Category Archives: Uncategorized

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

I Always Stop in Baker, California — and Not Just for Gas, on Medium

Baker, California. Photo by Jonathan Pacheco Bell

Read my latest, “I Always Stop in Baker, California — and Not Just for Gas” on Medium.

Excerpt:

“My family does that pit stop in Baker en route between Nevada and Pasadena. Before getting back on the 15, I like to visit Arne’s. It is always haunting seeing it up close rather than mediated through filtered #urbex depictions. This business was once somebody’s American Dream. I see memories of past grand ambitions working against all odds in the harsh California desert, still there but withering away.

Naysayers might describe Baker in those words. I don’t, because I haven’t given up on this place. The remaining residents, businesses, sites, stories, memories, and histories make this a community.“

Learning From Informal Urbanism at UC Irvine USSA

I’m joining UCI’s Urban Studies Student Association May 30th at 6pm for the talk, “Learning From Informal Urbanism Enforcement.” As this is the last general meeting of the quarter, we’re going out strong with a critical discussion of my decade+ doing Zoning Enforcement in South Central LA. This talk on Zoom is free and open to all.

Summary: With 20 years of experience in the field of planning and as the creator of Embedded Planning, a praxis that places the planner on the ground with the fundamental goal of equity and engagement, Jonathan has ample experience with the way cities and planners interact with informal urbanism. The question remains: What is the planner’s precarious role in land use regulation? 

Vision Zero Community Walk in Florence-Firestone

In support of Vision Zero, join us for a community walk in Florence-Firestone Sunday, July 23rd from 10am to 1pm. FFCO’s Ramsey Nicholson and I will highlight landmarks, social history, and community issues on the route. No registration required! Just come through.

Meeting place:
Florence-Firestone Community Organization (501c3)
6940 Compton Avenue, Los Angeles 90001

Route includes:
Compton Avenue, Florence Avenue, Maie Avenue, Graham Avenue, Miramonte Boulevard, E. 66th Street

Florence-Firestone Community Organization in partnership with Estolano Advisors, BikeLA, Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, & California Office of Traffic Safety

Embedded Planning Shout Out at LandWatch Monterey County

Photo: LandWatch Monterey County

I’m celebrating Jose M. Torres on his new role as Housing Advocate at LandWatch Monterey County, congrats! And I’m celebrating that Jose cites #EmbeddedPlanning praxis as an inspiration in his bio:

“My approach will rely on my experience in public health, geography, and community planning. I truly believe that good planning involves making small, strategic interventions. I love the book Urban Acupuncture which explores this concept. I’m a big advocate of #EmbeddedPlanning – a community-focused approach to urban planning that emphasizes collaboration, engagement, and meeting people where they are in order to achieve positive outcomes. I will work with LandWatch’s partners and stakeholders to create policies that support these objectives.”

WE CANNOT PLAN FROM OUR DESKS.

For more on LandWatch Monterey County, check out: https://landwatch.org

Where is the Next Embedded Planning Praxis Struggle Talk?

Image: Columbia GSAPP

I enjoyed launching my new talk “Embedded Planning is Worth The Struggle” at Columbia GSAPP last November. I’m now working on scheduling in-person venues for 2023. Where should we go next?

I appreciate the shout out from the GSAPP Urban Planning Program Council in the Fall 2022 semester in review:

“Urban Planning Program Council welcomed Andrew Cronson (M.S. UP and M.S. HP ‘25), Shannon Hui (M.S. UP ’24), Ethan Floyd (M.S. UP ’24) and Ted Lim (M.S. UP ’24) who were selected as the First-Year Program Council Representatives. They joined Victoria Lin (M.S. UP ’23) and Matthew Shore (M.S. UP ’23) who are the Second-Year Program Council Representatives. For the first time we hosted the Urban Planning Welcome Back Picnic in Central Park as well as a Campus Secrets Tour that allowed students access to lesser known locations in Columbia University. We also hosted the annual Thanksgiving Dinner and a Jonathan Pacheco Bell LiPs Lecture + Lunch so students have opportunities to speak to embedded planners who work in the field.”

A Critique of Substack

Here’s a good critique of the emerging medium of writing + publishing through Substack. Also reads as a Big Up to old school blogging, with rich links to blogs past and present.

The author of Applied Divinity Studies published this as a guest post on Nintil blog.

“How Substack Became Milquetoast.”

https://nintil.com/substack-milquetoast

Excerpt:

Excerpt from “How Substack Became Milquetoast,” a guest post on Nintil

Beyond Spanglish in CDMX

I was not raised speaking Spanish. When Nana Josephine Pacheco née Ontiveros came to #LosAngeles from #Texas, the school teachers struck her with rulers por hablando Español en clase. So Nana didn’t teach my mom. And nobody taught me. I learned Español in earnest in the last 8 years working as an Embedded Planner on the ground in Florence-Firestone. For real I’m at like 6th grade level, pero sabes que, es mejor que nada!

On arrival Friday in #CDMX, I quickly had to adjust to Español. It was thrilling. I found myself absorbing the spoken word, the unique rhythm, cadence, & dialect of #Chilango, the Spanish of Mexico City. Immediately I found myself translating signs, speech, & writing intuitively. Dormant neurotransmitters began firing. Parts of my brain were trabajando overtime to help situate myself in this new space & culture.

I recognized this feeling. It had been awhile but I’d felt it long before. I told mi esposita that this exhilaration must have been the same stimulating experience of learning Inglés as a child con mi familia on the streets of East Los Angeles y Montebello 40+ years ago.

Órale.