Vanessa Morrison, interim director of the Institute for Quality Communities and faculty member at Gibbs College, and Deborah Richards, assistant professor of architecture, were recently featured in the design magazine “Metropolis“. In addition to their roles at Gibbs College, Morrison and Richards are co-founders of Open Design Collective, a nonprofit design firm based in Oklahoma City that works to empower Black communities through architecture, urban planning, and cultural preservation.
The Metropolis article highlights their community-led approach to design, with an emphasis on reparative justice. Open Design Collective addresses historical inequities by working directly with residents to create spaces that reflect the cultural and social needs of marginalized communities. One notable project includes a $500,000 EPA grant to develop a green space and environmental monitoring system in northeast Oklahoma City, promoting environmental justice and community cohesion.
Open Design Collective emphasizes a collaborative, co-design process, ensuring community members play a key role in shaping their neighborhoods. By integrating architecture and urban planning with social justice principles, Morrison and Richards are working to reshape traditional design models and place community voices at the forefront.
Metropolis, an internationally recognized magazine in design and architecture, featured this work as part of its series on innovative design practices. The article shines a spotlight on the importance of community-focused design in addressing social and spatial inequities.
The University of Oklahoma College of Architecture is proud to announce that Model Schools in the Model City, authored by Director of the Institute for Quality Communities, Amber N. Wiley, Ph.D., has been named one of ten finalists for the 2026 ASALH Book Prize for Best New Book in African American History and Culture.
This semester, students in the LA 5535 Studio: Ecological Planning and Design, led by Prof. Afsana Sharmin, took on an ambitious hypothetical project to redesign key parts of the OU campus. Their mission: to tackle the critical real-world challenge of stormwater management through innovative green design.
Petya Stefanoff, Chair of the Educational Committee with the American Planning Association, Oklahoma Chapter (APA-OK) and Gibbs College PhD candidate, has developed a new training program for local government officials. The program, focused on land use, zoning principles, and land development, recently certified its first graduates with Certified Citizen Planner status.
