Arts can be a powerful agent for community change. As more communities adopt creative placemaking strategies, urban planners are reimagining how to collect, interpret, and share data to help transform communities.
Have you ever wondered where those tall buildings in Campustown came from? We dug into this question and found answers that were a lot more interesting than we expected at first.
Joe and Annette believe that the greatest gift you can give someone is the opportunity to pursue higher education.
No stranger to big cities, Zishen Ye grew up in Shanghai, China. He was fascinated by the transformation that took place within the city during his childhood as building expansion preceded the need for more robust infrastructure and public transportation.
Drew and Jen Awsumb believe that a person’s career aspirations should not be stymied by race or socioeconomic status, so they took action to help break down these barriers.
As it grows, the Basement Studio Fund for Professional Development will help support travel and living expenses of individual students to participate in public internships, job interviews, and student personal study and travel related to careers in planning. Reflecting on his gift, Doug shared, “People at the University of Illinois were helpful to me all my life. I wanted to help others too.”
Andrew Greenlee, an associate professor in the Department of Urban and Regional Planning, is an expert in low-income housing policy and federal low-income housing support programs. His work explores household-level and collective dynamics of residential mobility and neighborhood change, with a particular focus on forced displacement due to factors such as urban renewal, eviction, and climate change.
“We all have histories in our neighborhoods, traditional practices of families and neighbors, and that’s important to bring to urban planning. Arts and culture and heritage studies connect people,” which should make them central to planning for community development.
