'Biggest Challenge' doesn't preclude personal ideals.
We at Root think it's important to remember, while steeping in this prompt, that among the challenges there also reside the best opportunities to improve. Here are some of those commitments.
You wouldn’t know it from looking at me, but I come from a beautiful and diverse family. My grandpa is Arabic, my sister is Black and I identify as a queer woman. My family and friends have always been very open about their struggles in the built environment and how those struggles are unique to each person. Because of this, my manifesto is framed around people and education. I believe in providing a platform for all people. Whether I am in the role of a designer or the role of a planner, it is important for me to provide a foundation where everyone is comfortable speaking up, everyone has an opportunity to do so, and everyone is educated on topics like transportation, planning, and design that affect their everyday life. No matter what I am working on, I want to educate and provide resources to people. I want to help build that foundation, so those who often don’t get the chance to speak or aren’t sure how to get involved, can speak loud and can do so with confidence.
- Kortney Harris, MLA and MURP student, UC Denver
I will use active listening and creativity to design and communicate concepts that harmonize nature and the urban environment, embrace equity and sustainability, and celebrate diversity. I will use my personal power to give voices to the vulnerable, and I will work ceaselessly to ensure that the benefits and burdens of life are distributed equitably. I will speak things that cannot speak for themselves, like our precious environment. I will strive to create spaces where everyone belongs because of who they truly are and not who society wants them to be because it is everyone’s inherent right to feel safe and welcome in the urban environment.
- Alisa Childress, 2nd year MURP student, UC Denver
The central focus of my planning career is to undo systems and structures that give certain groups of people advantages over others. I am specifically interested in addressing neighborhood inequality and the policies/designs that reinforces these disparities. I believe that increasing neighborhood equality gets at the root of racial disparities that continue to grow. I additionally believe that people should be able to stay in their communities if they want to stay and that gentrification is a form of colonialism. I support anti-gentrification methods which include affordable housing, inclusive zoning, after-school programs, and livable wages. I believe in further democratizing the planning process, by making the planning process more accessible and inclusive. I believe in drastic measures to make sure everyone’s voice is heard in the planning process. As a planner I hope to empower and raise the voices of the unheard, the marginalized, and the oppressed in the communities I work/live in.
- Sam Snyder, 2nd year MURP student, UC Denver
I give a platform to people and community over institutions. I center race and equity in my work and question and challenge systemic injustices using my whiteness to challenge other white people who hold power over others. I help communities lead their own initiatives. I plan for people first and foremost rather than the market. I reject profit driven and private capital solutions as the only ways to solve problems within communities. I do not dream of a job, but of the mission and the accomplishments that lead to a less miserable world for people who have been neglected the most in planning. I aim to achieve these goals rather than to get a specific job. I am flexible and open to the jobs that allow me to achieve these goals.
- Tara Sorrels, MURP student, UC Denver
In my lifetime, I want to genuinely enjoy my career within planning and utilize my planning knowledge to become personally invested in my own community. I am passionate about creating and seeing tangible results as well as educating and empowering people to make positive change in a way that fits the culture and values of their own neighborhoods and communities. I will help create authentic, equitable and sustainable places that anyone can enjoy.
- Claire Byers, 2nd year MURP student, UC Denver