The Center Newsletter: Issue 03

Dear Community,

As cities change, we must ask: who gets to belong in these spaces, and who gets pushed out? That’s not just a design question. It’s a justice question.

At The Center, we believe that space is never neutral. It’s shaped by power, policy, and history. This month, we’re leaning into that conversation with urgency. From upcoming events to new community projects, we’re challenging the status quo and calling for spaces that honor memory, community, and equity.

This work is not abstract. It’s happening on the ground, right here, right now—in the way a rail line is designed, a neighborhood is zoned, or a cultural center is protected. Thank you for being in it with us.

In solidarity,

Paul Bauknight Jr.

Founder & President, The Center for Transformative Urban Design (The Center)

Just Communities x The Center: Register Now

Space: Liberator or Oppressor?

September 24, 2025 | 1–2 PM ET | Virtual

What happens when we treat city planning as activism? When we stop accepting space as it is, and start asking who it’s for, who it’s excluded, and how we can reclaim it?

Join The Center and Just Communities for a fireside chat with Paul Bauknight Jr. on spatial justice, policy, and power. This conversation isn’t about design trends. It’s about how space becomes a tool for liberation or oppression.

For designers, advocates, developers, and organizers who believe cities should serve people—not displace them.

Reimagining the Blue Line

The Blue Line Extension will impact communities across the Twin Cities for generations to come. But this isn’t just about trains or transit. It’s about who decides what gets built, who benefits, and how we protect and preserve community in the process.

At The Center, we’re launching a new effort to spotlight community-driven solutions and elevate Black voices in the planning process — a call to go beyond traditional development models and instead center equity, culture, and connection.

Because planning without people isn’t progress. It’s displacement dressed as innovation.

Coming Up:

As part of this effort, Paul Bauknight Jr. will speak at the upcoming Blue Line Extension Summit on October 4th, hosted by The DREAM Team, Hennepin County, Metropolitan Council, and the BLE Project Team.

Joined by Taylor Smrikárova and moderated by Sam O’Connell, their conversation will go beyond traditional Transit-Oriented Development to explore how transportation can be a tool for wealth building, community ownership, and holistic neighborhood ecosystems.

Save the Date: October 4th, 2025

Topic: Beyond Transit-Oriented Development

Focus: Real-world examples from local and national projects that prioritize people, prosperity, and place.

My Black Space: 3 Conversations You Shouldn’t Miss

Our podcast My Black Space is growing — thank you to everyone who’s listened, shared, and shown love.

So far, Paul has been joined by:

• Omari Souza on why Black designers must redefine the systems they work within — and what it means to center culture, community, and critique in creative work

• PaviElle French on reclaiming rest, land, and liberation as acts of resistance — and how her music helps us imagine new futures

• Sarah Bellamy on transforming Black storytelling into a tool for healing, cultural sanctuary, and generational leadership

Have a topic or guest in mind for future episodes? We’re listening.

What We’re Reading

As part of our ongoing reflections on equity, justice, and power, here are two compelling reads I’ve been sitting with lately:

The Quiet Coup: Neoliberalism and the Looting of America

By Mehrsa Baradaran

I picked this one up on a recent trip to San Diego, and couldn’t put it down. In clear and urgent prose, Baradaran lays out how neoliberalism became the dominant force in our economy—not by accident, but through law. She connects the rise of market supremacy to backlash against racial progress, both in the U.S. and globally, tracing how it has eroded public trust and deepened inequality.

What sets this book apart is its clarity and its hope. Baradaran doesn’t just critique the system—she points to ways we can dismantle it and build something better.

Black Urban History at the Crossroads: Race and Place in the American City

Edited by Kali-Ahset Amen, Joseph Heathcott, and Brian D. Goldstein

This collection of essays is essential for anyone thinking about cities through the lens of justice. It traces the history of Black self-determination, place-making, and resistance—beginning with the Atlantic slave trade and stretching to today’s urban landscape.

It’s a powerful reminder that Black communities have shaped our cities not just physically, but culturally, politically, and economically—often in spite of systems designed to exclude them.

Stay Connected

• Visit our website: ctud.org | TheCenterforTUD.org

• Tune into My Black Space

• Connect with me on LinkedIn

• Interested in bringing this work to your community? Reach out here

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