I am a teacher, scholar, writer, and photographer of urban places and cultures.  My work centers on issues of cultural identity and social inequality in urban planning and development and people's interactions with their changing physical surroundings in cities around the world.  My writing and photography have appeared in Urban Studies, City & Community, Architect Magazine, The Journal of Urban Design, Public Books, Streetsblog and numerous other publications. My current research is focused on the architectures and geographies of extreme inequality in California's Bay Area, especially place and community in the informal settlements of unhoused people. A recent publication explored place and placemaking in large settlements. I also published a critical commentary on the possibility of resistance in guerrilla urbanism for a special issue of Urban Design International.

My first book, The Help Yourself City: Legitimacy and Inequality in DIY Urbanism, is now out from Oxford University Press. It concerns the creation of unauthorized "DIY urban design" contributions and what these informal improvement efforts tell us about the political-economy of placemaking and citizenship in the contemporary city. More of my photos of DIY placemaking are here at #helpyourselfcity and you can hear me talking about the book with Roman Mars on an episode of 99% Invisible.

Additional research of mine has focused on how the ideologies of contemporary first-wave gentrifiers influence the geography of neighborhood change (link), the impact of local cultural expectations on the urban development process (link), the role mass transit design can play in promoting community identity (link), and the impacts of temporary street closure programs like VivaCalleSJ (link) and Oakland's Covid-era Slow Streets (link). I was also a project research director and curatorial advisor for "Spontaneous Interventions," the U.S. Pavilion at the 13th Venice Architecture Biennale, and have served on a number of other boards, juries, architecture teams, and advisory positions.

My research seeks to inform how (and for whom) our cities are organized, designed and understood. I sometimes write about my work and other thoughts concerning urban space and culture on twitter, and you can see some of my landscape and architectural photography on instagram.

Lou is a San Jose native and has cultivated a sense of belonging in her community, she is an advocate, scholar, artist, curator, and community organizer all in one. She has been working to catalyze inclusion through inter-cultural and co-created art, organizing art shows, and advocating for artists’ rights. She is passionate about building a sustainable and resilient art scene in the city. She graduated from San Jose State University in May 2023 as an Art History/Visual Communications major and Urban Studies minor. Her interests and focus are researching cultural synergies and semiotic fields that contribute to the cultural economy of an urban landscape. Within her role as a Fellow in SCC and Mosaic America she's conducted a wide variety of administrative, analytical, and staff studies, and projects for assigned departmental activities; analyzes programmatic practices and procedures and is consulted to make recommendations for organizational, operational, policy, and procedural improvements in support of the management functions, practices and services or the implementation of program objectives.

Roya Ebtehaj is a multifaceted artist and educator. She Intermingles art and technology by exploring the digital culture that has formed due to the ways individuals interact with current media and consume information. 

Ebtehaj utilizes XR, 3D, animation, video, web, print, and installation to bring her ideas to life. Her artistic endeavor is framed by her Iranian background along with her identity interlaced in the diaspora. Ebtehaj draws inspiration from childhood memories during a regional war and a lifetime of confronting the restrictions of state censorship and international sanctions. She also enjoys incorporating humor and nostalgia through the juxtaposition of internet pop culture and Persian motifs. 

Ebtehaj has exhibited her work internationally in different venues, including Kyoto Shibori Museum, Usak Archaeology Museum, National Center for Contemporary Arts in Minsk, Root Division, B4b4lab, Maker Faire, Richmond Art Center, and Berkeley Art Center.

I am visual artist born and raised in Mexico City, where I first came into contact of the art world  in the Graffiti urban art scene. After immigrating to the USA to San Francisco, Bay area (Silicon Valley),  focusing on trying to understand our complex society through a Mexican immigrant’s lens in the USA. As a Mexican native who has being affected by the influence and the interruption of my culture by international immigrants and trends of imperialistic organizations. I use a critical eye to engage with the globalization, imperialism, and capitalism that affect every corner of the two nations that share my soul. My concerns are reflected in a dialogue of the Stockholm syndrome symptoms created by the oppression and discrimination of imperialistic orders. In both sides of the border this is having a bigger impact in minorities, people of color and the workers that hold entire nations that also suffer of social and cultural amnesia. In order to survive in these societies built on the foundations of white supremacy and colonialism our ancestors have been forced for generations to either hide, directly confront, or sympathize with our oppressors, resulting in a mass forgetting of cultural and social practices. As our cultural identity and practices have been suppressed we have become hostages in our own homeland. Our collective social and culture amnesia continues to affect people of color on both sides of the border.

