Finding The Craft: A Natural Expertise at Urbanism

I am totally consumed with development, architecture, and construction. In my teens and early 20’s I was headed towards big trouble. I was fighting in the streets a lot and almost got shot when a close friend moved to a new neighborhood. I knew It was time to move on or I was going to die. One day, I strolled around an empty college campus to look around. I came upon a door and it read: ‘Architecture Department.’ In a flash at that very moment I found what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. It was literally a door to a new universe. I went off in search of a job, and I ended up discovering a life.

For an English class I wrote a short story about that moment, it was appropriately titled “Architecture: YEAH!” My professor for the class was the Nigerian poet Tayo Olafioye. He used to call me “Williams” and I can still hear his voice. One day after class he said “Williams, I need a favor; can you take me to the hospital?” I drive him and waited almost five hours for him to be released. It turns out he has a mini stroke during class. In two years I missed only one football practice, It was on that day.

Professor Olafoiye told me the next week that I did not need to worry about coming to class. He said it with a poorly disguised wink intentionally delivered in humor. I chose to remain in the class and he allowed me to deviate from the class syllabus. I just wrote stories and poetry and turned them in. On the day of the final exam he said: “Williams, you are a great writer and poet. Always remember to set your writing aside and let your words breathe. I will see you soon my dear friend, thank you.” That was the last time I saw Professor Olayfioye.

I continued to write and through my writing about my life and urbanism, I realized that maneuvering through challenging neighborhoods gives you a unique perspective uncommon in the professional and academic world. One must have a direct understanding as to what is truly bad in order to understand what solutions can work in intense situations. Challenged communities require a different set of solutions. Maybe these solutions can only be brought to light by those that clearly understand the lay of the land; the urban environment, topography, and the people. Moving through the built environment makes you an expert at urbanism. It is like speaking a different language and in some cases, adhering to an alternate of rules and social order. I speak that language and so do many other talented young people from the neighborhoods.

That is the message I bring to the next generation of neighborhood kids. Many of them already think like urban planners, they just need to unlock that knowledge, learn the language, and plug in their valuable knowledge into the study of the built environment. Then we will have communities fully developed by those that live there.”