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Synopsis
In this talk, Anita Bakshi will discuss how collaborative processes can be more central to design education. In Collaborations in Architecture and Sociology (Routledge 2026), co-authored with sociologist Zaire Dinzey-Flores, the authors address the disconnect between the design of the built environment and social life. They create a new interdisciplinary orientation and methodology, termed SOCIOARC, that recognizes the relationship of the built form and aesthetics to social experience. Anita will talk about the process of writing the book and explain how the graphic design strategy and original illustrations were used to create a book that is accessible to people from many disciplines, as well as its relevance for design education.
Bio
ANITA BAKSHI teaches in the Department of Landscape Architecture at Rutgers University. Following several years in architectural practice, she received her PhD in the history and theory of architecture from Cambridge University with the Conflict in Cities research program. Her research focuses on contested landscapes and histories, environmental justice, and the relationship between architecture and sociology. She edited the book Our Land, Our Stories: Excavating Subterranean Histories of Ringwood Mines and the Ramapough Lunaape Nation (2022), in partnership with the Ramapough Lunaape Turtle Clan. She is the author of Topographies of Memories: A New Poetics of Commemoration (2017), and co-author of Collaborations in Architecture and Sociology (2026) with Zaire Dinzey-Flores.