My Vision for Equity in
Urban Planning
Fabiola A. Yurcisin
August 6, 2019
Planners as Trained Professionals
 Request information
Use their Knowledge
of the Planning
Process so they can:
 Impose requirements
 Advocate
 Connect
 Inform
 Negotiate
Include and define equity
Professor Ellen McCarthy
Fabiola A. Yurcisin
8/6/19
2
Framework of Transparency
 Use software to visualize
projects
Communicating
Goals
 Define and communicate
primary and secondary
sources
Create a Map of Actors
 Contextualize community
needs
Professor Ellen McCarthy, Planning Consultant
Fabiola A. Yurcisin
8/6/19
3
Planners as Urban Scientists
 Empathetic systems for
cooperation
Seeing the City as a
Whole System
Equity as a way to create less friction
 Limit capitalism to support
collective well being
 Euro-centric-perspective
that covers basic societal
needs
David Obon Architect and Urban Scientist
Fabiola A. Yurcisin
8/6/19
4
Planners as Civic Designers
 Equity as an approximation
 Dissolving structural
hierarchies
Establish Processes for
Collaboration
Support collective intelligence
 Visual frameworks that
serve as reference
 Define terminology–
Framing wins
 Build capacity for future
engagement
Domenico di Siena Civic Designer
Fabiola A. Yurcisin
8/6/19
5
Planners as Community Organizers
 Visually express
demographic data
Define Who the
Community Is
Budgets of Power
 Conduct interviews and
surveys
 Establish trust of the
process
 Use Design-Thinking tools
 Accountability of the
process
Luis Alvarez Garcia, Community Organizer
Fabiola A. Yurcisin
8/6/19
6
Planners as Listeners
 Suggest more expansive
understanding of
community
Ask Questions for
Inclusion
 3 to 1 ratio of listening
 Support underserved
community with
Placemaking strategies
Who is included in the community
Arianna Koudounas, Transportation Planner at the
Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments
Fabiola A. Yurcisin
8/6/19
7
Planners as Interpreters of Information
 Information flow – top
down AND bottom up
Data that Supports
Resilience
 Distinguish facts from
opinions
 Critical thinking skills
 Transparency in the use of
information
Information that supports inclusion
Professor Joshua Murphy, Senior Spatial Analyst
at NOAA
Fabiola A. Yurcisin
8/6/19
8
Planners as Messengers
 Craft inclusive marketing
materials
Address Fear versus
Inflammatory
Language
 Collect data to support
more equitable goals
 Foster an environment of
inclusion
 Fight elitist perceptions
Position of Surplus
Patrick Revord, Urban Planner at District Wharf
Fabiola A. Yurcisin
8/6/19
9
Fabiola as a Planner
A human centered understanding of place.
Community organizing must be at the center of our planning process.
Code of Ethics – Social Justice Principals
Self-resiliency and Peer Group Support
Equity through an Environmental Lens
Define Terminology – Accessibility
What factors influence how and where resources flow?
Realize that systematic racism causes poverty and we should tackle the system first.
Always keep affordable housing as a leading strategy.
Data and statistical information matter and they should support more transparency in the planning
process.
 Partnerships with local organizations and local actors can help planners understand how to better
advocate for the needs of the community.
 Use the knowledge created by place-based work to affect public and private allocation of resource.
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My Vision for Equity
Fabiola A. Yurcisin
8/6/19
10
“Diversity is being invited to the
party, inclusion is being asked
to dance, and equity is getting
to decide what music will be
playing”
Lets Play Some Music Together!
Sharifa Hampton, Adjunct Faculty of English and diversity consultant at College of Staten Island
Fabiola A. Yurcisin
8/6/19
11