Bio

Tania uses geospatial analytics and critical cartography to investigate equity and access in the build environment, especially related to urban development and affordable housing. She combines strategies and methods drawn from anthropology, action research, placemaking and participatory design to “thicken” the way that geospatial data is visualized. Other interests include critical mapping as a participatory research tool, and examining the history and roots of the housing crisis and the way that issues of equity and social justice are manifest in the built environment. Tania is the co-director of the design research group co-lab, which focuses on critical mapping as a participatory design research tool.

Publications

• Solving Critical Design Problems: Theory and Practice , (2026)
• Autographic Design: The Matter of Data in a Self-Inscribing World , Design Issues (2024)
• Critical Cartography and Design Research , National Conference on the Beginning Design Student (2024)
• Editorial: Language in design , Proceedings of DRS (2024)
• Let’s Investigate! Creative Research for the Beginning Design Student , National Conference on the Beginning Design Student (2024)
• Oppressive Infrastructures: Mapping Racism in the Built Environment , Empty Pedestals: Countering Confederate Narratives Through Public Design (2024)
• The Art of Critical Mapping , Central Carolina Community College Academic & Cultural Enrichment Series (2024)
• AI and Society , DDes Immersion Week (2023)
• Challenging Neutrality: A Closer Look at Confederate Memorialization Association for Public Data Users , (2023)
• Design for Community Engagment , Illogical Podcast (2023)