Category Archives: Mike Davis

¡Mike Davis, Presente!

¡ Mike Davis, Presente !

Urban History Association Conference 2025

Metropolitan Majorities: UHA 11th Biennial Conference

The Biltmore Los Angeles in Downtown LA, October 9-12, 2025

Cities of Quartz: How Mike Davis Transformed Urban Studies (Roundtable)

Saturday, October 11, 2025 | 1:15-2:45pm

Abstract:

In this roundtable discussion, a group of writers, academics, and urban planners will discuss the life and work of Mike Davis. With books like City of Quartz, Ecology of Fear, and Planet of Slums, Davis played an irreplaceable role in pushing urban scholars to foreground questions of equity, justice, and sustainability in their work. Each of Davis’ books and articles was grounded in a clear-eyed assessment of the power dynamics that create unequal societies, and throughout his life he remained a forceful advocate for the moral necessity that poor and working-class communities — whatever their ethnic or racial makeup — have the same chance at opportunity as the ruling class.

To illuminate Davis’ legacy, our discussion will begin with the impact he had on how the city of Los Angeles understands itself, before we open our inquiry into applying his method to cities everywhere and incorporating his ethos into future urban plans.

The roundtable will be moderated by Mike Sonksen, a poet and former Woodbury University professor who was mentored by Mike Davis and remained friends with him for over two decades.

Speakers:

— Carolina A. Miranda, Culture Writer

— Mike The PoeT Sonksen, Poet & Moderator

— David Kipen, UCLA Writing Faculty 

— Jonathan Pacheco Bell, Urban Planner 

— Kyle Paoletta, Journalist & Author

We Are Honoring Mike Davis at the Urban History Association Conference 2025 in Los Angeles

We’re honoring Mike Davis at the Urban History Association Conference 2025.

Urban History Association Conference 2025

Metropolitan Majorities: UHA 11th Biennial Conference

The Biltmore Los Angeles in Downtown LA, October 9-12, 2025

Cities of Quartz: How Mike Davis Transformed Urban Studies (Roundtable)

Saturday, October 11, 2025 | 1:15-2:45pm

Abstract:

In this roundtable discussion, a group of writers, academics, and urban planners will discuss the life and work of Mike Davis. With books like City of Quartz, Ecology of Fear, and Planet of Slums, Davis played an irreplaceable role in pushing urban scholars to foreground questions of equity, justice, and sustainability in their work. Each of Davis’ books and articles was grounded in a clear-eyed assessment of the power dynamics that create unequal societies, and throughout his life he remained a forceful advocate for the moral necessity that poor and working-class communities — whatever their ethnic or racial makeup — have the same chance at opportunity as the ruling class.

To illuminate Davis’ legacy, our discussion will begin with the impact he had on how the city of Los Angeles understands itself, before we open our inquiry into applying his method to cities everywhere and incorporating his ethos into future urban plans.

The roundtable will be moderated by Mike Sonksen, a poet and former Woodbury University professor who was mentored by Mike Davis and remained friends with him for over two decades.

Speakers:

— Carolina A. Miranda, Culture Writer

— Mike The PoeT Sonksen, Poet & Moderator

— David Kipen, UCLA Writing Faculty 

— Jonathan Pacheco Bell, Urban Planner 

— Kyle Paoletta, Journalist & Author

Cities of Quartz: How Mike Davis Transformed Urban Studies

We’re honoring Mike Davis at UHA in LA.

Urban History Association Conference 2025

Metropolitan Majorities: UHA 11th Biennial Conference

The Biltmore Los Angeles in Downtown LA, October 9-12, 2025

Cities of Quartz: How Mike Davis Transformed Urban Studies (Roundtable)

Saturday, October 11, 2025 | 1:15-2:45pm

Abstract:

In this roundtable discussion, a group of writers, academics, and urban planners will discuss the life and work of Mike Davis. With books like City of Quartz, Ecology of Fear, and Planet of Slums, Davis played an irreplaceable role in pushing urban scholars to foreground questions of equity, justice, and sustainability in their work. Each of Davis’ books and articles was grounded in a clear-eyed assessment of the power dynamics that create unequal societies, and throughout his life he remained a forceful advocate for the moral necessity that poor and working-class communities — whatever their ethnic or racial makeup — have the same chance at opportunity as the ruling class.

