Renowned UCLA planning professor, urbanist, and author Edward W. Soja passed away last month. L.A.-based planner, and former Soja student, Jonathan Bell writes about his teachings and how they influenced him.
UCLA Planning Professor Edward W. Soja passed away last month. Author of the planning classics Postmodern Geographies: the Reassertion of Space in Critical Social Theory and Postmetropolis, Soja influenced a generation of planning students.
His work on space, postmodernism, and Los Angeles were core readings in history and theory classes . . .
L.A.-centered planner and former Soja student Jonathan Bell describes the influence that Soja had on him:
Soja taught me that space is active, congregative, and people-centered. This spatial awareness is helping me build more spatially just communities in Los Angeles. Today, as a practicing planner, whether preparing policy documents, writing about cities, or working in partnership with communities to improve quality of life, I remain ever faithful to Soja’s simple rule: “Put space first.
. . .
A celebration of Edward Soja’s life and work will be held Monday, January 25, 2016, from 4pm to 6pm at the UCLA Faculty Center, Sequoia Room.
FULL STORY: Epitaph for Edward W. Soja
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