MATTHEW JORDAN-MILLER KENYATTA

E-mail: drmatt@matthewkenyatta.com 

www.linkedin.com/in/drmattkenyatta 

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3140-4756 

Hybrid artist, author, and consultant with 9+ years of multidisciplinary experience as an urban geographer, ethnographic storyteller, and visual artist helping educational and cultural institutions discover and elevate  joy, justice, and genius in underappreciated communities.

EDUCATION

2018 PhD Urban Planning and Development

Sol Price School of Public Policy, Department of Urban Planning & Spatial  Analysis

Center for Visual Anthropology (Certificate)

University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA

2014 MCP Environmental Policy and Planning

School of Architecture and Planning, Department of Urban Studies & Planning Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA

2012 BA Urban Studies with Honors, African & African American Studies Stanford University, Stanford, CA

ACADEMIC APPOINTMENTS

2023 – present  

2021 – 2023

2018 – 2022

Community Engagement Fellow and Lecturer

Department of City and Regional Planning / Fine Art

Director, Justice & Belonging (JxB) Initiatives

Provost’s Postdoctoral Fellow and Lecturer

Department of City and Regional Planning

University of Pennsylvania Weitzman School of Design, Philadelphia,  PA

RESEARCH & TEACHING INTERESTS

- Cultural studies (Africana studis, photographic art history, architecture, game studies, queer studies); Black geography (Afrofuturism, historic preservation, Black architectural history, Black environmental history); community design (public space, creative placemaking), digital humanities (participatory mapping, digital photography, worldbuilding, spatial media (VR/AR/XR), filmmaking)

PUBLICATIONS

Books

Black Urbanism: Palms Growing in Concrete. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press (Under  review, forthcoming 2025).

Refereed Journal Articles

Miller, Matthew Jordan. “If I Built the World, Imagine That: Reflections on World Building  Practices in Black Los Angeles.” Journal of Planning Theory and Practice (19.2; Spring 2018): 254- 288.

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Kenyatta, Matthew JM. “‘Blacklighting’ the Shaping of Place: Theories, Strategies, and Methods  from the ‘Shaw,” Urban Geography (2023), Special Issue on Placemaking and the Blues in  Racialized, Ethnic, and Immigrant Neighborhoods (DOI: 10.1080/02723638.2023.2179825).

Kenyatta, Matthew JM. “When Diversity Lost the Beat: Reviving Hidden Rhythms of Black  Urbanism in U.S. Planning Literature from 1990-2020.” Journal of American Planning Association  for Special Issue on Planning for Anti-Racist Futures (10.1080/01944363.2023.2219242).

Book Chapters

Miller, Matthew Jordan. “Building A Black Public Realm and Public Culture: Learning from  Leimert Park Village.” In A. Loukaito-Sideris, K. Goh, and V. Mukhija (Eds.), Just Urban  Design: The Struggle for a Public City. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press (November 2022). https://doi-org/10.7551/mitpress/13982.003.0022 

Miller, Matthew Jordan. “‘Need Black joy?’ Mapping an Afrotechtonics of gathering in Los  Angeles.” In C. Hawthorne and J. Lewis. The Black Geographic: Praxis, Resistance, Futurity (2023). Durham, NC: Duke University Press (https://doi.org/10.1215/9781478027249- 010).

Conference Proceedings

Miller, Matthew Jordan. “Blacklighting Urban Design: Reconstructing publicness as Blackness in  Philadelphia and Los Angeles. Abstract ID: 114.” The Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning (accepted in Track 16: Urban Design, published in 2021 Book of Accepted  Abstracts).

Miller, Matthew Jordan. “The Geography of Race, Place, and (Cultural) Entrepreneurship – Initial  Findings from the 2012 Survey Of Business Owners In California.” Association of  Collegiate Schools in Planning, 2017 Book of Accepted Abstracts.

Manuscripts

Miller, Matthew Jordan. "The Geography of Black Commerce and Culture: Los Angeles, California,  and Beyond." PhD diss., University of Southern California, 2018.

Miller, Matthew Jordan (2014). “Did ‘Pookie’ Get a Green-Collar Job? A Critical Case Study on the  East Bay Green Corridor’s Employment Goals, Activities and Impacts” (Master’s thesis).  Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2014.

Miller, Matthew Jordan (2012). “From Dust to Dust: Mapping Race and PCB Risk in West  Oakland's Soil, Water and Food from 1940-2000” Undergraduate thesis, Stanford University  Libraries.

