Environmental Psychology at the Service of Racial Justice, by Dr. Todd Levon Brown

In conversation with Barbara Niveyro

Dr. Todd Levon Brown standing in front of the UT School of Architecture where he teaches.
Photo by Jana Birchum

Physical and virtual spaces and the way we interact with them affect our health, our motivation, and the way we connect. In this time of so many misconnected connections, we invited Dr. Todd Levon Brown, an environmental psychologist and educator from Chicago, to tell us about his journey and experience."

We spoke about environmental justice, strategies in enviromental psychology, gentrification, and urban sound. All the photos belong to Todd, and for reading purposes, this interview has been edited.

What is your story? How was your childhood?

My story begins as a Black child in a family of nine children raised by a single mother in public housing in Chicago. However, far from stereotypical, my trajectory would take a major turn when my visionary mother, Deloris Brown, decided to homeschool me, starting with 1st grade, in the late 1980s. Not only was her decision highly unorthodox and exceptionally rare, but it would also instill in me a curiosity and love of learning that served as a driving force in my pursuit of education and academic excellence. Moving to a predominantly White and middle-class neighborhood also played a major role in shaping my understanding of the world as I was exposed to a different environment where numerous possibilities seemed readily attainable. My mother, still also my homeschool teacher, noticed my aptitude for math and art and encouraged me to consider a career in architecture.

How was that academic experience?

My collegiate experience was also a major turning point for me. As I learned more and more about the field of architecture I became more and more interested in the then-emerging area of sustainability and design. My desire to learn more about environmental design led me to pursue a graduate degree in environmental health sciences with the intention of applying this knowledge to create ecologically sustainable architecture. Unexpectedly, I was also exposed to the concept of environmental racism and the field of environmental justice. So fascinated was I with this topic that my research interest in architecture was recentered to focus primarily on issues of socioracial sustainability in design and the built environment. Afterward, I brought this newfound understanding with me as I continued my pursuit of becoming a licensed architect. However, in graduate architecture school, I found that topics around racial and social justice were not receiving priority in the pedagogy. This realization caused me to reconsider my trajectory in the field and emphasized the need for me to deeply learn the foundational critical issues related to race, environmental justice, design, and the built environment. My dreams of becoming a licensed architect had changed. I was now focused on becoming a critical scholar with expertise in the theory and application of socioracial justice in architectural pedagogy and practice. A series of fortunate events ultimately led me to the field of environmental psychology which allowed me to seamlessly merge my prior training and education as well as to greatly advance my research at the intersection of critical theory and space & place. I realized that my exposure to drastically different environments from public housing to affluent neighborhoods had demonstrated to me the tangible disparities that exist between communities based on race, class and a variety of other social factors.

What is environmental psychology? What strategies and technologies do you use in this practice?

Simply put, environmental psychology (EP) is the study of the psychosocial relationship between people and the environment. Here the environment usually refers to physical spaces and places but may also include virtual environments such as social media or remote learning spaces. As an interdisciplinary field, EP draws on a variety of other disciplines to inform its research methodologies. Such fields include psychology, architecture, urban studies, urban planning, geography, anthropology, sociology, and many, many others. Most important is capturing the individual or group experience in and perception of place.

What was your alarm call—if you had one—to dedicate your life to activism and education?

My “alarm call” was definitely my exposure to the concepts of environmental racism and environmental justice while pursuing my first master's in public health (environmental health science) and particularly reading the book “Packing Them In: An Archaeology of Environmental Racism in Chicago from 1865 - 1954” by Sylvia Hood Washington. This book forever changed how I viewed both architecture and the built environment.

As an environmental psychologist, urbanist, and educator, what are the problems that you are trying to resolve or address these days? With what specific communities/areas/projects are you working?

These days, I am definitely more of an educator than a practitioner. However, in both my teaching in architecture (and related areas) and my consulting with design practices, I am always emphasizing an understanding of the relationship of race, class, and other social identity categories to the production and experience of the built environment. I seek to ensure that both students and practitioners of architecture and design are fully aware of the ability of physical spaces to empower or disenfranchise marginalized groups and what these implications are. I work with community members (research participants) to gather information on how they perceive designed spaces and I work with design students and practitioners to execute design strategies that are inclusive.

Visual/textual Image from my research demonstrating environmental cues and sociospatial imaginaries around non-White urban space

In these areas, what are the main urban/social conflicts, and what are the strategies applied (or that need to be applied) to see improvements and justice happen?

