On November 10, the UDP Ph.D. welcomes to Drs. Dan Abramson and Rachel Berney who will address research on areas of equity, inclusion and diversity in a special research seminar, held 12:30 – 1:20 by Zoom. See details below:
Presenter: Dan Abramson, Associate Professor (faculty page)
Title: Broadening Participation and Including Multiple Worldviews in Planning Research: Its Importance for Resilience
About the speaker: Daniel Abramson is an Associate Professor of Urban Design and Planning in the College of Built Environments. He approaches the discipline of planning through urban design, historic preservation and planning history, methods of socio-spatial analysis and public participation, and qualitative study of the politics and cultures of development decision-making. His experience in place-sensitive planning, research, and design ranges from the American and Canadian Pacific Northwest to China, Japan, and Poland. Dan’s work currently focuses on community resilience and adaptive planning in disaster recovery and hazard mitigation, as well as peri-urban and rural responses to rapid urbanization. Projects in Washington integrate studios with FEMA- and NSF-funded research on new protocols for state agencies and communities to envision earthquake- and tsunami-resilient development. Projects in Asia have included six China Village Studios with academic partners from Chengdu and Taiwan; a six-month Fulbright Senior Research Fellowship in recovery planning after the 2008 Wenchuan Earthquake in Sichuan; and collaborations with Kobe University and Tohoku Universities. Dan’s publications have appeared in journals and edited books on urban planning, architectural and urban design, urban and planning history, geography, and regional/area studies. He holds a B.A. in History from Harvard University; dual masters in Architecture and City Planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; and a doctorate in Urban Planning from Tsinghua University in Beijing.
Presenter: Rachel Berney, Associate Professor (faculty page)
Title: Bending the Arc of Justice in Urban Design
Abstract: This presentation focuses on current projects that address moving the urban design discipline toward a more inclusive, reflexive, and equitable practice.
About the speaker: Rachel Berney is an Associate Professor in the Department of Urban Design and Planning, Director of the Master of Urban Planning Program, Adjunct Associate Professor in Landscape Architecture, and an Urban@UW Fellow. She writes about conflict, belonging, and public space; a justice-based agenda for urban design; and the right to mobility. Her teaching centers on community-focused equitable design and development with a focus on public space and mobility.