Manuscripts in Preparation

Field Note: Repair. Places Journal.

How Genius Helps Reimagine Heritage in Cities. Places Journal (under review) Book chapter for “Regeneration: Monument Lab,” Temple University Press (under review)

Multimedia and Creative Publications

The Museum of Hidden Genius (August 2023, ongoing), Online. www.museumofgenius.com

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Hometowns Project – Ariel Genadt, Matt Kenyatta, Ariel Genadt, Shen Tao, Archit Kulkarni, John  (Jianan) Dai, Marquise D. Williams, Elizabeth Anderson, Urvi Pawar, Mark Harper, Brendan  Burke, Patrick Haggerty, Karl Wellman, University of Pennsylvania Weitzman School of  Design (May 2022-May 2023), Virtual exhibition accompaniment.

“Penn’s Landing Oral History Project (PLOHP) – Erme Maula Rough Cut,” Online (September  2020, passcode: praxis2020)

The Art of Black Urbanism – Group Exhibition with Jessica Rycheal, University of Washington, Gould  Gallery (February 2019)

Black Urbanism YR-001 – Group Exhibition with Gabriel Miller (SVNGWEST), University of  Pennsylvania (February 2019 – April 2019)

“Race, Arts, and Placemaking -- Oral History Archives,” USC Digital Libraries (April 2017 - present)

Reviews

“Black Art as Public Action: Witnessing FREEDAMN in West Philadelphia’s The Bottom,” Critical  review essay for Website and Zine, in collaboration with Charles Hall of Mamie & Weaver’s  Studio (April 2021, Seaton Press, publication delayed due to health complications,  forthcoming November 2024).

Reports

Swayne, Madison and Matthew Jordan Miller. “Innovation on Job Accessibility with General  Transit Feed Specification (GTFS) Data.” TRID (Transport Research International  Documentation). Transportation Research Board (2018).

Miller, Matthew Jordan and Seva Rodnyansky. “LA Community Revitalization Investment  Authority (CRIA) Analysis.” Los Angeles Department of Economic and Workforce  Development. Maps available.

Miller, Matthew Jordan. “Planning for Healthy Revitalization: Food and Nutrition Options for  Stockton’s General Plan.” Sacramento, CA: Public Health Advocates (2014). Miller, Matthew Jordan. “Low-Impact Infrastructure,” and “Enablers of Incentive Structures.” In  J. Layzer and S. Watson (eds). Critical Urban Sustainability Drivers, Unpublished, submitted to  The Summit Foundation (2014).

TEACHING EXPERIENCES

INSTITUTION Weitzman School  of Design  

(UPenn)

PERIOD Fall 2024 Spring  

2024

Spring  

2023

Spring  

2022

Summer /  Fall 2022 Summer /  Fall 2022 Fall 2022

SUBJECT

Unleashing Your Art in Public (Fine Arts) Planning as Spatial Storytelling (City  Planning)

Design for Living Heritage / Studio+

Mapping Publicness in Cultural &  Commercial Space (City Planning) The Penn Experience: Racism,  Reconciliation, and Engagement  Hidden Histories Tour: Dignity,  Displacemaking, Diasporas  

Introduction to Landscape Architecture  (Experiential Reality and Design Justice)

ROLE  

Instructor

Instructor

Instructor

Instructor

Instructor

Guest Lecturer Guest Lecturer

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USC

Summer  

2021, 2022

Fall 2019,  2020, 2021,  2022  

Fall 2021

Fall 2021

Spring  

2021

Fall 2018

Fall 2018,  Fall 2019

Fall 2021

Spring  

2020,  

Spring  

2019

Spring  

2017

Historic Preservation Summer Institute  (Design Justice)

History and Theory (Planning & Culture):  Race, Culture, Black Urbanism

Architectural History and Theory III:  Origin Stories and Narratives

Architecture Urban Housing Studio  (Public Commons Space Protocols for  Architecture)

Architecture 502 Studio (Afrofuturism) Sensing the City Lab

Tactical Preservation Studio (Philadelphia,  Detroit)

Architecture701 Studio: Public Commons  and Retroactive Worldbuilding  

Place, Taste, and Urban Change

Race, Arts and Placemaking

Guest Lecturer

Instructor

Guest Critic / Juror Guest Critic / Juror

Guest Critic / Juror Guest Critic / Juror

Guest Lecturer

Instructor

Teaching Assistant

Spring  2016

Comparative International Development Teaching Assistant Social Context of Planning Teaching Assistant

