growth-minded shifts to the platform.

So let me make it clear that when I’ve been mentioning growth-related shifts at the beginning of this newsletter, what I mean is that  I will be pruning more than growing. I’ll be growing because time will pass. I won’t be chasing things that are already meant to come to me anyway. 

I will be shaping the sustainable and accessible  Black queer feminist urbanism we all need. 

But, I am sharing some tangibles as to what I’m doing in 2023. So, let’s start with number one

•  I will still be editing external publications part-time. This work has allowed me to store up my own independent funding, which I can use to build more time in my day for resting and daydreaming so that my creativity flows with ease. I also need to take care of several personal matters so that my ease of growth won’t be hampered or shaken by things that are missing in my home or technology not working or lack of healthcare. This is also allowing me to stay in the loop and contribute to presenting information on equitable urbanism more broadly and getting myself prepared for creating more publications.
• Next month, I’ll be taking a test drive of presenting in person. I’ll be flying for the first time since October of 2019 to New York to present my approach to Black queer feminist urbanism at a Columbia University symposium on February 7th. I will be masked as much as humanly possible and I will be resting and eliminating as many distractions as possible to rest through the weeks leading up to this. If this works, I’ll be opening up my books to a few other external conferences and campus lecture opportunities. I’m open now for any virtual presentations you want to schedule in March of this year and beyond. 
• If the test drive goes well, I will be booking more in-person events, to promote my book A Black Urbanist Journey to a Queer Feminist Future. I will be prioritizing outdoor venues and tying myself into existing outdoor festivals and community events. If you are hosting an event like this sometime in 2023 and 2024 and are willing to host me as a keynote or have a fireside chat with me over my book, please reach out to me. I’m also looking for people to read and review the book in advance. A digital review copy of the book and pre-orders are about 6-8 weeks away, but we are ever closer to this process and I’m so excited to bring this out into the world.
• I am aiming to make my NYC presentation outfit and have been making good progress with the crocheting involved. I hope to make all of the major outfits I wear on stages and I’m also investing in the kinds of shoes that will help me be more walkable as I ease back out into the world. I also will be doing a least, two, if not four more yarn events this year, but that also comes under my in-person training and mentorings.
• I’m reading and re-reading the books on my Black Queer Feminist Urbanist canon in order to relaunch the Black Queer Feminist Urbanist School as an online course option in quarter four of this year. I’ll be talking about what I’m reading in a new section of this newsletter, called On The Shelf, launching in the next newsletter.
• In addition to adding this new section to the newsletter, each newsletter going forward will focus on a why of Black queer feminist urbanism, as I work to illuminate the K. Jeffers Index for Black Queer Feminist Urbanism and add more data and maps for research and well-being, as well as provide a check-in for folks at these intersections and allies to continue their wellness and liberation journeys.
• Continuing to offer the opportunity to sponsor this newsletter and use this as a platform for your job ads, conference announcements, requests for proposals, and other things you want to make sure to reach the audience of marginalized folks in urbanism and their allies. The rates are still the same, but the newsletter will launch on Fridays. Your ad copy and payment will now be due the Monday prior to the Friday newsletter you want to go in and ad space is available for the February 3rd email and later.
• Creating more opportunities to mentor folks wanting to have an urbanism career and teaching companies what they need to do so they can fulfill my wishes from last week’s newsletter and we can continue to grow the formal opportunities of urbanism and fund existing grassroots tactical urbanism efforts.
• Taking on my first board service role in about a decade, as a trustee of Boston-based CultureHouse.

I know this seems like a lot of stuff, but it’s not happening every day and some of it may not happen quite in this order. However, the cornerstone of all this is that I spent active time in meditation and resting (I’m laying down as I type this) to come up with these things. These are all things I wanted to do from my gut and not things I’m forced to do. My challenge to you is can you find those things for you? And then, how can you shift your life so that they create abundance and well-being for you and others?

This is how we get to collective action, with self and community care, versus an industrious, hustling, bustling, exploiting attitude and means of governance and service provision.

