Tag Archives: Embedded Planning

Planning Advocate Award and Keynote on Embedded Planning at APA Los Angeles Awards 2024

On June 25, I received the Planning Advocate Award 2024 and delivered the invited keynote on Embedded Planning at the APA Los Angeles annual awards gala. I thank my colleagues for the recognition and support! It means a lot coming from my home section. 

Rightfully, Florence-Firestone Community Organization was in the house. Embedded Planning was born on the streets of Florence-Firestone in South Central LA. We wouldn’t be here without Florence-Firestone.

As I wrote after the APA Inland Empire awards, and as I shared in the LA keynote, our #EmbeddedPlanning movement won. What began in Florence-Firestone is now a planning praxis in other states, regions, countries, and hemispheres. 

We have built the future of planning.

Planning Pioneer Award 2024 from APA Inland Empire

Thank you to my APA Inland Empire Section colleagues for the Planning Pioneer Award 2024. It’s humbling to receive this recognition among the many planners out there putting in work.

For real, our #EmbeddedPlanning movement won. What began in Florence-Firestone is now a praxis in San Bernardino and Riverside counties and far beyond — in other states, territories, countries, and hemispheres.

This ain’t “me,” it’s “we.” We have built the future of planning.

Embedded Planning at Cal Poly SLO

I’m doing the talk, “Building Embedded Planning Praxis” and breaking down the origins, applications, and trajectory of Embedded Planning with @CPUrbanists at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. The public talk is on Tuesday, May 21st at 11:10am on Zoom. Excited for my first time speaking at Cal Poly SLO; as a Cal Poly Pomona faculty member, I consider SLO my sister campus 💚

South LA College Prep High School

Honored to present “What is Urban Planning?” for Career Day at South LA College Prep High School. We examined the history and role of urban planning, the birth of Embedded Planning next door in Florence-Firestone, and planning as a career that empowers you to build strong communities in partnership with community members. And we’re discussing a return for an Embedded Planning workshop!

Summary: Jonathan will present, “What is Urban Planning?” The presentation illustrates how Jonathan transformed from a graffiti writer to architecture student to urban planner and the special role South Central LA plays in his origin story. Using interactive exercises and storytelling, Jonathan will share how he created Embedded Planning – planning from the street-level – in South Central’s Florence-Firestone district and affirm why students should pursue urban planning careers to improve their communities.

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 the street. He has guest lectured across the U.S. on urban planning and is always searching for the next space to engage students. In addition to teaching and practice, Jonathan serves as Vice President of the Florence-Firestone Community Organization, a 501c3 nonprofit in South Central LA. He is co-author of the neighborhood history book, A Paseo Through Time in Florence-Firestone. Jonathan holds a Master’s in Urban Planning from UCLA.

Speaking on Embedded Planning at East LA College Department of Architecture Spring Lecture Series

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.

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.

Planners Network Disorientation Guide 2nd Edition Launch

Excited for the launch of the 2nd edition of the Planners Network Disorientation Guide. I wrote a new article on Embedded Planning Praxis for it.

Our updated Guide comes 20 years after publication of the 1st edition in 2004-05, which I read closely during my MAUP studies at UCLA Urban Planning.

Big up to editors Cara Chellew, Dr. Norma Rantisi, and peer reviewers! Stay tuned.

Reelected as Vice President of the Florence-Firestone Community Organization

With my fellow FFCO Board Members Ramsey Nicholson and Art Jones. Photo by Aditi Peyush

My fellow Board Members have reelected me to serve as Vice President of the Florence-Firestone Community Organization (501c3) in South Central LA. I greatly appreciate the Board’s vote of confidence and I’m honored to continue uplifting our neighborhood in this role.

FFCO has many wonderful things planned for community members in 2024. Our resource fairs, community food giveaways, and holiday events will continue, and we’re expanding community education programs with generous funding from our partners.

Building on last year’s Vision Zero advocacy, we’re upping our community engagement and planning service. I’m stoked to work on FFCO’s community planning initiatives, including our new public engagement partnership with Metro for the Rail to River Segment B project, community walks and bike rides, client projects with universities like CPPURP and UCLA Luskin, urban planning workshops, Embedded Planning advocacy, community assistance navigating LA County planning efforts underway, and more.

The Florence-Firestone community welcomed me with open arms when I was a “baby zoning enforcement planner” nearly 17 years ago. I figured out my life’s purpose here — as a planner and a person. I’m humbled to be an adopted FF resident serving my friends and neighbors. Thank you for the boundless support and inspiration!

