Barbara Brown Wilson

Barbara Brown Wilson is an assistant professor of urban and environmental planning at University of Virginia. She is also a co-founder of the Design Futures Student Leadership Forum, a five day student leadership training which convenes students and faculty from a consortium of universities with leading practitioners all working to elevate the educational realms of community engaged design; and a co-founder of the Austin Community Design and Development Center (ACDDC), a nonprofit design center that provides high quality green design and planning services to lower income households and the organizations that serve them.  Her research and teaching focus on the ethics, theory and practice of sustainable community design and development, and on the history of urban social movements. Her research is often change-oriented — she collaborates with real community partners to identify opportunities for engaged and integrated sustainable development.  She is a member of the Equity Collective, whose work is currently featured in the Cooper Hewitt Museum's By the People: Designing a Better America Exhibition. Alongside Architect Jeana Ripple, Wilson is coordinating the community engaged aspects of the Public Art Installation for the ArtHouse Social Kitchen Project in Gary, Indiana. She is also working, as a researcher, an educator, and a board member of the Piedmont Housing Alliance (PHA) with their leadership to identify venues where PHA residents can more actively engage in and shape their communities.