Regional + City Planning alumna and affiliate faculty Vanessa Morrison and Gina Sofola, PhD student Eyakem Guiliat, faculty member John Harris, along with eight community co-researchers published theoretical reflections on the Women of Northeastern Oklahoma City Photovoice Project in the journal Gender, Place and Culture.
The Photovoice project was unveiled in 2016 with the purpose of bringing the neighborhood safety concerns of black women to the attention of local policy makers. The article looks theoretically at Black Feminist ideas and makes four key points.
The first point made by this article suggests that the neighborhood safety perceptions of black women cannot be disentangled into discrete individuals. It also suggests that neighborhood safety perceptions cannot be disentangled into demographic modifiers, such as race or gender.
The second key point of this article addresses the common emphasis on individual experience within safety scholarship and how it has the ability to erase the intersectional political and spatial identity of black women. This is an important topic which is covered in great depth in this article.
The third point of this article is that participatory safety methods focusing on individuals’ recommendations will miss meaningful aspects of women’s lives.
Lastly, the findings within the project allow the co-researchers to find economic and political solutions to these problems. This article also states that positive change will only occur when they gain control of processes that create urban policy and tools of urban development.
To view the abstract, and read the full article, click here.
Photos from Women of NE OKC Photovoice Project
The Gibbs Design in Action Awards (GDAA) program, led by Dr. Wanda Liebermann, has announced its 2026–2027 funded student projects. The initiative supports design and research work that addresses social, cultural, and economic issues in the built environment through collaboration with faculty and community partners.
The OU Institute for Quality Communities (IQC) 2024 collaboration with the Historic Threatt Filling Station has been recognized in the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City's newly released Byways Report: The Scenic Route to Rural Prosperity – a story-driven publication exploring how road trip culture and place-based tourism can fuel economic growth in rural communities.
The Gibbs College of Architecture is pleased to announce that Camille Germany, Chief of Staff, has been named the 2026 recipient of the university-wide Jennifer L. Wise Good Stewardship Award.