To illuminate Davis’ legacy, our discussion will begin with the impact he had on how the city of Los Angeles understands itself, before we open our inquiry into applying his method to cities everywhere and incorporating his ethos into future urban plans.

The roundtable will be moderated by Mike Sonksen, a poet and former Woodbury University professor who was mentored by Mike Davis and remained friends with him for over two decades.

Speakers:

— Carolina A. Miranda, Culture Writer

— Mike The PoeT Sonksen, Poet & Moderator

— David Kipen, UCLA Writing Faculty 

— Jonathan Pacheco Bell, Urban Planner 

— Kyle Paoletta, Journalist & Author

We Are Honoring Mike Davis at the Urban History Association 2025 Conference in Los Angeles

I’m on a roundtable panel at the Urban History Association Conference 2025 discussing the legacy and impact of Mike Davis. The conference is open to all. Registration: https://urbanhistory.org/Conference-Registration

Cities of Quartz: How Mike Davis Transformed Urban Studies

— Speakers: Carolina A. Miranda, Mike The PoeT Sonksen, David Kipen, Kyle Paoletta, and Jonathan Pacheco Bell

— Date/time: Saturday, October 11, 2025, 1:15-2:45pm

— Location: Biltmore Hotel in Downtown Los Angeles

Mike Davis Roundtable at the Urban History Association Conference 2025

I’m on a panel recognizing the legacy of Mike Davis with writer legends Carolina A. Miranda, Kyle Paoletta, David Kipen, and Mike The PoeT Sonksen at the Urban History Association Conference 2025 in Los Angeles. More to come soon.

Join us on Saturday, October 11th, 1:15-2:45pm at the Biltmore Hotel in Downtown LA.

Register for the UHA Conference here: https://urbanhistory.org/Conference-Registration.

Building Embedded Planning Praxis at USC Architecture

Scenes from USC Architecture from my 4/3 guest talk, “Building Embedded Planning Praxis.” The invited lecture was delivered in the USC Master of Heritage Conservation graduate course, Heritage Conservation Policy and Planning.

This is chapter 1 in the story of Embedded Planning praxis.

I lay out my path to Embedded Planning which includes coming up as graffiti writer and hip hop kid in the 80s & 90s, dropping out of architecture school in ‘98, and then finding urban planning thanks to Mike Davis and Edward W. Soja (both rest in power). Embedded Planning was co-created with community members in Florence-Firestone in South Central LA.

Who’s the cat in the photo?! In 2003 in the MAUP program at UCLA Luskin Department of Urban Planning, I took an architecture theory course where I learned Professor Gregory Ulmer’s CATTt method for writing a manifesto. I would go on to use the CATTt to write my 1-page manifesto on Embedded Planning titled, “We Cannot Plan From Our Desks,” published in the October 2018 issue of APA’s Planning Magazine.

And now we’re a worldwide movement in planning theories and practices.

Photos by Meredith Drake Reitan, Professor & Associate Dean. Thanks for the invite to speak with your MHC students!

Hostile Architecture in Tokyo

Photo: Abigail Urquiza

Cal Poly Pomona MURP student Abby Urquiza found some conspicuous Hostile Architecture in Tokyo. Last semester, we examined Hostile Architecture in the Planning & Control module in our course, URP 5120: Planning Ideas & Action. From our readings:

The city is engaged in a merciless struggle to make public facilities and spaces as ‘unlivable’ as possible for the homeless and the poor.

~Mike Davis, Fortress LA chapter, City of Quartz: Excavating the Future in Los Angeles (1990)

“Planning as oppression” does exist in a variety of settings and . . . it affects a range of social relations in space.

~Oren Yiftachel, Planning and Social Control: Exploring the Dark Side (1998)

We Left Pasadena for Montebello During the Eaton Fire

Near Schurr High School in Montebello, view of Eaton Fire looking north toward Pasadena. Photo: Jonathan Pacheco Bell

Originally posted on LinkedIn, this message is cross-posted on my website and facebook.

Thank you to fellow planners and community members who reached out. As the Eaton Fire grew, Alejandra and I left Pasadena for mom’s in Montebello. Not everyone had that possibility.