The globalization of multicultural problems such as classism, racism, and inequality affect the social and psychological side of humanity. Since we so easily forget where we come from as individuals, as an artist I choose to remember, honor, and reclaim those roots and rights. Multicultural problems affect how we see ourselves in comparison to others, in a disengagement with our history, and in a loss of our customs. Even the color of our skin is a source of contention. These problems are intangible, invisible for many. As an artist, I want to create tangible images that reflect our psychological symptoms and demand us to confront our submission to the powers that hold us.

San Jose native Elba Raquel wears many hats. An accomplished artist with a BFA in Illustration, an AS in Design, and an MA in Education she ignites young minds as a full-time High School Art Teacher. Elba Raquel's "fantastic realism" style is recognized for its rhythmic compositions and the juxtaposition of desaturated figures against vibrant backgrounds. Her work graces galleries throughout the Bay Area, and she brings her artistic energy to life at events and festivals with her immersive art organization, FAB Productions. With seven murals adorning San Jose's walls, Elba Raquel is a rising force in the city's art scene, constantly pushing her practice to new heights.

Parisa Ghaderi is an Assistant Professor of Graphic Design at Shoreline Community College. Born and raised in Iran, she earned her Master of Fine Arts from the Penny W. Stamps School of Art & Design at the University of Michigan.

Her work has been exhibited in renowned museums and galleries worldwide, including the Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris, the Craft and Folk Art Museum in Los Angeles, the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum, and the Grand Rapids Art Museum, among others. Her art explores profound themes such as identity, belonging, and social issues, utilizing a wide array of mediums and techniques.

Beyond her visual art practice, Parisa engages in diverse creative pursuits. She has curated exhibitions, directed performances, and created short films and animations, all reflecting her commitment to exploring new forms of expression and meaningful dialogue.

Samira ShiriDevich is an Iranian designer and entrepreneur whose work in graphic, motion, UI/UX, Interaction, and participatory design is focused on exploring and addressing the complexities of freedom, equity, and agency through design. To do this, she uses a human-centered, horizontal approach, emphasizing participatory and community-engaged design with people as they bring their own expertise and agency. She asks “how might we use design to identify their depth of knowledge?” as she works with people in context to draw from their experiences, identify knowledges, and tell their own stories to communicate with audiences. Working with people in their communities has confirmed her belief that there is a world of hidden, and often undervalued, resources and a wealth of information in every person’s story.

Since early 2020, ShiriDevich has been actively involved in ongoing design research with Project YouthBuild (PYB), a Gainesville branch of a national AmeriCorps organization devoted to high school degree completion and career training for youth forced out of public schools. Using a co-design process which is central to her practice, she collaborated with PYB stakeholders to design a social media campaign to increase their visibility and recognize their accomplishments. Through a co-design process, she facilitated sustainable communication and collaboration between local East Gainesville community members and PYB students, whose campus is in East Gainesville. She also collaborated with the University of Florida Shimberg Center of Housing Studies on a white paper, data visualizations, and information design as part of their National Science Foundation Grant proposal to study the impact of sea-level rise in vulnerable Florida communities. Her work helped demonstrate the importance of visual communication to better communicate the value of their proposed research and make their proposal more formidable.

Prior to joining the Department of Art & Art History as a tenure-track assistant professor, she taught graphic design as instructor of record at the University of Florida and at various institutions in Iran before coming to the United States. ShiriDevich received her MFA in Design and Visual Communications from the University of Florida, where she won the Harold Garde Studio Art Scholarship and earned an MA in Design and Visual Communications from the University of Art in Tehran.

With over a decade of professional experience in Iran, ShiriDevich worked as an art director for both the Avaye Sadra Resaneh Advertising Agency and the Municipality of Tehran, and as a graphic designer for multiple Iranian design agencies. Her work and research have been featured in national and international conferences, exhibitions, and publications. She presented the academic article “Visual Analysis of the Capital Cities of Developed Countries’ Portals” at the International Conference on Arts and Humanities (2018) in Sri Lanka. In 2020, she co-led an interactive panel entitled “Social Distancing???!!! Perspective for Nurturing Environments for Hybrid/Remote Multicultural and Multidisciplinary Collaboration” at the Digitally Engaged Learning (DEL) Conference and presented her work “Iranian Design History” on the Teaching and Learning Through Digital Archives panel at the University & College Designers Association (UCDA) Design Education Summit. Most recently, ShiriDevich presented her work at Project YouthBuild (Gainesville, FL) and participated in the 2022 UCDA Design Education Summit, “Agency” where she presented on the Expanded Practices: Positionality and Plurality in the Field Panel and shared her poster, “Connectivity through Community Asset Mapping.”