By the Way

If you’re new here, I write out my grand thesis of the week above, then I share other articles/videos that were noteworthy for me this week in this section. Apologies in advance for things behind a paywall. Some things I subscribe to and others I grab just before the wall comes down on me. I will start marking these articles and describing them.

Yes, I’m super excited to be under a history-making governor here in Maryland. Only time will tell if things get dramatically better, but so far, things are looking up, both in what governance steps are being taken and how history is being honored and acknowledged.

However, just because I’m inching out the doors doesn’t mean I’m happy about how we’ve abandoned virus mitigation, especially seeing how the World Economic Forum is operating, in-person, with all the filters, tests, and even still masking. How can we get this detailed in our dealings?

Before You Go

The folks at the University of California, San Diego would love for you to know about not just one, but two tenue-track jobs they have available next year. And the City of Kalamazoo Michigan is looking for a Planner I. Plus, some housekeeping about our little space. First the three jobs.

ASSISTANT PROFESSOR IN URBAN STUDIES AND PLANNING

The Department of Urban Studies and Planning at the University of California, San Diego invites applications for a tenure-track Assistant Professor working in the area of urban studies and planning to begin July 1, 2023.

This is a position for a tenure-track assistant professor in the Department of Urban Studies and Planning at UC San Diego, a rapidly-growing department with strategic emphases on social and spatial justice; climate justice; and multinational planning.

The department is interested in candidates who have demonstrated commitment to excellence by strong engagement in teaching, research, and service toward building an equitable and diverse scholarly environment. The successful candidate will be an excellent scholar with an active research program in one or more of the following areas: transportation planning; climate change mitigation and adaptation; environment and land use planning; health and wellness, and/or spatial analytics.

The University of California, San Diego is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer advancing inclusive excellence. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, age, covered veteran status, or other protected categories covered by the UC nondiscrimination policy.

Department: https://usp.ucsd.edu

Apply link: https://apol-recruit.ucsd.edu/JPF03452

Open date: November 21, 2022

Next review date: Tuesday, Jan 31, 2023 at 11:59pm (Pacific Time)

Apply by this date to ensure full consideration by the committee.

Final date: Friday, Mar 31, 2023 at 11:59pm (Pacific Time)

Applications will continue to be accepted until this date, but those received after the review date will only be considered if the position has not yet been filled.

***

And…

ASSISTANT PROFESSOR IN URBAN STUDIES AND PLANNING WITH A

FOCUS ON DESIGNING JUST FUTURES

The Department of Urban Studies and Planning seeks faculty candidates at the level of Assistant Professor whose research, teaching, and service will advance scholarship and institutional solutions for designing more just and equitable systems and structures.

This faculty member will advance UC San Diego’s commitment to the inclusion of Indigenous, Black, and migrant communities, anti-racism, anti-oppression, equity, and social justice. We especially welcome candidates whose professional experience, community engagement, and personal background have facilitated their understanding of and ability to better serve students from Indigenous and other underrepresented populations.

Faculty hired under this Initiative will join the UC San Diego campus, the UC San Diego Design Lab (https://designlab.ucsd.edu/), and the Indigenous Futures Institute (https://ifi.ucsd.edu/) to forge a new paradigm of engagement and collaboration that draws on the geographic, academic, institutional, and cultural strengths of our tri-national region across Southern California, Baja California, and the Kumeyaay region.

This search is part of a UC San Diego-wide cluster hire on Designing Just Futures (https://www.design-just-futures.ucsd.edu/) that aims to recruit scholars who can contribute to the advancement of design, social justice, and Indigenous, Black, and migrant futures and seeks engagement with scholars across disciplines to address issues of territory, access, and equity, and social and political debates pertinent to Indigenous, Black, border, and migrant communities, while also working within their home departments and professional communities.

Department: https://usp.ucsd.edu

Apply link: https://apol-recruit.ucsd.edu/JPF03484

Next review date: Tuesday, Jan 31, 2023 at 11:59pm (Pacific Time)

Apply by this date to ensure full consideration by the committee.

