The Urban Democracy Lab promotes critical, creative, just, and sustainable forms of urbanism primarily through novel forms of practice-based research. We believe that universities can play a critical civic role in promoting social justice scholarship, curricular activities, public engagement, and programming. At the same time, we believe that truly engaging in the world in this way fundamentally changes how we conceive of what both scholarship and practice can mean. With our dual commitments to justice and sustainability, particularly through our initiative “Democratizing the Green City,” we believe it is crucial for organizations like ours to stand behind our students and colleagues in calling for divestment from the fossil fuel industry and decarbonization. Climate change impacts all of us, but is especially pernicious for the most vulnerable among us. While divestment and decarbonizationalone will not repair inequality and environmental precarity, it is a step in the right direction.