Fall 2016 Planning Theory Teaching Assistant Fall 2016 Planning History and Urban Form Teaching Assistant

Stanford Winter  2010

RESEARCH EXPERIENCE

The Color of Eco-Literacy Co-Instructor

2019 – 2021 2014 - 2018

PennPraxis, Penn’s Landing Oral History Project

Directing a community-engaged oral history project exploring Black, Pan-Asian, low income, queer, and femme memories of the riverfront in the late 20th century to present  day, documented through film and artifacts.

Price Center for Social Innovation (CSI)

University of Southern California, School of Public Policy, Los Angeles, CA Graduate Research Assistant

Under Gary Painter, co-created the Neighborhood Data for Social Change database. Co led the “geography of opportunity” studies under grant-funded partnerships with  METRANS to create transit accessibility measures.

2016 - 2018 Spatial Analysis Lab (SLAB)

University of Southern California, School of Public Policy, Los Angeles, CA Graduate Research Assistant

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Under Professor Annette Kim, managed the Race, Arts and Placemaking (RAP)  

initiatives by designing the course, filming course sessions, organizing public website, and RAP oral history archival research on 1992 LA uprising with USC Digital Libraries. 2013 - 2014 Environmental Policy and Planning Program

MIT Department of Urban Studies and Planning, Cambridge, MA

Research Assistant

Drafted two book chapters with Judith Layzer and Siobhan Watson on low-impact  

infrastructure and policy incentives as critical drivers of urban sustainability. Submitted to  the Summit Foundation

2009 - 2011 Martin Luther King Jr. Education and Research Institute Stanford University, Stanford, CA

Undergraduate Research Assistant

Under Tenisha Armstrong, transcribing and verifying private and microfilm documents  between 1963-64 for the Online King Records Access (OKRA) database and  

publication in Volume VIII of the King Papers Project.

AWARDS AND HONORS

2024 2024 2023 2023 2022 2021 2019 2017 2017 2016 2014 2014

2014 2014 2013 2013 2012 2012 2011 2010 2010 2010 2008 2008

Atlantic Institute – Atlantic Fellows for Racial Justice (Finalist)  

Independent Creative Production (Sachs Program for Arts Innovation, University of  Penn)

Netter Faculty Fellow in Community Development and the Arts

21st Century Leaders Fellowship, U.S. Advisory Council for Historic Preservation (ACHP) Dean’s Equity and Inclusion Fellow, Dumbarton Oaks Institute (Harvard University)  Arts Commissioner - Philadelphia Arts Commission (Mayoral Appointee) Emerging Scholar – Penn Institute for Urban Research

National Endowment for the Arts – Our Town Program Panelist  

ACSP Planners of Color Interest Group (POCIG) Conference Travel Award  Ford Foundation Dissertation Fellowship Honorable Mention  

Ford Foundation Pre-Doctoral Honorable Mention  

Sol Price School of Public Policy Fellowship  

Sarah E. Samuels Champion of Health Award  

California State Legislature Award  

MIT Public Service Fellow  

MIT Center for International Studies Environmental Governance/Sustainability Fellow  MIT Office of the Dean for Graduate Education Fellow

Kennell Jackson Jr. Research Award (Stanford University African/African American  Studies)

Ford Foundation Pre-Doctoral Honorable Mention  

Assistant Dean of Students Academic Achievement Award  

Black Community Services Center Sophomore Male of the Year  

Haas Center for Public Service Urban Summer Fellow  

NAACP Herbert Lehman Scholar  

Stanford Magazine Annual Admission Essayist  

GRANTS AND FUNDING AWARDS

Matthew Kenyatta. “Museum of Hidden Genius: Gamifying an Atlas of Afrotech.” National  Geographic Explorer – Level 1 Grant, $20,000 (invited, applied, notification by September 2024).

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Matthew Kenyatta. “Museum of Hidden Genius: Mapping an Atlas.” Digital Publication Grant,  National Endowment for the Humanities, $60,000 (applied)

Matthew Kenyatta. “The Museum of Hidden Genius: An Atlas of Afrotech.” Independent Creative  Production Grant, Sachs Program for Arts Innovation, University of Penn, 04/2024, $8,000  (awarded).

