About 75 city and county leaders, representatives of community organizations, land-use planning groups and foundations, and UWM faculty and staff gathered Friday to celebrate and officially launch the new UWM Center for Equity Practice and Planning Justice.
The center, based at UWM’s School of Architecture and Urban Planning, will be a hub for innovative planning practices, zoning and land use reforms, and equity-driven economic development approaches.
Kirk Harris, UWM urban planning professor and the center’s founding director, calls it “a think tank – and a do-tank.”
The center will draw together thinkers, leaders and activists from across Milwaukee, many of whom attended the architecture school event to speak about their hopes and plans for the center. It’s intended to dismantle the structural impacts of segregation, in which societal benefits are distributed unequally and are dependent on place.
“This center is the first of its kind in the nation,” Harris said. “It’s a national model of how to leverage collective action to deconstruct and mitigate the causes and consequences of segregation.”
Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, a UWM alum, noted the potentially wide impact of the center. “By achieving racial equity, we can become the healthiest county in Wisconsin,” Crowley said. “It will require collaboration … where all of us are building a stronger community, no matter what ZIP code we live in.”
UWM Provost and Associate Vice Chancellor Andrew Daire noted that the center fits well with the mission of the university.
“This center embodies a Research-1, community-engaged, urban-serving, access university,” Daire said. “The center leverages our research expertise and will offer solutions that are replicable across the nation.”
The Center for Equity Practice and Planning Justice will serve as a resource hub for community organizations, government agencies and urban planners striving to deconstruct racially segregated placemaking. Activities will include public forums on equitable economic development and research initiatives focused on zoning reforms, transportation justice and other areas of concern for marginalized communities.
The center is supported by key partners and other community leaders committed to advancing equity and social justice. These collaborations will help drive the center’s research, outreach and advocacy efforts to create more equitable planning practices throughout the region.
This story originally appeared on UWM Report.