Final date: Friday, Mar 31, 2023 at 11:59pm (Pacific Time)

Applications will continue to be accepted until this date, but those received after the review date will only be considered if the position has not yet been filled.

***

POSITION: Planner

SALARY: P1 ($54,000 – $77,000)

OPENING DATE: January 4, 2023

CLOSING DATE: January 20, 2023 11:59 PM

LOCATION: Planning Division, 245 North Rose Street, Kalamazoo, Michigan

DEPARTMENT: Community Planning & Economic Development

Description/Distinguishing Features: The primary role of the Planner is development review. This includes working with applicants through the multiple stages of development – from idea to closing out the finished site plan – and with both very experienced and first-time developers. The Planner is the manager of the Site Plan Review Process. This critical process is run administratively and includes staff from departments across the City that come together weekly to support the development process. The Planner runs this committee, facilitating the review of all projects. The Planner must have a strong background in planning and zoning, but also familiarity with building codes, utilities, streets, and stormwater functions. In addition to site plan review, the Planner attends the regular Projects Meetings designed to support development projects in their early stages. The Planner’s role in the development process is critical and requires attention to detail, the ability to facilitate large group meetings, and skill in guiding conversations in order to reach a consensus or understanding of next steps. The Planner also supports the administration of the zoning code, working with the Zoning Administrator and Code Inspectors. 

The Planning Division is part of the Community Planning and Economic Development (CPED). The division leads community engagement across the City; is the primary keeper of the Master Plan, supporting its implementation across all departments; supports Public Services with transportation projects; and administers, updates, and supports development policies from zoning to historic preservation to Brownfield Redevelopment. Within Planning, there are staff who focus on short-range, everyday planning and development support and staff who focus on medium and long-range planning and engagement.

Examples of Duties:

• Guiding applicants through the Site Plan Review Process
• Coordinating the review of projects by staff both within and outside of the Community Planning & Economic Development Department
• Attending development review meetings
• Meeting with prospective developers – big and small
• Working with applicants to troubleshoot development hurdles
• Review plans and provide clear feedback
• Site inspections as necessary to support projects moving through the development process

Minimum Qualifications:

• A bachelor’s degree in urban planning, geography, landscape architecture, geography, urban design, or a related field; master’s degree preferred. AICP certification is a plus.
• Three or more years of planning experience that includes plan review and meeting facilitation.
• Strong communication skills and ability to discuss and write on complicated topics in a way that is easily understood by both experienced developers and the average resident.
• Out-of-the-box, critical thinker with a willingness to develop new techniques, and turn the critical review lens on internal processes and activities.
• Understanding the development pro formas and ability to speak engineering and design a plus
• Ability to say no while offering alternatives and/or next steps.
• Understanding of the concepts from Congress of New Urbanism, Smart Growth America, Project for Public Spaces, and other similar best practices with training in form-based codes, public engagement, and urban design through such certifications by the Form-based Code Institute (FBCI), National Charrette Institute (NCI), Congress for New Urbanism (CNU), or American Planners Association/Michigan Association of Planners or similar is plus.
• Understanding the greater community vision of Kalamazoo (currently Imagine Kalamazoo 2025) and how it influences all work in the Planning Division.
• Working knowledge of GIS, Adobe Creative Suite, Microsoft Office, and databases. 

***

I have created a special landing page, www.theblackurbanist.com/books, that’s not only a home for my upcoming volume, A Black Urbanist Journey to a Queer Feminist Future,  but I have embedded my Bookshop.org booklists here as well since we were having so many issues with the link. Go here for all things books I’ve read and my book when it comes out! 

***

Happy New Year,

Kristen

My relationship with the transportation industry is loads better than it used to be. It can still improve. The transportation industry can also eventually become the transportation movement and collective.

This is The Black Urbanist Weekly with Kristen Jeffers, an email newsletter that highlights the Black Queer Feminist Urbanist thoughts and commentary of me, Kristen E.  Jeffers, an internationally-known urban planner, fiber designer, and contributing editor. Think of this as an editorial page column, but directly in your email. This week is the second in my “Origins” series, as I prepare to make some needed, but growth-minded shifts to the platform.

