A Better Way to Plan School Facilities: Our interview with Akira Drake Rodriguez

In a world where educational justice and housing justice movements too often seem separated, Akira Drake Rodriguez’s research connects them. Currently an assistant professor of city planning at the University of Pennsylvania’s Weitzman School of Design, Rodriguez is also the author of Diverging Space for Deviants: The Politics of Atlanta’s Public Housing, which explores resistance in that city’s public housing to widespread closures. We spoke with her about how school closures in Philadelphia affect neighborhoods, alternative visions for those schools, and how communities are starting to organize to change the way school facilities planning is done.