In a Multiverse of Urbanisms, my Black Queer Feminist Urbanism is Enough

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. 

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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.

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Until next time,

Kristen