The academic year that was 2023-2024 was an important year for PENN’s Humanities + Urban +
Design program, sponsored by the Mellon Foundation. As in years past, this ground-breaking
collaboration between the Weitzman School of Design and the School of Arts and Sciences,
brought together students and faculty with the goal of exploring cities and people — past, present
and future. Examining both the potential and precarity of urban life, at the intersection of the
humanities and design disciplines, its members shared research findings through discussions,
presentations, course offerings, and publications. This first no-cost extension year of the “The
Inclusive City,” continued its inter-disciplinary work committed to questions of diversity, inclusion,
and social justice in the built environment.
AY23-24 was a no – cost extension year which afforded the group important opportunities to
continue the work of research, student support, and community outreach. In September 2023, the
H+U+D Colloquium welcomed several new Faculty Fellows and Student Research Grant
recipients. Along with returning Faculty Fellows, colloquium members continued to expand the
themes undertaken by last year’s cohort, with a continued focus on questions of inclusion and
diversity in the city and built environment, broadly construed. Some cross-school synergies that
emerged included critical approaches to labor, environmental justice, migrant narratives, policing,
and gender.
In AY23-24, H+U+D sponsored one international city seminar courses led by Professors Dr. Perry
and Dr. Veillette, who introduced our undergraduate students to on-the-ground local activism in
Salvador, Bahia, Brazil, often referred to as the “Black Mecca.” H+U+D also continued its support
of student research by awarding eight grants to undergraduates and graduate students, who
presented their work during two colloquium sessions in Spring 2024. Their research ranged from
investigating the lost influence of the tribespeople of the Arabian desert, the badu, to Community
Benefits Agreements and the promise of equitable urban growth in Atlanta Georgia.
We are grateful, once again, to the Mellon Foundation for having agreed to another no-cost
extension for the AY24-25, during which a core group of faculty members will develop both a
renewed mission statement and an external program of activities for Spring 2025 that leverages
past H+U+D successes with a view to creating the next generation of PENN’s community focused
scholarship. Our interdisciplinary initiatives have been committed to building bridges across
disciplines, generations of scholars, and between Penn, Philadelphia, and a global network of cities
with a vision to greater inclusivity. And it is these collaborations and connections that ensure our
mission to combine the Humanities with Design contributes to imagining, analyzing, and
constructing public spaces that are truly inclusive, sustainable, and equitable.

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