Kian Goh, assistant professor of urban planning, was recently named the new associate faculty director of the UCLA Luskin Institute on Inequality and Democracy. With a global perspective and expertise in community responses to environmental problems, Goh will be able to promote the institute’s efforts to pair critical thought with social activism in order to combat inequalities.
Originally an architect in New York City, it was the groundbreaking levels of community involvement following Hurricane Sandy that finally led her to pursue growing interests in the exploration of urban inequality and the impact of climate change in urban settings.
As she has moved through her career in academia, however, Goh has come to realize that objective research sometimes conflicts with desires to approach problems from the point of view of oppressed groups. She concludes that this can hinder intentions to challenge unjust systems and promote greater equity in decision making. As the new associate faculty director, Goh hopes to further promote more positional research, stating that this approach to academic studies “is more attuned to how institutional power actually works. And it’s what I think the Institute on Inequality and Democracy does incredibly well. I’m so excited to be a part of it.”
Read more about Goh at UCLA Newsroom and UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs.