Gentrification is one of the most pressing urban socio-spatial issues right now as it affects poor communities of color. It is pertinent for policymakers, planners, developers, architects, urban designers, property owners, and many others to recognize these problems and the outcomes for people based on class and race and to actively work to center these voices in the discussions on community redevelopment. How do we maintain spaces of inclusion for these groups in rapidly changing neighborhoods? Also, trans and gender queer issues are increasingly important in public space. How can we consider safety and belonging in urban environments, both existing and new?

Do you think in New York people get involved in urban planning? Because sometimes is that governments don’t listen, but other times people just don’t engage. How do you see this?

After living in NYC for over 10 years, I definitely consider myself a New Yorker. I have seen that there are many grassroots organizations with community members actively seeking justice and inclusion in the development of their communities. However, I feel that New York politics and the bureaucratic machine of capitalism most often take precedence over the true needs of everyday individuals. For example, it appears to me that often, the community board meetings that should serve as democratic public hearings for new development projects often are simply done for show and in the spirit of “lip service” to certain disenfranchised communities, while the real decisions have already been determined by bureaucrats and businessmen. In the same token, when this pattern repeats over decades, it becomes more and more disheartening to encourage community members to become actively involved when it seems pointless. Thankfully, there seems to be a surge in elevating some of these voices more recently due to the racial and sociopolitical climate.

How does sound, and specifically urban sound (including environment, machines, voices, nature, and music), affect your life, your body, and your health?

2000 Album Cover for Joshua's Troop, one of the choirs I was in (I am in the top center)

I would say that sound plays a very important part in my life. I absolutely love music. As a teen and young adult, I was active in five choral groups. As an undergraduate, I minored in music. I honestly hate quiet spaces. I always have (really need) ambient noise to stay focused. Quietness is usually very distracting and unnerving to me. Whether I’m listening to Beyonce while writing a research article or enjoying an audiobook while preparing a class lecture, I find background noise to be very calming. Having always lived in major cities, and usually near downtown, urban sounds of people, traffic, music, etc, have always made me feel at home!

Do you know of specific issues or projects in NY that have to do with sound and sonic agency?

2009 Studio Berlin light and sound pavilion completed as a summer design-build studio

While I am not currently aware of any major urban design or planning projects that feature sonic agency or participatory sound implementation, I do have some experience with utilizing sound design and manipulation in architecture at the educational level. In 2009, I was fortunate to be a part of an architecture design studio in Berlin, Germany where the final product was the construction of a temporary light and sound pavilion. This student project was interactive and demonstrated the creativity that emerges when light and sound serve as design drivers. Because my design studio teaching often centers on hearing-impaired or visually-impaired individuals as marginalized users of public space, I have often explored how to maximize the acoustic qualities of spaces and places to better serve such groups.

Images from Todd’s UTSOA student's project, Sebastian Bartlett, proposing an inclusive public pool that also serves as a haven for Austin's homeless

Do you have experience co-designing with communities? What did you do and what did you learn? What’s your advice?

My next goal is to actively work in the area of participatory design, of which I am a major advocate. I feel that this is inextricably important to amplify the voices of those who have traditionally lacked the social capital to influence the planning and design of their own communities. As more of these participatory projects become standard with design and planning firms, I truly feel that we will see a tangible and correlated change in the shaping of urban landscapes.

Do you see positive results when it comes to equity and racial justice? What are some things that keep you inspired and moving on in this direction?

I am actually proud to say that I have seen significant positive change in the field of architecture and design since I began my journey into the field over 20 years ago. It has been a joy to hear conversations around racial and social justice becoming prevalent both in the academy and praxis. Over 10 years ago, when I first begin to seriously research these issues, I felt like a loner. Now, thanks to movements like BLM and the George Floyd murder, critical conversations around racial inequity have permeated nearly all facets of our society, including architecture and design. Feminist and gender activism have also contributed significantly to the conversations on inclusion. Although I now have many colleagues working to address these issues, I am happy to be at the forefront and to challenge myself to stay informed on the existing and emerging critical issues of race and space –and other sociospatial inequities.

Image by Todd’s UTSOA student's thesis project, Stephanie Maddamma, proposing social and cooperative housing to combat gentrification in Austin

︎ MY LOVE TO DISTORTION BY SHIS UNUSUAL

Environmental Psychology at the Service of Racial Justice, by Dr. Todd Levon Brown