Goldsmith Talks: Claiborne on the Verge - The Black Mecca in 21st Century America

Anna Livia Brand comes to the school from the University of New Orleans's Department of Planning and Urban Studies. Her research focuses on the historical development of and contemporary planning and design challenges in black mecca neighborhoods in the American North and South, including Chicago’s Bronzeville, New York’s Harlem, Washington D.C.’s Shaw, New Orleans’s Treme, Atlanta’s Sweet Auburn, and Houston's 3rd and 4th Wards. In her work, Anna is investigating and comparing how the redevelopment of the historic business and cultural corridors in these communities reflects ongoing racialization and changing commitments to equity and social justice for those who have traditionally suffered under urban revitalization policies. Her work also interrogates the gendered, racialized and resistant constructions of the built environment in these neighborhoods over time. Anna received her Bachelor in Architecture from Tulane University, her Master in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of New Orleans and her PhD in Urban Planning from MIT.

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"Goldsmith Talks" is an open-format series of presentations organized by UTSOA faculty, staff, and students. Goldsmith Talks aims to encourage and promote presentations that are outside of the scope of the main lecture series. Examples are: invited seminar presentations, book talks, lectures by designers and scholars who may be in Austin for another engagement, round-table discussions, film screenings, product demonstrations, or any other activity related to research, scholarship, and teaching activities and at the school. The format provides a platform for encouraging the dissemination of work by visitors and members of our community. The goal is to raise awareness, increase access, and better integrate such events within the public life of the school.