In early February 2015, he had just finished leading a tour of East Los Angeless vernacular landscapestopping to admire a markets nicho for la Virgen de Guadalupe, to tell the history of a mariachi gathering space, to point out how fences between front yards promote sociability. Over the years, he has facilitated over four hundred of these, collaborating with artists, teachers, curators, architects, and urban planners in activities presented on sidewalks, in vacant lots, at museums and art galleries, as well as in a horse stable and a laundromat. For hours I laid out streets on the floor or in the mud constructing hills, imaginary rivers, developing buildings, mimicking the city what I saw around me. Instead, I built a mini, scrappy, 3-story dollhouse out of Popsicle sticks that I had picked up off the schoolyard. Want to turn underused street space into people space? writer Sam Newberg) that talks about the real-life impact of the "new urbanist" approach to planning in that city, and the []. Since the 1980s, new immigrants from Central America and Mexico have made L.A. a polycentric Latino metropolis. Theyll put a fence around it to enclose it. James Rojas Presentation: Latino Urbanism and Building Community in L.A INTERVIEW WITH JAMES ROJAS You are well-known for your work on the topic of Latino Urbanism, can you share a few thoughts on what sets Latino Urbanism apart from other forms of urban design and also, how the principles of Latino Urbanism have found wider relevance during the COVID-19 era? And I now actually get invited by city agencies to offer workshops that can inform the development of projects and long-range plans. Michael has more than a decade of senior-level . Interiors begin where urban planning ends or should begin. This is a new approach to US planning that is based on a gut . He has developed an innovative public-engagement and community-visioning tool that uses art-making, imagination, storytelling, and play as its media. Because its more of a community effort, nobody can put their name to it. I want to raise peoples awareness of the built environment and how it impacts their experience of place. I was fascinated by these cities. He is one of the few nationally recognized urban planners to examine U.S. Latino cultural influences on urban planning/design. The planners were wrong about needing a separate, removed plaza. He has collaborated with municipalities, non-profits, community groups, educational institutions, and museums, to engage, educate, and empower the public on transportation, housing, open space, and health issues. Rojas adapted quickly and found a solution: video content. Through these activities, Rojas has built up Latinos understanding of the planning process so they can continue to participate at the neighborhood, regional, and state levels for the rest of their life. We can move people from place to place, but what are we doing with them when they get there? Urban planners use abstract tools like maps, numbers, and words, which people often dont understand.. I begin all my urban planning meetings by having participants build their favorite childhood memory with objects in 10 minutes. l experience of landscapes. This side yard became the center of our family lifea multi-generational and multi-cultural plaza, seemingly always abuzz with celebrations and birthday parties, Rojas said. Take the use of public versus private space. For example, he thought that Latinos and street vendors did more for pedestrian safety and walkability than the department of transportation. Its a different approach for urban space, Rojas said. Through art-based three-dimensional modeling and interactive workshops, PLACE IT! For example, planners focused on streets to move and store vehicles rather than on streets to move and connect people. "Latino New Urbanism," the urban planner James Rojas s "Latino urbanism," and the designer Henry Muoz s "mestizo regionalism."7 Proponents of these models believe that by elevating the contributions of Latina/o culture in cities, especially the marginalized barrios that conventional urban place-making has By allowing participants to tell their stories through these images, they placed a value on these everyday activities and places. Since the protest, which ended in violent disbandment by Los Angeles County sheriffs, Chicano urbanists have . James Rojas is an urban planner, community activist, and artist. Most planners are trained to work in an abstract, rational tradition, thinking about cities in head-heavy ways and using tools like maps and data to understand, explore, and regulate the land and its people, Rojas wrote in an essay in the Common Edge. Currently he founded Placeit as a tool to engage Latinos in urban planning. Join our mailing list and help us with a tax-deductible donation today. Additionally, planning is a male-dominant environment. That meant American standards couldnt measure, explain, or create Latinos experiences, expressions, and adaptations. These physical changes allow and reinforce the social connections and the heavy use of the front yard. Its more urban design focused. Organization and activities described were not supported by Salud America! Maybe theyll put a shrine and a table and chairs. Healing allows communities to take a holistic approach, or a deeper level of thinking, that restores the social, mental, physical and environmental aspects of their community. Therefore I use street photography and objects to help Latinos and non-Latinos to reflect, visualize, and articulate the rich visual, spatial, and sensory landscape. Though planners deal with space a different scale than interior designers, the feeling of space is no less important. Thus, Latinos have transformed car-oriented suburban blocks