Sara Jensen Carr to Present 'Embodied Environments' Lecture Online on Oct. 5

Illustration courtesy of Sara Jensen Carr

This illustration is from Sara Jensen Carr's forthcoming book, "The Topography of Wellness: How Health and Disease Shaped the American Urban Landscape" (University of Virginia Press, 2021).

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Sara Jensen Carr will present a virtual lecture at 4 p.m. Monday, Oct. 5, as part of the fall lecture series in the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design. Carr is an assistant professor of architecture and the program director for the Master of Design in Sustainable Urban Environments program at Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts.

Professor Carr is the author of a timely forthcoming book, The Topography of Wellness: How Health and Disease Shaped the American Urban Landscape, which will be published by the University of Virginia Press in 2021.

The Fay Jones School’s fall lecture series is presented in collaboration with Places Journal, an internationally respected online journal of architecture, landscape architecture and urbanism, and the University of Arkansas Office for Diversity and Inclusion. The series is also made possible in part by a gift from Ken and Liz Allen of Fayetteville, part of an overall set of commitments the Allens have made to the school’s programs and initiatives in diversity, equity and inclusion.

In her lecture, “Embodied Environments,” Carr will discuss how our changing understanding of the reciprocal relationship between the environment and the body is reflected in the writings of our urban landscape.  

Concepts of wellness, disease and treatment have influenced urban design from the Industrial Revolution to today, she maintains, and the results have ranged from successful to unintended incubations of the next generation of illnesses. As we face a rupture in the parallel histories of public health and the public realm, examining our built environment through this lens is necessary to frame today’s most urgent questions.

This talk looks to the past in order to offer meditations on how the urban landscape must shift again to address the intertwined issues of our pandemic present, social justice and climate change for a healthier future for all.

Carr, a licensed architect, received an M.Arch. from Tulane University, and an M.L.A. and Ph.D. in Environmental Planning from the University of California, Berkeley.

Her work and research on the connections between urban landscape, human health and social equity have been funded by the Mellon Foundation, San Francisco Planning and Urban Research, and the National Science Foundation.

In addition, she has been published in outlets such as Preventive Medicine and LA+ Journal, and has been interviewed by The New York Times, CNN and Foreign Policy, among others, for her expertise on epidemics and urban design.

The school is pursuing continuing education credits for this lecture through the American Institute of Architects and the American Society of Landscape Architects.

This virtual lecture is open to the public. For details on watching the lecture, please visit the Fay Jones School’s lecture page.

For more information, contact 479-575-4704 or visit fayjones.uark.edu.