Spatial justice, which recognizes the complex production and reproduction of inequities through their spatial contestations and distributions, is integral to the analysis and design of a more equitable built environment. As an urban design scholar and professor, my work focuses primarily on the access and distribution of resources through the design of next generation infrastructural systems. These include not only visible and tangible systems like water, transportation and air, but also systems such as power, politics, and economics.
Funded by the Divided City initiative, Mobility For All By All, on which I was a co-PI, was a project that brought together urban design, community engagement, local artists, and alternative metrics in an effort to influence the City of St. Louis’s plans for the Northside / Southside Metrolink expansion to more fully incorporate the voices of those living along the alignment. As a pilot project, our team tested a range of bottom up, arts-based engagement strategies and attempts to “measure what matters” beyond economic expansion.