to walkable and socially sustainable places.. This practice of selling has deep roots in Latin America before the Spaniards. They will retrofit their front yard into a plaza. For many Latinos its an intuitive feeling that they lack the words to articulate. When I moved away from the city, I became more conscious of a particular vivid landscape of activities: street vendors pushing carts or setting up temporary tables and tarps, murals and hand-painted business signs, elaborate holiday displays, how people congregate on public streets or socialize over front-yard fences. The share of the white population decreased from 33% in 2010 to 26% in 2020. He learned how Latinos in East Los Angeles would reorder and retrofit public and private space based on traditional indigenous roots and Spanish colonialism from Latin America. These residents had the lowest auto ownership, highest transit use in LA County, and they had more on-the-ground knowledge of using public transit than most of the transportation planners. Archinect News Articles tagged "latino urbanism" However its the scale and level of design we put into public spaces that makes them work or not. . When I completed furnishing the dollhouse, I wanted to build something spatially dynamic. Latino New Urbanism: Building on Cultural Preferences Michael Mendez State of California For generations, Latino families have combined traditional values with modern ones. Vicenza and East Los Angeles illustrated two different urban forms, one designed for public social interaction and the other one being retrofitted by the residents to allow for and enhance this type of behavior. There is a general lack of understanding of how Latinos use, value, and retrofit the existing US landscape in order to survive, thrive, and create a sense of belonging. In many front yards across the United States you will find a fence. James Rojas Rojas went on to launch the Latino Urbanism movement that empowers community members and planners to inject the Latino experience into the urban planning process. Weekend and some full-time vendors sell goods from their front yards. Fences, porches, murals, shrines, and other props and structural changes enhance the environment and represent Latino habits and beliefs with meaning and purpose. It later got organized as a bike tourwith people riding and visiting the sites as a group during a scheduled time. His Los Angeles-based planning firm is called Place It! Because of our interdisciplinary and collaborative nature, were able to be involved with a variety of projects. My interior design background helps me investigate in-depth these non-quantifiable elements of urban planning that impact how we use space. So you could have a garage sale every week. The American suburb is structured differently from the homes, ciudades, and ranchos in Latin America, where social, cultural, and even economic life revolves around the zcalo, or plaza. The new facility is adjacent to an existing light rail line, but there was no nearby rail station for accessing the center. The only majority-minority district where foreign-born Latinos did not witness higher rates of turnout than non-Latinos was the 47th (Sanchez). Because we shared a culture, we were able to break down the silos from our various jobs. Place It! - James Rojas - Bio The numbers, the data, the logicall seemed to suggest that it was an underserved, disadvantaged place, Rojas wrote. And its important to recognize that this vernacular shouldnt be measured by any architectural standard. By examining hundreds of small objects placed in front of them participants started to see, touch, and explore the materials they begin choosing pieces that they like, or help them build this memory. Rojas, who coined the term Latino Urbanism, has been researching and writing about it for 30 years. This meant he also had to help Latinos articulate their needs and aspirations. Thinking about everything from the point-of-view of the automobile is wrong, Rojas said. Few outward signs or landmarks indicate a Latino community in the United States, but you know instantly when youre in one because of the large number of people on the streets. Read More. James Rojas Combines Design and Engagement through Latino Urbanism Los Angeles-based planner, educator, and activist James Rojas vigorously promotes the values discoverable in what he terms "Latino urbanism"the influences of Latino culture on urban design and sustainability. Latinos have ingeniously transformed automobile-oriented streets to fit their economic needs, strategically mapping out intersections and transforming even vacant lots, abandoned storefronts and gas stations, sidewalks, and curbs into retail and social centers. The use of fences in Latino neighborhoods transforms and extends the family living space by moving the threshold from the front door to the front gate. Latino urbanism is about how people adapt or respond to the built environmentits not about a specific type of built form. A policy or policing language is not going to make this physical experiences go away because words can easily mask feelings. Latino Urbanism: Architect James Rojas' Dream Utopia for L.A. James Rojas Combines Design and Engagement through Latino Urbanism Alumnus James Rojas (BS Interior Design '82) is an urban planner, community activist, and artist. His art making workshops wrest communities vernacular knowledges to develop urban planning solutions . They try to avoid and discredit emotion, both theirs and the publics. Planners develop abstract concepts about cities, by examining numbers, spaces, and many other measures which sometimes miss the point or harm [existing Latino] environments, Rojas wrote in his thesis. and the Geopolitics of Latina/o Design - JSTOR