Matthew Kenyatta, The Philadelphia Film Factory, We Embrace Fatherhood. “Community  Partnership Award.” Sachs Program for Arts Innovation. 04/2024, $15,000 (awarded).

Matthew Kenyatta, Dante Leonard, New Africa Center. “Community Organizing Grant,” Bread &  Roses Community Fund (BRCF) West Philadelphia Community Fund, 10/2023, $15,000 (applied,  declined).

Matthew Kenyatta. “Imagine That! Mapping with Dr. Matt.” Just Tech Fellowship, Social Science  Research Council, 04/2023. $250,000. (Applied, Finalist)

Matthew Jordan Miller (Director). “Every Negus is a Star (ENIAS): NORTH BROAD Spatial  Augmented Reality.” Graham Foundation, 08/2020. $9,220 (requested, declined).

Akira Drake Rodriguez, Sophie Hochhäusl, Fatemeh Shams, Erin Cross, Davis Knittle, Randall  Mason, and Matthew Jordan Miller. “Transdisciplinary Urbanism in Times of Precarity,” University  of Pennsylvania Provost’s Excellence through Diversity Fund, 08/2020-08/2021. $9,500.

Matthew Jordan Miller (PI), Katherine Mara Payne (RA). “Penn’s Landing Multimedia History  Project.” The Knight Foundation (via Delaware River Waterfront Corporation), 08/2019-09/2020,  Amount: $10,000.

Matthew Jordan Miller (Co-PI), Joe Donlin (Strategic Actions for a Just Economy), Damon Turner  (Trap Heals), Giovani Solis (Braceros). “Intersections of Gentrification (The Constellations  Project),” Resources Legacy Fund. 12/2017-03/2018. $3,000.

CONFERENCES AND PANELS

2023 – University of Pennsylvania, Center for the Preservation of Civil Rights Sites “What Remains: Preserving the Heritage of Africatown” – Moderator of Panel “Listening to the  Ancestors, Excavating the Stories” (Philadelphia, PA)  

2023 – University of British Columbia, June Joy Symposium for Leonie Sandercock (Vancouver,  Canada)

2022 – University of Chicago, Spectrum LGTQ+ Group – (Chicago, IL).  

2022 - Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning. Track 13.2 – Planning History and Theory - Roundtable: “Planning for fun, love, abundance, and joy in times of despair” - Panelist (Toronto,  Canada)

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2022 – Monument Lab Re:Generation Series – What Stories Belong in Public? (Moderator) – (June,  July, August 2022)

2022 – 8th Forum on Architectural Science, Berlin Institute of Technology, Germany “Hacking Global History & Inequitable World Canons: Or, Architecture under Diasporic Pluriversal  Prisms” (accepted)

2021 – Association for Collegiate Schools of Planning. 16.9 Spectrum of Issues in Urban Design  Track. “Blacklighting Urban Design: Reconstructing publicness as Blackness in Philadelphia and Los  Angeles.”

2019 - Harvey S. Perloff Lecture Series, UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs Public While Black: Designing for the Crenshaw Imaginary through Culture and Commerce 

2019 - University of Washington, College of Built Environment, Department of Planning, Seattle,  WA

The Art of Black Urbanism - Panel Discussion with Dr. Matt Miller and Jessica Rycheal 

2018 – Association for Collegiate Schools of Planning conference, Buffalo, New York “Been Here: Black Urbanism as the Civics, Stories, and Space of Belonging”, Race, Ethnicity, and  Placemaking Panel (emergency cancellation)

2017 - American Association of Geographers (Black Geographies Specialty Group) - Black  Geographies Symposium at UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA.  

“The Beautiful, Political Urgency of Black Imaginative Placemaking”

2011 – Stanford University, Symposium on Undergraduate Research and Public Service (SURPS) “Visualizing Environmental Inequity: The GIS Mapping of PCB Contamination, Racial Segregation,  and Zoning Ordinances (1940-2011),” Poster presentation.

2011 – National Environmental Justice Conference. National Institute for Environmental Health  Sciences. Detroit, Michigan. “Visualizing Environmental Inequity: The GIS Mapping of PCB  Contamination, Racial Segregation, and Zoning Ordinances (1940-2011),” Poster presentation.

