Anna Livia Brand

Anna Livia Brand is an Associate Professor at the University of California, Berkeley, affiliated with the Department of Landscape Architecture & Environmental Planning. Her research critically examines racial landscapes, spatial justice, and Black geographies, focusing on how planning and design perpetuate racial exclusion. She holds a PhD in Urban Planning from MIT, an MURP from the University of New Orleans, and a BArch from Tulane University.

Brand teaches courses such as LDARCH140 Social and Psychological Factors in Open Space Design and LDARCH254 Racial Landscapes. Her work bridges academia and activism, emphasizing Black place-making and anti-racist methodologies. Notable research includes studies on New Orleans's Claiborne Avenue and Montgomery's memorial landscapes.

Her publications explore themes like racial capitalism, emancipatory green justice, and the spatial legacies of systemic racism. She has contributed to ACME: An International Journal for Critical Geographies, Environment and Planning D, and edited volumes on Black geographies and urban justice.

Brand’s community engagement focuses on marginalized urban communities, advocating for equitable planning through frameworks like reparative spatial practices and decolonial methodologies. Her work challenges conventional urban theories to center racialized spatial experiences and liberatory urban futures.