Kimberly Kinder

Infrastructures of Dissent: Place, Text, and Activism in Radical Independent Bookstores
Kimberly Kinder
Assistant Professor of Urban Planning, University of Michigan

Across the country, people are mobilizing to defend progressive political ideals, but activism is not evenly distributed. Like flows of capital and chains of migration, activism gets structured into geographic circuits with pathways and hotspots. In this presentation, Dr. Kinder explores how people route social activism in and out of the built environment. Using examples from radical independent booksellers, Kinder analyzes the material, territorial, and symbolic strategies people use to convert retail environments into resources for political engagement. The analysis emphasizes place-making as an activist technique transforming everyday spaces into transformational spaces for empowerment and dissent.

The Lectures in Planning Series (LiPS) is an initiative of the Urban Planning program at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation.

All lectures are free and open to the public; refreshments are provided. For more information or to make program suggestions, email lipscolumbiaplanning@gmail.com.