Watch a recording of this event in the CCA@CCA Archive ➞

This roundtable discussion brings community advocates, city leaders, and designers together to explore how social infrastructure is being shaped in West Oakland. Dorothy Lazard, Oakland History Center Librarian; Leslie Bowling-Dyer, member of Hoover-Foster Resident Action Council; and Walter Hood, principal of Hood Design Studio, will discuss ways in which reciprocal relationships between mutual aid systems, civic initiatives, and community spaces have shaped the neighborhood's cultural history and can lead the charge towards a just transition. 

This program is co-presented by the Creative Citizens in Action initiative at CCA (CCA@CCA) and by Barnard + Columbia Architecture. CCA@CCA is funded by an endowment gift to support The Deborah and Kenneth Novack Creative Citizens Series, an annual series of public programs focused on creative activism. This event is co-organized by professors Julia Grinkrug, Janette Kim, Neeraj Bhatia and Nataly Gattegno at California College of the Arts, Ignacio G. Galán at Barnard College, and Karen Kubey at Pratt Institute; and architecture and interior design students in each institution who are studying the role of social infrastructure in West Oakland. Special thanks to David Peters of the Black Liberation Walking Tour for bringing together participants in this event. 

This roundtable discussion is also presented alongside a walking tour of West Oakland conducted in September 2021 with David Peters of the Black Liberation Walking Tour and Gene Anderson of OurOakland.net.