Design | Penn Today

Philly transportation needs a universal way to measure racial equity

Stuart Weitzman School of Design grad students Seunglee David Park and Emily Kennedy wrote an op-ed about how Philadelphia can implement a universal transportation equity measure to identify vulnerable communities and establish a coordinated citywide process for factoring equity into city transit projects.

View of Philadelphia skyline from the Schuylkill River at dusk.

How can cities become healthier, greener, and more equitable in the future?

In a year marked by COVID-19, renewed calls for racial justice, a contentious presidential election, and an active wildfire and hurricane season, Penn experts share what’s needed to make urban areas more resilient to future crises.

Two people standing beside a Mongolian ger on a hill with Ulaanbaatar in the background.

Gers and the grid: Combatting air pollution in Mongolia

The Center for Environmental Building and Design (CEBD) at The Weitzman School partnered with Mongolian nonprofit GerHub to test out ways of making ger living more energy efficient to reduce air pollution and improve respiratory conditions in Ulaanbaatar.

Lynn Meskell standing in front of a glass display case at the Penn Museum.

Lynn Meskell appointed Penn Integrates Knowledge University Professor

The world-renowned archaeologist has joint appointments in the Department of Anthropology, the Graduate Program in Historic Preservation and the Department of City and Regional Planning, and the Penn Museum as a curator in both the Asian and Near East sections.

Housing initiative fuels cooperation between cities during pandemic

Vincent Reina and Amy Castro Baker are working with the U.S. cities, including Philadelphia, through the Housing Initiative at Penn to design a housing assistance plan both during the pandemic and after.

A building at Tuskegee University on a green hill in daylight.

A new initiative to preserve African American civil rights heritage sites

The Center for the Preservation of Civil Rights Sites will be led by Faculty Director Randall Mason, an associate professor in the Graduate Program in Historic Preservation, alongside renowned preservationist Brent Leggs, who is named senior adviser and adjunct associate professor.

What will memorials to the pandemic look like? A Philly artist started with 100,000 folds

Paul Farber of the Stuart Weitzman School of Design spoke about how inequity factors into a lack of memorials to those lost to pandemics. “We know if you have more time, money, and power, you have more access to build longstanding monuments and memorials. Those most impacted by pandemics are predominantly those who don’t have the resources to escape the city or to get the best care,” he said.

A conversation about ‘Akon City’ and speculative urbanization

Christopher Marcinkoski of the Weitzman School of Design unpacks—through the lens of speculative urbanization—the self-described ‘futuristic’ city to be built in Senegal, led by musician and philanthropist Akon.

Philadelphia rowhouse roofs with solar panels in foreground and city skyline in background.

Architecture’s William Braham on energy, carbon, and buildings for the future

For Climate Week 2020, The Weitzman School speaks with Braham about Penn’s Climate and Sustainability Action Plan, and what he’s learned about the build environment and its carbon footprint over time.

Gehry-designed Eisenhower Memorial unveiled after 20 years—during a fraught moment

David Eisenhower of the Annenberg School for Communication spoke about a new memorial to his grandfather, President Dwight D. Eisenhower. “I think memorialization is a process that is renewed,” he said. “So, when you dedicate the memorial, I think that you are investing or gambling, in a sense, on the future, that the message that a memorial conveys will have a kind of timeless quality to it.”

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