Regional and City Planning professor, Dr. Ladan Mozaffarian, has recently published an article in the prestigious Journal of Planning Literature. The article, titled “How Remote Working and Placelessness Affect Future Planning for Innovation Districts: A Systematic Review of the Literature,” examines the impacts of telework and the gig economy on planning for innovation districts. It highlights solutions to mitigate the negative effects on cities and their urban vitality.
Innovation Districts (IDs) have emerged as essential place-based strategies for economic development within urban planning and land-use policy. While existing literature covers the types of IDs and the built environment features that define them, there is a gap in understanding the role of the built environment in the context of increasing remote work and placelessness. By conducting a systematic review of the literature, this research explores how future planning for Innovation Districts will be impacted and how to tackle the challenge of rising placelessness in urban areas.
This article is part of Mozaffarian’s ongoing research on Innovation Districts and their planning and policy implications. For this project, Mozaffarian collaborated with faculty from San Jose State University (SJSU) and the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA).
Robert L. Wesley, a pioneering architect and beloved mentor, has died at age 88. A graduate of the University of Oklahoma, Wesley joined Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) in 1964 and became the firm's first Black partner in 1984. Throughout his career, he contributed to significant architectural projects while maintaining a strong commitment to civic engagement and professional mentorship.
The Christopher C. Gibbs College of Architecture is proud to celebrate a series of recent accomplishments by Dr. Jim Collard, Professor of Practice in the Division of Planning, Landscape Architecture, and Design, whose work continues to shape conversations around Indigenous economic development nationally and internationally.
University of Oklahoma Gibbs College of Architecture Dean Hans E. [PA1.1]Butzer returned to one of his most significant works on December 15, joining survivors and past and present board members for the groundbreaking of a $15.8 million expansion of the Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum.
