JULES TRAVIS
ABOUT ME
I'm a recent graduate from the University of Washington in Seattle where I studied Community, Environment and Planning with a focus in Urban Ecological Design. I'm working to produce ecologically sustainable solutions in contemporary urban design and planning issues, first to mitigate the impacts of climate change, and second to promote equity and justice in the built environment. I'm most interested in developing best practices in integrating native ecological systems into the dense urban environment.
I moved to San Francisco at the end of 2022 to pursue a career in urban design/planning and learn about Bay Area ecology, regenerative food systems, urban agriculture and urban forestry. I'm working with Friends of the Urban Forest to "green SF," Alemany Farm to grow and distribute free food to the Mission District community and design a better drought-friendly water retention system, and participating in the Golden Gate Greenway project with a mentor.
CONCENTRATIONS + VALUES
EQUITY IN BUILT ENVIRONMENTS
Justice can't advance without equity. The state of built environment is the reflection of social, political and economic stages: it begs to ask what is central to life and living. It manifests in housing, transportation, food systems and access to opportunity, but often overlooked is access to joy. Equity in the BE challenges a step deeper than diversity and inclusion, asks us as planners to consider what takes us beyond surviving, beyond scraping by.
COMMUNITY
PARTICIPATION
I believe that designing to mitigate the impacts of climate change is the most urgent priority, and what makes ecological design most sustainable in the long term is participation and execution on the community level. Individuals need to be heard and considered in design choices for sustainability.
ENVIRONMENTAL
JUSTICE
Climate change will impact certain groups earlier than others, and it will be those who are vulnerable through racism, poverty, disability and intersections of demographic challenges. Environmental justice means fighting for the earth and for the environment itself but more than anything, advocating for marginalized communities that will feel its effects disproportionately.