INVITED TALKS

2023 – Gentrification in Communities, Philadelphia Museum of Art (November) 2020 – DesignPhiladelphia, Center for Architecture and Design. Invited panel. (November) 2020 – University of Washington, Department of Urban Design and Planning. Seattle, WA. Invited  talk (October)

2020 – Philadelphia Planning Commission, “Safe and Welcoming Public Spaces at The Navy Yard,” Advising (July)

2020 – UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, Los Angeles, CA. Panel presentation. “Buy Black:  Reframing Urbanism and Economics” (July 7)

2020 – Weitzman School of Design, Philadelphia. “Been Here: A Virtual Corner Talk with Two  Black Urbanists” - Sara Zewde and Mark Gardner (July).

2020 – Planning While Black in a Crisis - MUSEings on COVID-19. Panelist/Organizer of Planning  + Architecture for Black Lives Matching Fund. (June 12).

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2019 – Kounkey Design Initiative, Los Angeles, CA. (May). “Black Urbanism and Placemaking in  Leimert Park”

2018 – California African American Museum, Los Angeles, CA, Martin Luther King Day  Celebration

2013 – MIT Center for International Studies. Cambridge, MA. Presenter. “Growing the Vertical  Farm: Sociological Findings from Sweden’s Plantagon.”

2012 – Yahoo! Headquarters, Sunnyvale, CA. Invited speaker.

“Not in My Backyard: Race, Waste, and Environmental Justice in Oakland.” 2011 Stanford University Program in African & African American Studies. “AAAS at Stanford:  Celebrating Its Legacy & Impact (Research on Environment and Race).” Panel with DeAngela  Burns-Wallace.

2011 – Summer Success and Leadership Academy, University of the Pacific, Stockton, CA “You Are Your Environment: Environmental Justice Engagement Strategies.”

Campus Talks

“The Color of Wonder: A Prismatic Reconstruction of Futurism, Race, and Design.” University of  Pennsylvania Department of Architecture “Master Lecture” Series, Retroactive  Worldbuilding Studio (March 22, 2021).

“The Geography of Black Commerce and Culture: Los Angeles, California, and Beyond.” Mellon  Humanities+Urbanism+Design Colloquium, University of Pennsylvania (April 5, 2018).

PUBLIC INTERVIEWS

Interviewed for The Philadelphia Inquirer, “A More Perfect Union: The Blueprint.” (December 2022) Interviewed for The Philadelphia Magazine, “What would happen if Philadelphia urbanists ran the  city?” (September 2020)

Interviewed and quoted in Bloomberg News (CityLab), “What's Next for Seattle's Police-Free Protest  Zone” (June 18, 2020)

Quoted and Featured in The Daily (University of Washington), “The art of Black urbanism: Creating  space to be seen” (February 8, 2019)

Quoted and Pictured in USC Price News, “USC Price initiative seeds collaborations around race, arts  and placemaking” (January 14, 2019)

Interviewed in The Philadelphia Tribune, “Black scholar makes his mark in urban planning”  (November 25, 2018)

Interviewed and photographed in The New York Times, “‘Black Panther’ Cosplayers: ‘We’re Helping  People See Us as Heroes.’” (February 15, 2018).

Guest article for MIT Community Innovators Lab, “The Clean Power Plan as an Opportunity to  Reinvest in Front-Line Communities.” (February 29, 2016)

Featured in Stockton Record, “Student hits goal in ‘Ask’ campaign” (August 23, 2013) Featured in Stockton Record, “‘Ask Stockton’ wants your questions to see what it can do for Stockton” (August 5, 2013)

UNIVERSITY SERVICE

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Justice x Belonging Committee (Co-Chair), Weitzman School of Design, University of Pennsylvania  (2021– 2023)

Queer Space Working Group (Member), University of Pennsylvania + Harvard (2021 – present) Racial Justice Working Group, Department of City Planning, University of Pennsylvania (2020 – 2021)

Mellon Humanities Urbanism Design (H+U+D) Forum, University of Pennsylvania (2018 - 2020)

PROFESSIONAL AND ACADEMIC AFFILIATIONS

Professional Photographers of America (2019 – present)

American Planning Association:  

Northern California 2010 – 2012

Massachusetts Chapter 2012 – 2014

Environment and Natural Resources Division 2011 – 2014

Planning and the Black Community Group 2011 – 2014

Association for Collegiate Schools in Planning: Planners of Color Interest Group.  Member. 2017 – present  

Student Representative. 2017 – 2018

PROFESSIONAL SKILLS

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