Episode 14: A LIVEABLE PLACE FOR ALL | Karen Kubey |Urbanist and Houser
I speak with Karen Kubey, who is an urbanist and ‘houser’ with an enduring passion and commitment to affordable housing as the generative factor in social equity and justice. We speak about the ways to engage residents in the decisions for the design of their homes, and the need to push for generous, transformative policies, because… housing is a human right.
Karen Kubey is an urbanist specializing in housing and health. She is the editor of Housing as Intervention: Architecture towards Social Equity (Architectural Design, 2018) and served as the first executive director of the Institute for Public Architecture. Kubey co-founded the New York chapter of Architecture for Humanity (now Open Architecture/New York) and co-founded and led the New Housing New York design competition. Holding degrees in architecture from the University of California, Berkeley and the Columbia University Graduate School for Architecture, Planning and Preservation (GSAPP), Kubey began her career as a designer of below-market housing. She has received support from the New York State Council on the Arts and MacDowell. Currently a Visiting Associate Professor at Pratt Institute and an Adjunct Associate Professor at Columbia GSAPP, she was a 2019-20 Faculty Fellow in Design for Spatial Justice at the University of Oregon.
Website: http://www.karenkubey.net/
Links: New Housing New York Via Verde Domus Article
Total Reset
Instagram: @karenkubey
Facebook: @karenkubey
TRANSCRIPT EXCERPT
“So when you ask why housing, of course one can work on social justice issues through, I believe, any aspect of architecture, interior design or urban design. But, I'm very interested in housing because it's at the center of our lives, at the center of our economy, and it makes up literally the majority of the built environment in our neighborhoods. I don't think that I'll ever run out of interesting ideas to uncover.”
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Credits (left to right):
Institute for Public Architecture "Total Reset" exhibition, Sugar Hill Apartments, Harlem, 2015. Photo by Sben Korsh. 2. Institute for Public Architecture "Total Reset" roundtable, Columbia University GSAPP's Studio X, 2014. Photo by Sben Korsh. 3. Karen Kubey, 2015 Next City Vanguards Conference, Reno, Nevada. Photo by Next City.