Home   /   James Rojas
James Rojas | An Island Press Author

James Rojas

James Rojas is an urban planner, community activist, educator, and artist who runs the planning, model-building, and community-outreach practice Place It!. Through Place It!, he has developed an interdisciplinary, community-healing, visioning, and outreach process that uses storytelling, objects, art-production, and play to help improve the urban-planning outreach process. He is now an international expert in public engagement and has traveled around the US, Mexico, Canada, Europe, and South America, facilitating over 500 workshops, and building over 100 interactive models. His research has appeared in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Dwell, Places, and in numerous books. Relevant areas of expertise include using model-building as a means of community and planning outreach; working with underserved, disadvantaged communities and bringing overlooked voices to the planning discussion; making the physical form of cities relevant to broad audiences; and understanding how immigrants—especially Latino immigrants—see and understand urban and suburban space in the US and why they oftentimes reshape those forms in the ways that they do.

The Pedestrian Safety Crisis in America: Why it's happening and what we can do about it

Wednesday, July 21, 2021 - 3:00pm EDT
More

More than 6,000 pedestrians are killed every year on US streets, representing an enormous 50% increase from the first part of the decade. For the Latinx population in particular, walking, biking, and using public transportation are the most...

More than 6,000 pedestrians are killed every year on US streets, representing an enormous 50% increase from the first part of the decade. For the Latinx population in particular, walking, biking, and using public transportation are the most affordable mobility options, thus putting the population at a higher risk of pedestrian death. Additionally, there's a lack of Latinx participation in the transportation planning process. The US-Latinx population's unique cultural perspective is needed in community development. Angie Schmitt, author of the new book Right of Way: Race, Class and the Silent Crisis of Pedestrian Deaths in America, will talk about the social trends that are putting people at risk. James Rojas, founder of the Latino Urban Forum, will discuss why it's important to incorporate the Latinx experience into mobility design throughout the built environment.

Presenters: 

More