The Center Newsletter: Issue 05

As 2025 comes to a close, I’ve been reflecting on how much ground we’ve covered this year and how deeply grateful I am for the people, partners, and communities who’ve joined us along the way.

This wasn’t just a year of progress. It was a year of planting seeds. Of launching new tools, growing our voice, and strengthening the roots of trust and collaboration. Whether we were guiding design processes, convening changemakers, or amplifying Black voices through storytelling, our work centered one question: What becomes possible when we honor people, place, and possibility?

In a time when cities are at a crossroads, our communities continue to model what it means to move with vision, care, and courage.

From launching our website, podcast, and newsletter to shaping spaces from North Minneapolis to the Pacific Northwest, we’re working strategically to center equity in every blueprint, conversation, and corridor.

Thank you for walking with us and for believing in what we’re building together.

Paul Bauknight, Jr.

Founder + Executive Director

The Center for Transformative Urban Design

Latest Episode: Jamil Ford Sr. on Community Power and Spatial Justice

Paul sits down with acclaimed architect and developer Jamil Ford Sr. to explore the deep connections between design, land, power, and legacy.

Jamil shares what it means to build with and for Black communities, reflects on the generational impact of redlining and displacement, and offers powerful insights on community wealth and ownership. This conversation is personal, rooted, and urgent.

In this episode, you’ll hear about:

• The long-term vision behind Jamil’s work in North Minneapolis

• How systemic disinvestment still shapes communities today

• The importance of land ownership in Black liberation

• Why development must center healing, history, and voice

• Real stories of place, pride, and persistence

Listen now on our website, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify

Know someone shaping space in your community? Send us your guest ideas.

New This Year: Website, Newsletter & My Black Space Podcast

In 2025, we planted three new seeds to help expand the reach and impact of The Center’s work:

• Website Launch: We unveiled a newly designed website to house our projects, values, and stories at the intersection of design, justice, and community.

• Newsletter Launch: You’re reading the first full year of our monthly newsletter. Thank you for being part of this growing community.

• Podcast Debut: We launched My Black Space: Place, Power, Justice, a conversation series hosted by Paul Bauknight, Jr.

2025 Highlights: Building Trust, Shaping Space, and Advancing Justice

This year, we deepened our roots and expanded our reach, working alongside partners, neighbors, and national leaders to shape more just and equitable communities.

Below are key highlights from a powerful year of storytelling, design, advocacy, and transformation:

SPATIAL JUSTICE CONVENING

Our flagship event brought together over 100 civic leaders, designers, developers, and advocates to examine how race, policy, and place intersect in our cities. The energy was electric and the message clear: Equity must be embedded in every blueprint, budget, and building.

We left with new connections and renewed commitment to push beyond transactional projects toward transformative change.

NATIONAL + REGIONAL COLLABORATIONS

RCC Learning Journey in St. Paul

We co-designed a three-day experience exploring healing-centered development, reparative planning, and the Rondo neighborhood’s legacy. Attendees connected with powerful Black-led work across the Twin Cities, including Frogtown Farm, Penumbra, 825 Arts, and Rondo CLT.

Pacific Northwest Spatial Justice Cohort

We launched our first regional cohort of spatial justice leaders in Seattle and Portland, bringing together planners, organizers, and designers to deepen place-based equity work. Minneapolis is up next in 2026.

YOUTH & FUTURE DESIGNERS

We invested in the next generation by creating meaningful pathways into the built environment:

Webber-Camden Summer Design Challenge

Through a partnership with the Master of Art and Creative Leadership Program (MACL) and Minneapolis College of Art & Design (MCAD), we engaged youth in a real-world urban design challenge to reimagine the corner of 42nd & Fremont in Minneapolis. Their creativity and insight lit the path forward.

Graduation + MACL Civic Scholar-in-Residence

Paul continued his work as a Civic Scholar with Minneapolis College of Art & Design, supporting students at the intersection of community, justice, and design—and proudly presented diplomas at graduation.

Rural Justice & Future Design Fellowship (with Nexus)

Paul helped co-design the vision and structure for a new fellowship focused on rural Black landownership, connecting identity, space, and justice across geographies.

BALDWIN SQUARE: A CORRIDOR FOR COMMUNITY

We led community engagement and early design work for Baldwin Square in North Minneapolis, a Black-led corridor visioning project. With residents and stakeholders, we’re co-creating a space where culture, ownership, and opportunity take root.

ADVOCACY, SPEAKING & NATIONAL IMPACT

Paul was called to speak, guide, and support transformative conversations across the country:

• Blue Line Dream Summit: Paul was a featured speaker at this public summit focused on the future of the Blue Line Extension, a major transit investment impacting Black and Brown communities across the Twin Cities. His remarks challenged traditional, top-down planning models and emphasized the need for community-led visions that repair historic harm rather than repeat it.

• Beyond the Tracks: Hosted by The Center at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design and moderated by Paul Bauknight Jr., this event brought together national and local leaders to explore how the Blue Line Extension can become a catalyst for equitable, culturally rooted development. The evening centered community agency, land ownership, cultural identity, and economic participation as core to just transit development. Speakers included:

  • Jason Foster, President & COO of Destination Crenshaw (Los Angeles)

  • Elwood Hopkins, Managing Director of Emerging Markets, Inc.

  • Taylor Smrikárova, Principal at Redesign

  • Taidgh H. McClory, Founder of THM

• Just Communities Webinar: Paul joined Tsedey Betru for a virtual conversation examining how space becomes a tool for liberation or oppression. He shared practical insights on spatial justice, trust-building, and shared power, connecting design decisions to histories of segregation, disinvestment, and community resilience.

• Towerside Innovation District Retreat: The Center supported an equity-centered retreat for the Towerside Innovation District, a 370-acre development area spanning Minneapolis and Saint Paul. Paul helped orient conversations beyond real estate and innovation branding toward community wealth building, affordability, inclusive governance, and long-term neighborhood benefit.

• State of Black Design Conference: The Center played a lead organizing role in the Minneapolis edition of the State of Black Design gathering, creating space for Black designers, students, and cultural leaders to connect, reflect, and organize. The convening centered Black design excellence, healing, and spatial justice, positioning design as a tool for collective liberation and city transformation. One of the featured voices from the conference was Omari Souza, founder of the State of Black Design. His reflections on design justice, visibility, and the evolution of this national movement offer powerful context and vision for the work ahead.

DESIGN & DEVELOPMENT CONSULTING

Spokane’s 5th Avenue Forward

We joined the City of Spokane’s design team to support redevelopment planning in a historically Black neighborhood, offering input on spatial justice strategy and community engagement.

Penumbra Theater Campus

We served as thought partners on the design vision and community engagement process for Penumbra’s wellness and cultural center, helping reimagine space for Black healing and joy.

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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