Mission:
To analyze partnerships between the built environment and local governments as they relate to marginalized communities, and provide solutions to dismantling systemic inequities.
History:
Decipher City started with an app project project for a Hack for Change event in Austin, Texas. Our goal was to track and report the qualitative experiences of citizens and visitors at different commercial locations across town. After years of working in the state and city sector, we learned that public outreach tools employed by traditional entities were not capturing the problems and needs of marginalized communities. Inspired by the level of enthusiasm and engagement our project initially generated, we decided to continue to work together beyond the app. We started deciphercity.org as a platform for continued engagement about issues of race and equity in urban planning.
Founder:
Stephanie Webb is an Austin-based activist scholar, focusing on community engagement and outreach. Stephanie has a bachelor’s degree in African American Studies and literature from Yale and a MSc. in Geographic Information Systems from the University of Leeds. She writes about racial justice, demography, and municipal law.
Previous Contributing Scholars
Jamie DeAngelo is a DFW-based city planner and graphic designer. She functioned as website and branding manager and random image generator. She has a bachelor’s degree in art history from Boston College and an Msc. in Community and Regional Planning from the University of Texas at Austin. She writes about public space, city history, and transportation.
Umair Khakoo is a software consultant with a passion for food security and food forests. He has been consistently active with the Festival Beach Food Forest, and was able to provide insight on how people can transition from lawns to gardens. He has a chemistry degree from the University of Texas at Austin.
Work with us:
New contributors add nuance and illumination to conversations on the built environment. If you are interesting in writing a guest post or becoming a regular contributor, reach out to deciphercity@gmail.com.