Equity and Inclusion

FRI-C05: Innovative Placemaking for Marginalized Communities Through Public Art, Storytelling, Wayfinding, and Programming

Friday, September 18, 2026

1:15 PM - 2:30 PM PT

1.25 PDH, LA CES/HSW

Speaker(s)

Hanson Hom, ASLA, FAICP

Urban Planning Consultant
Self-employed
Alameda, California
James T. Rojas

Urban planner, artist, community engagement specialist
Place It!
Alhambra, California
ponnapa prakkamakul, ASLA, PLA, LEED AP, SITES AP (she/her/hers)

Senior Associate
Sasaki
Cambridge, Massachusetts

Marginalized communities are facing an existential crisis driven by gentrification, economics, and discrimination. Ethnic enclaves are surviving despite limited resources and are seeking to reclaim their public realm. Learn how communities are collaborating with designers, planners, artists, performers, cultural workers, and historians to create spaces for remembrance, celebration, and connection.

Learning Outcomes:

Investigate the history, culture, and social context of communities through storytelling and listening to understand the values, priorities, and needs of underserved communities.
Apply knowledge of how different ethnic communities shape, program, and use the public realm to inform design vocabulary, aesthetics, wayfinding, and solutions.
Foster community trust and acceptance to gain meaningful and inclusive public participation in the planning and design process; engage and empower underrepresented groups in placemaking to achieve community-driven outcomes.
Collaborate with allied professionals and other disciplines to incorporate diverse perspectives and approaches for multi-faceted, community-responsive design solutions.