Carnegie Mellon School of Architecture presents a lecture by Karen Abrams

KAREN ABRAMS
DIRECTOR, DEPARTMENT OF CITY PLANNING,
CITY OF PITTSBURGH

Lecture
Monday, February 6, 2023 at 5:00pm in the Kresge Theatre, College of Fine Arts
David Lewis Lecture on Urban Design and Social Equity

Karen Abrams joined the City of Pittsburgh as the Director of City Planning in February 2022. In this role, she oversees the City’s work to establish and sustain a consistent approach to land use at the intersection of racial justice, social equity, and climate change. During her time in Pittsburgh, she has served The Heinz Endowments as a Program Officer for Equitable Development and as a Community and Diversity Affairs Manager for the Urban Redevelopment Authority. Abrams has a wealth of experience in grantmaking at the neighborhood, city, and regional levels, supporting small-scale vacant lot improvements, managing federal implementation grants, and infusing equity into all projects she is a part of. She earned a Bachelor’s degree in African American Studies from the University of Virginia and a Master of Science in Sustainable Systems from Slippery Rock University. Additionally, she was awarded a Loeb Fellowship by the Harvard Graduate School of Design.