Wow, what a week. I’m happy to report that despite being at Transportation Camp, the Black Professionals Transportation Mixer, Les attending committee sessions at the actual TRB(Transporation Review Board Annual Meeting)  and having a couple of group lunches, one indoors, We are still negative for COVID, even though we are super tired from a very busy and active week. My heart is full and my soul was happy to see all of your beautiful smiling faces. 

Yes, I had to lead with that, because I feel incredibly fortunate to have been able to make some needed reconnections and new connections with some dear friends and colleagues in the transportation and equity space. I’ve squashed so many beefs this week. Yes, despite the situation we did raise on Saturday with people still not understanding that equity and inclusion means just that, all kinds of people are going to be equitably included in spaces.

I was so nervous to return to conference life and active transportation work life for not just catching COVID reasons. If you read regularly and if we talk regularly, you know what’s up.

I still read the case and death numbers daily as if it were March 2020. I tried to get my eight free tests when I did my PCR at Kaiser in Camp Springs on Thursday the 12, and they were out at the pharmacy. All this gun and traffic violence. The random heart attacks and unspoken of reasons people seem to die these days. I have regular health care now and I’ve had some major health challenges of my own in the last year, notwithstanding what Les has gone through with her endometriosis.

But the largest reason I was nervous about returning to a major industry/conference room was that even as recently as early 2022, my heart and mind weren’t in a good place with dealing with the industry.

The last time Les and went to Transportation Camp, in 2019,  I had yet to come out to my family and confirm it with many of my friends, even those who are allies, because of me not just being a cis lesbian. I’d just had a meeting about a week prior with the new camp leadership that in so many words stated that they weren’t ready to partner with me as The Black Urbanist. My ex who is also in the industry was still triggering just by being in the room with myself and Les. And then there was the whole thing of Les having to leave the industry and work at an odd place, parallel to me moving to DC and not being able to get into the policy spaces with the shakeup of the 2016-2017 US presidential regime change.

Both she and I were pretty spent by the end of that day. I had no idea that so many of you that day were also distressed, and phoning it in the best we could. 

However, I kept choosing violence even with my industry squad and unrelated family and friends throughout 2019 and at virtual moments for the first two pandemic years because I felt like no one would ever choose me again and I was the only one making hard sacrifices. 

Or if you chose me to go back into a major room of power, say the current federal administration, or even running or writing with a policy group or major industry publication, I would have to change back into more of what I used to look and sound like when I first aspired to work in urban affairs and public service.

I felt too queer, too radical and liberation-minded, too outspoken, and as we got further into the pandemic, too purple-haired and too COVID-cautious to even get back on the mic properly. 

Meanwhile, I started to go inward and meet with all my trauma, all the way back to childhood. The reason why I absolutely had to live somewhere with transit access, was that I just had to get away. I couldn’t explain it until now and for me, being in proximity to a variety of transportation options is a necessity. I also feel a duty to speak up and show up to do what I can to make it easier and safer to use transportation. 

But, I wasn’t the cute straight upwardly mobile Black girl that I used to be. I am a beautiful Black feminine person who believes everyone deserves to be liberated. But being able to declare myself for myself, this evolution of Black queer feminist urbanism that you see here on the page now, I have to thank therapy for, especially for helping me accept that it might not be possible to go back and that what I did in the past can stand on its own and be ok because I’m ok as a person, not just as this platform entity. 

In the meantime, I master more crochet. Les starts endoQueer. Les comes back to professional transportation work first. I pick up virtual speeches, then a project team, and now this mixture of media and communication projects. Then people start inviting us out again. 

And I notice y’all keep opening this newsletter. Sharing it with your friends. Telling Les in the halls and at events that you’re still reading.

And now we are here. In a position to help our friends and colleagues grow and flourish. And in a place where I can hold my own in a still hostile to full equity and liberatory industry and workspace.

It’s so much better than it used to be.

