Patty Heyda

Patty Heyda is an Associate Professor in the Department of Architecture at the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts, Washington University in St. Louis. Her work critically examines American urban landscapes through the lens of spatial justice, race, and design politics in weak market cities and transitioning suburbs.

Her educational background includes:

• Master of Architecture with distinction, Harvard University

Heyda's research centers on "erasure urbanism"—the systematic dismantling of democratic urban spaces through racialized redevelopment and privatization. She investigates how market-based planning perpetuates spatial inequality in first-ring suburbs, with Ferguson, Missouri serving as a key case study. Her work integrates architectural design, critical cartography, and social theory to expose structural contradictions in contemporary urbanism.

Analysis of her publications from 2016-2024 reveals consistent engagement with racial justice, suburban transformation, and the political economy of design. Key trajectories include critiques of food deserts as manifestations of regional economic imaginaries, examinations of architectural façades in masking segregation, and pandemic-era studies of work-space reconfiguration. Her scholarship bridges architectural practice with critical race theory, challenging disciplinary norms through projects like #ArchSoWhite.

Heyda's contributions have been recognized through:

• William H. Danforth St. Louis Confluence Award Finalist (2024)
• Dwight F. Davis Award for Outstanding Planning Advocacy (2022)
• St. Louis AIA Award
• Nashville Civic Design Center Award
• ThinkSpace Platform Award

She directs significant research initiatives funded by the Mellon Foundation's Divided City initiative, including the Laboratory for Suburbia and Mobilizing the Middle: A Radical Atlas of Ferguson. These projects examine racial equity in suburban transformation through interdisciplinary collaboration, supported by grants from the Center for Race, Ethnicity and Equity. Her public scholarship engages mainstream media through outlets like The Conversation and NPR.

Heyda founded and directs the Laboratory for Suburbia, which investigates design strategies for weak market cities through mapping, exhibitions, and community engagement. Current projects include Small Town Urbanisms: Plans, Politics, People and House as Crisis, addressing eco-social challenges in post-industrial American landscapes through spatial interventions and policy advocacy.