Embedded Planning Infographic

Shout out to Pitzer College students in Community-Based Planning Praxis for creating this infographic on Embedded Planning! This is a new way to share the idea of street-level praxis.

I designed and taught the inaugural version of this course in Spring 2022. It continues under the leadership of Dr. Susan Phillips at Pitzer’s Environmental Analysis Field Group. As with my original version, the learning on Embedded Planning is core to Community-Based Planning Praxis.

Embedded Planning Is Worth The Struggle at CSUN

I’m doing the talk “Embedded Planning Is Worth The Struggle” at CSUN, Friday 12/1 at 11am in Dr. Brettany Shannon’s course URBS 380: LA Past, Present, & Future

Description:

Planning is political. Decisions about the built environment inherently impact people’s lives. Everything planners do involves a struggle over “who gets what, when, where, how, and why?” Planners respond to this debate but many of our practices have resulted in unjust planning.

In this time of increasing interrogation of planning’s legacies of inequity, planners are moving with intention to be better partners. As part of repair and healing, planners are seeking more ways to build meaningful community partnerships. No longer is Rational Planning the default. But while the pivot to participatory methods helped democratize the planning process, professional practice still prefers project-based, one-off, transactional engagement.

Orthodox planning must evolve.

A better way is possible.

LA-based urban planner Jonathan Pacheco Bell urges practitioners to consider Embedded Planning praxis. Developed by Bell on the ground in South Central LA, Embedded Planning is a way to fundamentally restructure community engagement and practice. Embedded Planning means planning from the street, not from a desk. Embedded Planners work in the spaces and places of community members, building bridges with marginalized communities harmed by inequitable planning. Embedded Planning is a praxis that puts theory into action to better the world. Since Bell declared Embedded Planning exists in 2018, it has grown into an international movement among emerging planners.

Community members have embraced Embedded Planning because they feel seen and included as partners. Yet despite the praxis bringing ignored voices to the table, Bell encountered blatant hostility from planning figureheads who judged Embedded Planning as “too political.” Through storytelling and personal reflection, Bell will illustrate the struggle to carry out Embedded Planning in the face of power. Attendees will learn the challenges and benefits of this unorthodox approach and understand why this praxis is the future of planning.

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

Navigating the Nexus Panel

Shout out to Cal Poly Pomona students in URP 5400 for organizing the panel, “Navigating the Nexus: Politics, Planning, and Policy.”

I enjoyed sharing space with fellow panelists and students.

We shared stories, reflections, and tactics for navigating the politics of planning.

I got the chance to talk with a new audience about Embedded Planning as a method to bridge the theory/practice gap.

Embedded Planning Is Worth The Struggle at USC

In partnership with @UPatPrice, I’m doing the talk “Embedded Planning is Worth The Struggle” at USC Price on Oct 27, 2023. The event is in person.

Register: bit.ly/USCembedplan

Description:

Planning is political. Decisions about the built environment inherently impact people’s lives. Everything planners do involves a struggle over “who gets what, when, where, how, and why?” Planners respond to this debate but many of our practices have resulted in unjust planning.

In this time of increasing interrogation of planning’s legacies of inequity, planners are moving with intention to be better partners. As part of repair and healing, planners are seeking more ways to build meaningful community partnerships. No longer is Rational Planning the default. But while the pivot to participatory methods helped democratize the planning process, professional practice still prefers project-based, one-off, transactional engagement.

Orthodox planning must evolve.

A better way is possible.

LA-based urban planner Jonathan Pacheco Bell urges practitioners to consider Embedded Planning praxis. Developed by Bell on the ground in South Central LA, Embedded Planning is a way to fundamentally restructure community engagement & practice. Embedded Planning means planning from the street, not from a desk. Embedded Planners work in the spaces & places of community members, building bridges with marginalized communities harmed by inequitable planning. Embedded Planning is a praxis that puts theory into action to better the world. Since Bell declared Embedded Planning exists in 2018, it has grown into an #international movement among emerging planners.

Community members have embraced Embedded Planning because they feel seen and included as partners. Yet despite the praxis bringing ignored voices to the table, Bell encountered blatant hostility from planning figureheads who judged Embedded Planning as “too political.” Through storytelling and personal reflection, Bell will illustrate the struggle to carry out Embedded Planning in the face of power. Attendees will learn the challenges and benefits of this unorthodox approach and understand why this praxis is the future of planning.