Currently in Seattle, a growing number of projects are exploring intersections among public histories, inquiry and community activism. This is no doubt in reaction to the immense scale and rate of displacement, disruption, and reconfiguration of both built and social environments through ongoing processes of urban development and transformation. The aim of the People’s Geography of Seattle Project is to help forge connections between these different projects, bring them into conversation with each other to identify emergent common interests and questions, and facilitate cooperative support for ongoing development of these projects according to their priorities.

This event will bring together artists, scholars and activists looking at the changing geographies and histories of the Seattle region. Many of these projects are combining a critical understanding of culture, politics, and ecology with forms of mapping and visual representation. This event will highlight public histories, documentary film and photography, and community driven environmental justice. These projects engage questions of change, narrative, rights, justice, health, and equity, both in the built environment and within communities.

This event is in collaboration with the Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences School, University of Washington-Bothell.