SCUP Presentation by Walker Macy’s Saumya Kini

This year’s theme for the SCUP 2022 Pacific Regional Conference was “threshold”. In response to the changing conditions (like the COVID-19 pandemic), the conference participants delved into how we might learn from our recent experiences to plan for and accelerate resiliency. Walker Macy’s Associate, Saumya Kini co-led a session titled “Planning Living Laboratories for Educational Equity” with Brodie Bain from Perkins & Will, Rebecca Ocken from Portland Community College, and Amara Perez, Critical Race Spatial Educator, Researcher and Strategist.

Portland Community College (PCC), a multi-campus institution constantly navigating academic, workforce, and social change, offers critical, timely lessons for inclusive integrated planning. This session will share lessons learned from the development of PCC’s inclusive flagship facilities plan, which incorporated data as a planning framework, applied student feedback on issues of equity and hybrid learning, and considered the need for both precision and flexibility in community college learning environments. Join us to discuss the meaningful intersections between educational equity, campus planning, and institution-wide shifts and find out how you can effectively balance uncertainty, flexibility, and specificity in your facilities planning process.