I know many of you might be here for more piping hot tea about some of the things I was privy to thanks to who I spent time with this week. However, there’s no company or person in this work that hasn’t erred in the past or will not err in the future. For that and for us,  I do have a few quick suggestions that I think will make things better:

• Transportation and urbanism is an industry now, but they should be a movement and a collective in the future. We aren’t quite ready for full collective action, because we need to address…

• … How we want to show up to ourselves daily, our family and friends, and to this work and movement. I want to challenge us in 2023 to take this time, especially after your section of the movement’s major gathering, and decide if the way you are perceived and show up is something you’re happy with. I had to recognize that I might not be happy doing the work the way I wanted to before. I had to separate Kristen the person from Kristen the Black Urbanist brand. I had to let my ego sit and recognize where I am most needed and what’s actually of a collective nature and what I do get to keep, like my fiber art.  I had to be ok with being the new Kristen, the real Kristen, and that Kristen and the platform I create to not be accepted at first glance, but still be about the wellbeing of all.

• However, do notice if your urge to leave the industry or dial it down or turn down opportunities is because someone is encouraging you to sit down and shut up, either for their own personal comfort or what they think the industry is ready for. None of what we do will survive without collective action. Sometimes that action does need to be on a large platform or amplified in the streets with a bullhorn.  And if you’re that person encouraging someone to sit down and shut up for any reason, especially if they are already marginalized, but have the ear of the collective and our youth, think long and hard about how that’s really going to play out as you age into your twilight years. Be about preparing to be a good elder and ancestor, rather than holding on to something that time is already sliding out of your hands.

• It’s not too late for us to make sure we sustain this level of support in the United States for active transportation and basic human rights like healthcare access, housing access, and civil rights. Yes, the recent behavior of Congress and the Supreme Court is concerning and disturbing. Yes, states are becoming more hostile. But, everything started as somebody’s dream, even if it was somebody’s nightmare. Let’s dream more beautiful, vibrant dreams and turn them into democratic action.

• Also related, we live on the same Earth and underneath the skin, we all have the same blood and bones. We can be proud of who we are and what we have done and the good deeds of our ancestors, but if we all magically wake up one day liberated from capitalism and imperialism and all the other isms it’s wrought (like creating racism, sex/genderism, classism, ageism, and ableism to make some humans worth more than others), who would we be and what would we do? What if you woke up and you were a different skin tone or you lost some of your ability to do something or you completely changed bodies or genders overnight? Would you be alright? Would you still care about the equity, inclusion, justice, and liberation of others? 

• Finally, let’s be transparent. Be transparent about how we need help. What kinds of skills do we need in our consultancies and communities? Why we haven’t hired and cultivated people in the past? Not being clear about why some projects weren’t won or people weren’t hired can create unnecessary resentment, which leads to both what happened to Les on Saturday and how I started to behave in 2016 up to recently. So many leftist/collective movements end not because of economics, but because of people not healing their internal hurts and pains with themselves and each other.

So, this is where I am after the first big event of the year. I’ll be resting this weekend as we honor the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King and all of his thoughts, not just the comfortable ones.

Next week, I’ll be sharing more of what I have planned for 2023 and how I plan to move forward as a better human, not just as a human in this particular space.

By the Way

If you’re new here, I write out my grand thesis of the week above, then I share other articles/videos that were noteworthy for me this week in this section. Apologies in advance for things behind a paywall. Some things I subscribe to and others I grab just before the wall comes down on me. I will start marking these articles and describing them.

My siblings who are still in the Southern US and other equally hostile areas for being queer are just as worthy of love and respect and yes, they too, create community and opportunity for themselves despite the challenges.

I no longer beat myself up for not being about to get a house in DC, as it seems like hardly anyone Black has been able to buy here over the last 20 years.

However, I had I read this recent The Cut story earlier this week of a white woman bemoaning moving to suburbia from Brooklyn because she couldn’t be in the “scene” and I thought about how much I absorbed these kinds of writings from white writers and only recently due to my own class privilege, am able to see how these stories are deeply flawed. More to come of course, on how these stories don’t hold up in an era of people buying homes where they can and homes in general seemingly only available to the wealthy and well-connected.