My heart breaks for our friends and neighbors who have suffered catastrophic losses. It is just devastating. Altadena, Pasadena, and neighboring communities are changed forever. While we collectively grieve, there is a monumental community support and mutual aid effort underway. Assistance, support, solidarity is welcome.

Before leaving our block, we donated to the Pasadena Humane Society. They are inundated with animals of all sizes needing treatment and shelter. If you would like to help our communities, consider donating to Pasadena Humane.

City of Quartz Walk with UCI USSA

With UCI USSA at Los Angeles State Historic Park

I joined the City of Quartz walking tour on May 11th with the UC Irvine Urban Studies Student Association. Shout out to Professor Walter Nicholls and students for allowing me to guest narrate our field trip.

We keep Mike Davis alive by reading his works, engaging his critiques, and putting feet on the street to understand the city.

Selected photos from the walk:

Discussing Hostile Architecture outside Angels Flight
Layers of history on Broadway
Disney Hall almost did not happen
Professor Nicholls explaining the development of Grand Avenue
Rendezvous point at Los Angeles State Historic Park

City of Quartz Panel at LitFest in the Dena 2024

Excavating the Future in Los Angeles: A Discussion of Mike Davis’s City of Quartz
Sunday, May 5, 2024, 2:00-3:00pm
LitFest in the Dena, Mountain View Mausoleum, Altadena, CA
With fellow panelists, Ivan Salinas & Mike The PoeT Sonksen

Bio:
Jonathan Pacheco Bell is a Senior Embedded Planner at 4LEAF, Inc. and Adjunct Professor of Urban Planning at Cal Poly Pomona. 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 in and from community spaces. He has guest lectured across the U.S. on bottom-up urban planning and is always searching for the next space to engage community members. 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. His writing has been published in Planning Magazine, Cultural Daily, UrbDeZine, and Public Libraries Quarterly. Jonathan holds a Master’s in Urban Planning from UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs and proudly represents City of Pasadena as a resident in the city’s vibrant and diverse District 5.

City of Quartz Panel at LitFest in the Dena

I’m joining Iván Salinas and Mike The PoeT Sonksen at LitFest in the Dena on the panel, “Excavating the Future in Los Angeles: A Discussion of Mike Davis’s City of Quartz,” 5/5 in Altadena.

Arguably the late Mike Davis’s best known work, City of Quartz is one of the most significant books detailing the history of urban development in LA. Our panel will discuss passages, answer audience question, engage poetry rooted in place, and reflect on the enduring impact of Mike Davis and City of Quartz.

LitFest in the Dena is FREE and OPEN TO ALL: https://litfestinthedena.org/

Cited in Mike Davis Tribute

I thank Professor Genevieve Carpio for citing me in her article on Mike Davis’s enduring impact and City of Quartz. Mike lives on in us.

“Now, as a teacher, I introduce his work to my own students. As one example, with Davis’s words, I try to open my students’ eyes to how our built environment shapes what is possible and what is unlikely, or at least discouraged. I ask them to look for what he calls “Carceral Architecture”: the Twin Towers or dividers on park benches or glass smashed into walls. In this way, I’m among other educators, like Jonathan Pacheco Bell and his work on hostile architecture, who continue to draw on Davis for our pedagogical interventions, especially among future urban planners, architects, and even developers. Indeed, I think one of Davis’s greatest contributions is the ways he underscores the power of the built environment in urban processes, his attention to which has shaped a generation of urban planners and urban historians.”

Dr. Genevieve Carpio. “Mike Davis’s Enduring Impact: A Reflection on Sunshine and Noir in the Junkyard of Dreams.” 105, no. 4, Southern California Quarterly (Winter 2023): 404-408.

Mike The PoeT in URP 5120

Shout out to Mike The PoeT for being our Week 13 guest speaker in URP 5120: Planning Ideas and Action. Mike taught us writing exercises as community engagement. These are ways to get ideas on the page without overthinking. Take a few minutes and just write. For example, we all did the 5-line quick write for these prompts:

  • My style is . . .
  • I believe in . . .
  • I value . . .

Here’s mine:

My style is Embedded Planning

My style is the street

My style is Montebello

My style is more chill today than before

My style is mine

I believe in community

I believe in solidarity

I believe in organizing

I believe in LA

I believe in grass roots

I value partnerships
I value work/life balance
I value friendships
I value education
I value coming together