The Black Urbanist

I write about place.

I love great places.

I am Black.

I am Urban.

I am Queer

I am a Feminist.

I am an Urbanist.

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

What this platform/my work is NOT:

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

What this platform and my work IS:

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

My Formal Bio

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

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

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

Listening to my podcast, Defying Gentrification

Making Plenty Good Room with Rev. Dr. Andrew Wilkes – Defying Gentrification

These are times that call on a radical belief in oneself and their community. Back in October just shortly before the US Election, I interviewed Rev. Dr. Andrew Wilkes about his book Plenty Good Room, which invites the Black Church to think beyond electon cycles and go to the root of how it can be a radical force in not just American politics, but the wellbeing of all of us as Earthlings.Yeah, timely. Unfortunately, because of the recent US Election and regime change, it took me a minute to prepare this episode for you, but it’s here now and ready. Plus, my beloved partner Les Henderson joins me for a moment of reflection on faith and will be joining me in our next few episodes.Here’s Rev. Dr. Wilkes’s bioReverend Andrew Wilkes, Ph.D., is a pastor, political scientist, writer, and contemplative. He is the co-lead, co-founding pastor of the Double Love Experience Church in Brooklyn, New York, and the former Executive Director of the Drum Major Institute, a social change organization founded by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Dr. Wilkes is a 2022 inductee into the Martin Luther King Board of Preachers at Morehouse College and a proud alum of Hampton University, Princeton Theological Seminary, CUNY Graduate Center, and the Coro Public Affairs Fellowship. He is the author of Freedom Notes: Reflections on Faith, Justice, and the Possibility of Democracy; co-author of Psalms for Black Lives; and author of Plenty Good Room: Co-Creating an Economy of Enough for All. His writing and voice have been featured in the New York Times, Washington Post, Essence Magazine, Stanford Social Innovation Review, and Dr. Henry Louis Gates' PBS Gospel series. Dr. Wilkes is the elated husband of Rev. Dr. Gabby Cudjoe-Wilkes and lives in Brooklyn, New York.Watch PBS's The Black Church Herehttps://www.pbs.org/show/black-church/Read my recent newsletter spelling out the seven principles of Defying Gentrification (since i forgot to put them in the episodehttps://theblackurbanist.com/this-is-my-house-and-in-it-i-get-to-defy-gentrification-my-way-all-day-every-day/Purchase from Kristen's Bookshop.org store and support the podcast! And merch and crafting classes via www.kristpattern.comNever miss an episode, subscribe to our Substack , LinkedIn, WordPress, or PattreonYou can also find Kristen @blackurbanist or @kristpattern.

Subscribing to my newsletter on Substack or LinkedIN (These come out mostly) Advertise in the newsletter.
Reading through my free resources or watching this video to aid in Understanding Black Queer Feminist Urbanism
Following me on Twitter, Instagram,
Watching some of my prior speeches and workshops.
And finally, reading some of the posts from this site’s blog-only days that really set the tone for who I am now, who I’ve been and what I hope to do.