*Doors and networking at 5 pm, lecture at 5:30 pm

Sekou Cooke is an architect, urban designer, researcher, and curator. Cooke is a leading advocate for the study and practice of Hip-Hop Architecture, which addresses the broad impacts of the racist history of architecture and urban planning, opening a pathway for practice, education, and scholarship that embraces architecture as a tool for shaping, reflecting, and understanding culture. He will be discussing his monograph “Hip-Hop Architecture,” ideas of Hip-Hop Architecture, and recent projects influenced by his research practice. Born in Jamaica and based in Charlotte, North Carolina, Sekou is also the Director of the Master of Urban Design program at UNC Charlotte, the 2021/2022 Nasir Jones HipHop Fellow at the Hutchins Center for African & African American Research at Harvard University, and a founding member of the Black Reconstruction Collective.

About CIVIQ

Chattanooga Design Studio's CIVIQ is a quarterly event that introduces and humanizes national and international movements in urban design by showcasing visionary work being done by practitioners in other cities. With each free and public event, we aim to position Chattanoogans to leave feeling inspired, informed, and activated. More than a lecture, each event is intended to equip the city to think differently about challenges faced in our community.