2009 Unspoken Borders Conference, “The Ecologies of Inequality and the Future of Design in Race + Space + Politics at UPenn.

2009 Unspoken Borders Conference

The 2009 Unspoken Borders Conference, “The Ecologies of Inequality and the Future of Design in Race + Space + Politics at the University of Pennsylvania was a two day conference. I traveled to Philadelphia and slept overnight on campus. A Penn Design student generously hosted me.

More postings will follow on the conference. Believe me you want to read more about what we talked about.

Summary of Event Description & Goals

Unspoken Borders 2009 is held by UPenn’s PennDesign Black Student Alliance.

[Coming Soon.]

Two Presenters, Topics covered and Presentations given.

Professor Laura Kurgan [Director of the Spatial Information Design Lab, GSAPP, Columbia University] – Using GIS to for ‘Justice Mapping’ – A presentation on how using GIS software -spatial information design- can assist policy makers in reducing the rate of incarceration of black men and women in Post-Katrina New Orleans [and potentially every other community in the country]

Journalist & Author Robert Neuwirth [Journalist & Author of SHADOW CITIES: A Billion Squatters, A New Urban World]- On how design innovation of solutions should take into account the needs of residents, their communities, and environment. Example: How something as simple and fun & useful as transporting water via rolling drums, a recent design innovation, can have unintended consequences for youth and their families living in slums around the world.

Pictures, thoughts & comments from the conference:

The Black Student Alliance did a bangin job of putting the conference together and the speaker panels they assembled were excellent. I’m impressed by them & I can’t help but think that PennDesign must be doing something right…

It was the perfect conference for me because I’m in between my undergraduate education at Rutgers University’s Bloustein School and attending a graduate program. Reziki House, shares a similar desire for introducing students to the Planning & Design fields, and has launched a blog with a partner. Visit Riziki’s blog, and also visit the blog of another participant who posted on the conference as well.