PRESENT AND PAST COLLABORATORS
NAMKYU CHUN
Namkyu Chun is a transdisciplinary designer with extensive experience in Korea and the United States as a reporter, strategist, researcher, workshop facilitator, and coordinator for fundraising. He has done volunteer work as Housing Works, and and received the Dean's Scholarship at Parsons The New School for Design. He is currently pursuing his doctoral studies as Aalto University in Finland.
Instagram: http://instagram.com/nq84
MATTHEW DELSESTO
Matt DelSesto is an urban activist and scholar-practitioner who completed the MA in Theories of Urban Practice program at Parsons with honors. He previously studied philosophy and education at Boston College where he worked extensively with undergraduate students sustaining a service-learning network that connects students to social change organizations throughout Boston. Matt has taught in environmental education programs for youth in community gardens and instructed GED classes for sentenced inmates in correctional facilities. In addition, he has worked as part of a collaborative research team to strategically advance the mission of neighborhood-based non-profit organizations in Boston. Matt is currently an intern for the Horticultural Society of New York where he works with the GreenHouse program on Rikers Island, and he is a Research Fellow for the NYC-based land-access-advocacy organization, 596 Acres.
NADIA ELOKDAH
Nadia Elokdah is an urban practitioner, researcher, and teacher who is originally from Philadelphia and is currently based in New York City. She is the author of the book, Identity Crisis: Creating a Contemporary Bathhouse in Cairo. She worked for the firm TAO Architecture + Design as well as with the non-profit cultural advocacy organizations, Al-Bustan Seeds of Culture. She has also conducted research and taught classes at Temple University and The New School. She is the Co-Founder and Co-Leader of the collaborative Hub.UP, which seeks to create powerful forms of research and practice in urbanism through collective action. She is currently completing her MA in Theories of Urban Practice at Parsons The New School for Design in New York City.
AMANDA LASNIK
Amanda is a writer, designer and strategist living in New York City. She received a Masters of Fine Arts in Transdisciplinary Design from Parsons New School for Design. This masters program presented students with systemic and societal challenges and then taught how to frame an approach from a design perspective, focusing on uncovering a solution, rather than obsessing on understanding the problem. It was from this practice that she learned that framing the question you are solving for is often the most important step.
MAGGIE OLLOVE
Maggie is a social scientist designer pulling from her experience in non-profits, strategy design, and community building. With an emphasis on participatory projects, design-led-research, and storytelling she weaves together learnings from different fields to create an inclusive, and rigorous process to tackle complexity. She has a BA in social history and photography from Oberlin College and an MFA from the Transdisciplinary Design program as Parsons The New School for Design. She has taught at Parsons as the Post Graduate Fellow for the School of Design Strategies. She is also the Co-Founder of BodyBrain, a design collective working to guide a process of innovation to locate implementable strategy within complex social challenges.
DREW TUCKER
A fifth generation Louisvillian and recent New Yorker, Drew received his MS in Design & Urban Ecologies from Parsons the New School for Design. He studies the (p)olitical
contradictions, social processes, and liberatory conflict inherent to urban environments. His current engagements include Noble, a workers collective, project visioning and implementation for a local urban design think tank, strategic development work for multiple non-profits, and a long term design research project alongside partners at the University of Wyoming. He currently resides in Flatbush, Brooklyn with his dogs Gracie & Musket, and his much more intelligent, incredibly patient and beautiful partner, Colette Henderson.
Twitter: https://twitter.com/drewdown32
GRACE TUTTLE
Grace Tuttle is a Brooklyn-based communication design specialist with a transdisciplinary practice that is investigative, strategic, and collaborative. Using her skills as an anthropologist, writer, and visual designer, she works with individuals, organizations, and communities to articulate objectives, analyze challenges, and mobilize ideas and resources for change. She has a BA in Anthropology from Bard College and an MFA from the Transdisciplinary Design program at Parsons The New School for Design.
JUAN USUBILLAGA
Juan is a Colombian urban designer, researcher and political activist. He has an MSc in Building and Urban Design in Development from the Development Planning Unit at UCL and is currently doing a PhD at the School of Architecture at Cardiff University. His research focuses on the intersections between urban design and radical politics, exploring how political activism can be a form of urban design practice. Throughout his career, he has worked in design and research projects in a variety of contexts including Colombia, Lebanon, Myanmar and the U.K. He currently lives in Cardiff, where he is an active campaigner for local environmental groups.
Twitter: https://twitter.com/jfusubillaga