Dr. Anna Livia Brand’s research focuses on the intersection of race and space,
specifically looking at black spaces in the American South within the context of
historical urban and demographic changes, gentrification, and issues of power and
dominance. Her dissertation, Cacophonous Geographies: The Symbolic and Material
Landscapes of Race, considered the racial meanings of urban landscapes in New Orleans and
focused on three ethnographic studies representative of New Orleans’ racial dynamics:
Treme, Lakeview, and the Lower Ninth Ward. She is now continuing her research on black
geographies in New Orleans’ Treme and Seventh Ward neighborhoods. 

Dr. Brand’s background is in urban design and planning and she has worked professionally
as a both a planner and a designer. She received her Bachelor and Master of Architecture
from Tulane University, her master’s in Urban and Regional Planning from the University
of New Orleans, and her Ph.D. from MIT’s Department of Urban Studies and Planning. As an
Assistant Professor at UNO, she teaches core courses in the Master of Urban and Regional
Planning and doctoral curriculums, including Introduction to Urbanism and Urban Design,
Site Planning, and a doctoral seminar on Urban Theory. Through her own research and with
her courses at UNO, she has worked with various community organizations across New
Orleans. Dr. Brand is a member of the Association of the Collegiate Schools of Planning
(ACSP), the Urban Affairs Association (UAA), Planners Network, and the national and
Louisiana chapters of the American Planning Association (APA). She has published in
UCLA’s planning journal, Critical Planning and the Loyola Law Review. 

Research Interests Race and Urban Development Black Geographies Democratic Theory and
Participation Justice and the City Politics and Design of Public Space