Akima Brackeen

Akima Brackeen is an educator, designer and researcher dedicated to promoting justice within the built environment. She is an Assistant Professor at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Community Design Director at Architecture for Public Benefit, and a member of the leadership team for the Equity in Architecture Education Consortium (EAEC). Her research focuses on water access and challenging racial perceptions and values of waterscapes aiming to transform engagement with contested sites through speculative interventions, narrative generation and community activations. Akima was the inaugural Rowe Fellow at the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) in Chicago.