But we live in a wonderful time, where there’s so many more prominent Black thinkers pushing back against all the narratives we’ve been sold about places and they get to byline the main stories on housing in major papers. Not just byline, but declare without fear that the housing market is a scam. And yes, in case you didn’t get it the first time, the housing market as it’s run now is a scam.

Before You Go

The folks at the University of California, San Diego would love for you to know about not just one, but two tenue-track jobs they have available next year. And the City of Kalamazoo Michigan is looking for a Planner I. Plus, some housekeeping about our little space. First the three jobs.

ASSISTANT PROFESSOR IN URBAN STUDIES AND PLANNING

The Department of Urban Studies and Planning at the University of California, San Diego invites applications for a tenure-track Assistant Professor working in the area of urban studies and planning to begin July 1, 2023.

This is a position for a tenure-track assistant professor in the Department of Urban Studies and Planning at UC San Diego, a rapidly-growing department with strategic emphases on social and spatial justice; climate justice; and multinational planning.

The department is interested in candidates who have demonstrated commitment to excellence by strong engagement in teaching, research, and service toward building an equitable and diverse scholarly environment. The successful candidate will be an excellent scholar with an active research program in one or more of the following areas: transportation planning; climate change mitigation and adaptation; environment and land use planning; health and wellness, and/or spatial analytics.

The University of California, San Diego is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer advancing inclusive excellence. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, age, covered veteran status, or other protected categories covered by the UC nondiscrimination policy.

Department: https://usp.ucsd.edu

Apply link: https://apol-recruit.ucsd.edu/JPF03452

Open date: November 21, 2022

Next review date: Tuesday, Jan 31, 2023 at 11:59pm (Pacific Time)

Apply by this date to ensure full consideration by the committee.

Final date: Friday, Mar 31, 2023 at 11:59pm (Pacific Time)

Applications will continue to be accepted until this date, but those received after the review date will only be considered if the position has not yet been filled.

***

And…

ASSISTANT PROFESSOR IN URBAN STUDIES AND PLANNING WITH A

FOCUS ON DESIGNING JUST FUTURES

The Department of Urban Studies and Planning seeks faculty candidates at the level of Assistant Professor whose research, teaching, and service will advance scholarship and institutional solutions for designing more just and equitable systems and structures.

This faculty member will advance UC San Diego’s commitment to the inclusion of Indigenous, Black, and migrant communities, anti-racism, anti-oppression, equity, and social justice. We especially welcome candidates whose professional experience, community engagement, and personal background have facilitated their understanding of and ability to better serve students from Indigenous and other underrepresented populations.

Faculty hired under this Initiative will join the UC San Diego campus, the UC San Diego Design Lab (https://designlab.ucsd.edu/), and the Indigenous Futures Institute (https://ifi.ucsd.edu/) to forge a new paradigm of engagement and collaboration that draws on the geographic, academic, institutional, and cultural strengths of our tri-national region across Southern California, Baja California, and the Kumeyaay region.

This search is part of a UC San Diego-wide cluster hire on Designing Just Futures (https://www.design-just-futures.ucsd.edu/) that aims to recruit scholars who can contribute to the advancement of design, social justice, and Indigenous, Black, and migrant futures and seeks engagement with scholars across disciplines to address issues of territory, access, and equity, and social and political debates pertinent to Indigenous, Black, border, and migrant communities, while also working within their home departments and professional communities.

Department: https://usp.ucsd.edu

Apply link: https://apol-recruit.ucsd.edu/JPF03484

Next review date: Tuesday, Jan 31, 2023 at 11:59pm (Pacific Time)

Apply by this date to ensure full consideration by the committee.

Final date: Friday, Mar 31, 2023 at 11:59pm (Pacific Time)

Applications will continue to be accepted until this date, but those received after the review date will only be considered if the position has not yet been filled.

