Honored to return home to East LA College Department of Architecture as a speaker for the Spring 2024 Lecture Series. I’m doing the talk “Building Embedded Planning Praxis” on May 7 at 12pm: free + open to all.
Bio:
Jonathan Pacheco Bell is a Senior Embedded Planner at 4LEAF, Inc. and a Lecturer at Cal Poly Pomona Department of Urban and Regional Planning. Born in Boyle Heights and raised in East LA and Montebello, Jonathan came up as a graffiti writer in the 90s creating art and culture on the ground.
For nearly 20 years, Jonathan has worked in South Central LA building community partnerships through street-level urban planning. He turned his methods into a new form of practice called Embedded Planning, where the planner works from the street-level to increase equity and participation for historically marginalized communities harmed by inequitable planning.
Jonathan has guest lectured across the U.S. on Embedded Planning. His speaking engagements include Columbia GSAPP, UCLA, University of Utah, Ohio State, Pratt Institute, Stanford Engineering, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, and Woodbury University; state and national Planning conferences in California, Iowa, and Louisiana; and public forums such as MOCA, City Parks Alliance, and the SF Urban Film Fest.
In addition to teaching and practice, Jonathan serves as Vice President of the Florence-Firestone Community Organization, a 501c3 nonprofit in South Central. He is co-author of the neighborhood history book, A Paseo Through Time in Florence-Firestone.
Jonathan is a first-generation student and proud product of the California public school system from kindergarten to graduate school. He holds a Master’s in Urban Planning from UCLA Luskin, an MLIS from SJSU iSchool, a Bachelor’s in Political Science from Cal State LA, and an Associate’s in Architecture from East LA College.
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