User:Cmoyer1/James Rojas

= James Rojas = James Rojas is a leading scholar, urban planner, and community activist investigating the role of what he calls "Latino Urbanism" in the U.S. He founded the Latino Urban Forum, a non-profit committed to amplifying planning and design concerns of low-income Latinos, as well as the design and participation-based urban planning practice, Place It!

Early Life & Education
Rojas attributes the roots of his professional work to his upbringing in the East L.A. neighborhood of Boyle Heights. It was there where he first encountered a unique mix of Latino culture and informal urban design that inspired his Master of Science in Architectural Studies and Master of City Planning graduate thesis at MIT titled "The Enacted Environment -- the creation of 'place' by Mexicans and Mexican Americans in East Log Angeles" in 1991.

Work
After graduating from MIT, Rojas traveled to Budapest as a Peace Corps member to assist in the creation of environmental awareness advocates and organizations. Rojas returned to the US via LA and joined the Los Angeles Metropolitan Authority as a transportation planner where he recognized the lack of community engagement tools for use in Latino communities. During this time, Rojas co-established the G727 art gallery in Downtown LA and became immersed in the city's arts scene. He befriended Doreen Nelson, now Professor Emerita of California State Polytechnic University, who invited Rojas enroll in her course on Design-Based Learning. This course helped Rojas develop methodologies of engagement based on play and participation which ultimately became the cornerstone of his practice called Place It!. Rojas' Place It! workshops center voices from Latino communities and emphasize storytelling, object association, art-making, collaboration, and play as channels through which to learn about, advocate for, and contribute to urban planning processes. His work has been recognized by universities such as MIT, Cornell University, and the University of California, Berkeley.

Publications

 * Rojas, James. “Latino Urbanism in Los Angeles.” Insurgent Public Space: Guerrilla Urbanism and the Remaking of Contemporary Cities, edited by Jeffrey Hou, Routledge, 2010.

Interviews

 * Schmitt, Angie. “What We Can Learn from 'Latino Urbanism'.” Streetsblog USA, 5 June 2019, usa.streetsblog.org/2019/06/05/what-we-can-learn-from-latino-urbanism/.
 * Sonksen, Mike. “Rasquachismo and Public Spaces: A Primer on Latino Urbanism with James Rojas ~ L.A. TACO.” L.A. TACO, 3 Dec. 2019, www.lataco.com/james-rojas-latino-urbanism/.
 * Gaestel, Allyn. “Urban Planner James Rojas Reminds Us to Shut Down the PowerPoint.” Next City, 13 Feb. 2013, nextcity.org/daily/entry/urban-planner-james-rojas-reminds-us-to-shut-down-the-powerpoint.
 * Rojas, James. “James Rojas - Community Engagement.” American Planning Association, www.planning.org/plannerprofile/jamesrojas/.