***

POSITION: Planner

SALARY: P1 ($54,000 – $77,000)

OPENING DATE: January 4, 2023

CLOSING DATE: January 20, 2023 11:59 PM

LOCATION: Planning Division, 245 North Rose Street, Kalamazoo, Michigan

DEPARTMENT: Community Planning & Economic Development

Description/Distinguishing Features: The primary role of the Planner is development review. This includes working with applicants through the multiple stages of development – from idea to closing out the finished site plan – and with both very experienced and first-time developers. The Planner is the manager of the Site Plan Review Process. This critical process is run administratively and includes staff from departments across the City that come together weekly to support the development process. The Planner runs this committee, facilitating the review of all projects. The Planner must have a strong background in planning and zoning, but also familiarity with building codes, utilities, streets, and stormwater functions. In addition to site plan review, the Planner attends the regular Projects Meetings designed to support development projects in their early stages. The Planner’s role in the development process is critical and requires attention to detail, the ability to facilitate large group meetings, and skill in guiding conversations in order to reach a consensus or understanding of next steps. The Planner also supports the administration of the zoning code, working with the Zoning Administrator and Code Inspectors. 

The Planning Division is part of the Community Planning and Economic Development (CPED). The division leads community engagement across the City; is the primary keeper of the Master Plan, supporting its implementation across all departments; supports Public Services with transportation projects; and administers, updates, and supports development policies from zoning to historic preservation to Brownfield Redevelopment. Within Planning, there are staff who focus on short-range, everyday planning and development support and staff who focus on medium and long-range planning and engagement.

Examples of Duties:

• Guiding applicants through the Site Plan Review Process
• Coordinating the review of projects by staff both within and outside of the Community Planning & Economic Development Department
• Attending development review meetings
• Meeting with prospective developers – big and small
• Working with applicants to troubleshoot development hurdles
• Review plans and provide clear feedback
• Site inspections as necessary to support projects moving through the development process

Minimum Qualifications:

• A bachelor’s degree in urban planning, geography, landscape architecture, geography, urban design, or a related field; master’s degree preferred. AICP certification is a plus.
• Three or more years of planning experience that includes plan review and meeting facilitation.
• Strong communication skills and ability to discuss and write on complicated topics in a way that is easily understood by both experienced developers and the average resident.
• Out-of-the-box, critical thinker with a willingness to develop new techniques, and turn the critical review lens on internal processes and activities.
• Understanding the development pro formas and ability to speak engineering and design a plus
• Ability to say no while offering alternatives and/or next steps.
• Understanding of the concepts from Congress of New Urbanism, Smart Growth America, Project for Public Spaces, and other similar best practices with training in form-based codes, public engagement, and urban design through such certifications by the Form-based Code Institute (FBCI), National Charrette Institute (NCI), Congress for New Urbanism (CNU), or American Planners Association/Michigan Association of Planners or similar is plus.
• Understanding the greater community vision of Kalamazoo (currently Imagine Kalamazoo 2025) and how it influences all work in the Planning Division.
• Working knowledge of GIS, Adobe Creative Suite, Microsoft Office, and databases. 

***

So videos. I basically collapsed into a human burrito last week. However, I am also working on creating a sustainable audio and video recording speed for myself, because I really want everyone to be able to experience my newsletters.The videos are coming, but instead of giving myself a deadline, I’ll be doing these at ease, with some fun elements that will make the video and audio experience even stronger on the platforms I chose to share them on.

***

I have created a special landing page, www.theblackurbanist.com/books, that’s not only a home for my upcoming volume, A Black Urbanist Journey to a Queer Feminist Future,  but I have embedded my Bookshop.org booklists here as well since we were having so many issues with the link. Go here for all things books I’ve read and my book when it comes out! Also, standby for book tour dates!

***

My capabilities deck is coming. You can reach out to me for press opportunities and schedule time on my Calendly again for 2023.

***

Thank you for supporting the 2022 capital campaign. Thanks to you, this year, I was able to cover my web hosting, enhance this newsletter, and position myself to take on some other client projects. However,  if you want to send me money for quick expenses or like a tip jar, you can Venmo me. I will also be introducing a paid tier for Substack and Medium users to also function like a tip jar and which will provide detailed reporting as we shift operations into both a for-profit and non-profit model.

***

Happy New Year,

Kristen