A panel discussion with the Humane Urbanisms Project (HUP) collaborators from urban South Africa, USA, Brazil, and Bangladesh.
Speakers:
Faranak Miraftab (UIUC) - Professor of Urban and Regional Planning
Faranak Miraftab is an urban scholar specializing in globalization, whose work intersects sociology, geography, planning, and feminist studies. Using case study and ethnographic methodologies, her research examines the social and institutional dynamics of urban development and planning, with a focus on addressing basic human needs such as housing, urban infrastructure, and supportive services. She is especially interested in how global and local development processes influence cities and the ways citizens, particularly those marginalized by class, gender, race, and ethnicity, mobilize for essential resources. Her work also explores how institutional structures can either facilitate or hinder access to these vital urban resources.
Ken Salo (UIUC) - Clinical Assistant Professor in Urban and Regional Planning
Professor Salo teaches and conducts research in the areas of environmental justice, environmental racism, law and international environmental policy, global justice movements, international development and planning, and negotiation and conflict management.
Victor Font (UIUC) - Lecturer at University of Illinois – Media and Cinema Studies
Victor Font founded his own audiovisual company in the ’90s. He has been in the production business for more than 25 years. As principal of Prodimag his professional work has involved direction, production, postproduction, and services for worldwide production companies. In 2004 he founded Intermedio, a cinema distribution company, releasing titles for retail and home DVD, including theatrical and rights for TV. Intermedio catalog includes over 200 movie titles and books, some of which have been locally and internationally awarded. Victor Font was also involved in documentary production with the Series ISM and produced a documentary piece about Harold Bloom, both projects co-produced with Films Media Group (NY). Special mention to the documentary film Ich Bin Enric Marco, which was in the official selection of Las Palmas International festival (2009) and Locarno Festival (August 2009).
Ati Ashtari (University of Memphis)
I was born and raised in Tehran, Iran. I am currently an Urban Planning PhD candidate at University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign (UIUC) under the advisement of Professor Faranak Miraftab. I hold two graduate minors in Gender Relations in International Development and Global Studies, an MA in Landscape Architecture from UIUC and a BArch from University of Art, Tehran, Iran.
Coming from an extensive interdisciplinary background, my research interests center community as the main unit of analysis and emphasis, and broadly lie within the realms of sustainable community-based development; community economies; intersectionality; participatory action research; feminist methodologies and storytelling
Efad Huq (Smith College) - Smith College and Agitate! Unsettling Knowledges Editorial Collective (USA)
Efadul Huq’s research analyzes relationships between socioecological change and regional development that shape livelihoods and ecosystems across urban and rural regions in the context of global displacements and climate change. Huq’s current research, harnessing the flexibility of mixed methods ranging from spatial analysis to qualitative and quantitative approaches, examines the relationships between wetland habitations and conversions under a globally connected urban climate governance in Bangladesh. His approach presents a novel intervention into community resilience and environmental justice through recognizing and elevating people’s collective planning practices in the context of environmental planning in climate-impacted cities. The research integrates food, housing and livelihood issues, and identifies contextually sensitive, nature-based pathways for people-centered urbanism.
Clarissa Freitas (Federal University of Ceará Fortaleza, Brazil)
Clarissa Freitas has been a Professor at the Federal University of Ceará (UFC) in Fortaleza since 2009. Her research is positioned between the political economy of urbanization and urban design, frequently using digital modeling of the built environment. He currently coordinates the research project (FUNCAP) “ Urbanization of informal settlements in the context of climate change: recognizing socio-environmental convergences ” and integrates the project (CNPQ) in the network “ Planning and Popular Advisory in Urban and Territorial Conflicts in Brazil ” along with a network of national and international researchers.
José Ricardo Vargas de Faria (Federal University of Paraná, Curitiba, Brazil)
José Ricardo Vargas de Faria received his Ph.D. from the Institute of Research and Urban and Regional Planning of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (IPPUR/UFRJ), Civil Engineer and MSc in Administration by the Federal University of Paraná (UFPR). Professor at the Department of Transport at the Federal University of Paraná (UFPR), and permanent professor in the Public Policy (4P) and in Urban Planning (PPU) Graduate Programs. He leads the Research Group on Urban and Regional Planning and Policies (CEPPUR / UFPR) and until 2020 was co-leader of the Research Group on Political Economy of Power and Organizational Studies (EPPEO / UFPR). He is Vice Coordinator of the Graduate Program in Urban Planning (PPU) at UFPR and was Head of the Department of Transport between 2014-2016 and 2017-2019. He was a founding partner of Ambiens Sociedade Cooperativa, working between 2000 and 2013 in consultancy and advisory services in urban and regional planning, urban policies, public management, cooperative and self-management, democratic and participatory governance.
