Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Theo Lim

Samuel Moore @samuelmoore.org · Jun 17

'“I don't think that people appreciate how few people are working to keep these collections online, even at huge institutions,” Weinberg told me. “It's usually an incredibly small team, one person, half a person, half a person, plus, like their web person who is sympathetic to what's going on.'

AI Scraping Bots Are Breaking Open Libraries, Archives, and Museums

"This is a moment where that community feels collectively under threat and isn't sure what the process is for solving the problem.”

www.404media.co

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Theo Lim @chaolim85.bsky.social · Jun 6

Thinking about democracy, action, and the process of producing research a lot recently. This article reflecting on Patsy Healey's work by @hendrikwagenaar.bsky.social was a pleasure to read. I also very much enjoyed the reflection at the end on the importance of intellectual inspiration and exchange

Planning Theory & Practice @planningtheory.bsky.social · Jun 6

Democracy as Lived Experience. In his article "The Essential Tension: Patsy Healey's Conception of Democracy in Planning and Public Policy" @hendrikwagenaar.bsky.social reflects on two major themes in Patsy Healey's work: democracy and epistemology. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

The Essential Tension: Patsy Healey’s Conception of Democracy in Planning and Public Policy

Patsy Healey was a major democratic theorist. Although often implicit, it is easy to discern in her work a normative-empirical theory of democracy that is characterized by a focus on improving stat...

www.tandfonline.com

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Theo Lim @chaolim85.bsky.social · May 20

I love how this Interface collection on Inspirations in Planning for Planning Theory & Practice came out. I contributed a piece reflecting on a quotation from Paolo Freire's "We Make the Road by Walking," and my experience on the feeling of 'being unfinished' in community-engaged planning.

Planning Theory & Practice @planningtheory.bsky.social · May 20

A new Interface collection edited by John Forester includes contributions from twelve planning practitioners, researchers, and educators, each reflecting on where they draw their inspiration. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Inspirations in Planning

Published in Planning Theory & Practice (Vol. 26, No. 1, 2025)

www.tandfonline.com

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Reposted by Theo Lim

Nathan Kalman-Lamb @nkalamb.bsky.social · Mar 29

A grad student at the University of Minnesota has been abducted by ICE.

Letter from the University President indicating that a grad student has been detained by ICE. No more specific information is provided.

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Anna Kornbluh @annakornbluh.bsky.social · Mar 28

regional public Us serve the vast majority of the 20 million students enrolled in higher ed, are largest employers in countless regions, and are being demolished for the oligarch’s pleasure

Beth Popp Berman @epopppp.bsky.social · Mar 28

It's not just the most visible universities being damaged by the administration. It's all of them.

A University, a Rural Town and Their Fight to Survive Trump’s War on Higher Education

The administration’s research funding and DEI cuts present an existential threat to regional public universities like Southern Illinois University, the economic backbone of the conservative rural regi...

www.propublica.org

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Nathan Kalman-Lamb @nkalamb.bsky.social · Mar 29

Getting harder and harder to call Columbia a legitimate university.

Completing the new Anti Discrimination training module, mandatory for all Columbia University faculty, staff, and students. If not completed, you lose access to university systems. "Signing inflammatory petitions" is listed as an example of discriminatory harassment. 🧵

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Theo Lim @chaolim85.bsky.social · Mar 29

Very cogent arguments here on the crisis in/facing higher education in the US

Academe @academemagazine.bsky.social · Mar 27

Out today: A new series, organized by @jpygold.bsky.social and @veenadubal.bsky.social and jointly published by Academe and @lpeblog.bsky.social, brings together legal experts who weigh the implications of Trump’s early executive orders: www.aaup.org/article/trum... 1/6 🧵

Trump Is Revealing Our Higher Ed Crisis

This article is part of a preview to the spring 2025 issue of Academe. The full issue will be published in May. This is an introduction to a series of articles focusing on the impacts of the Trump adm...

www.aaup.org

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Planning Theory & Practice @planningtheory.bsky.social · Feb 20

With the rise of generative AI tools and the use of words in brazenly untruthful ways by rising right-wing ideologues, what does the production of words mean today? @chaolim85.bsky.social muses on this question in his editorial for Planning Theory & Practice: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Words and Meaning in 2024

Published in Planning Theory & Practice (Ahead of Print, 2025)

www.tandfonline.com

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Andrew Rumbach @andrewrumbach.bsky.social · Feb 6

screening-tools.com

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Theo Lim @chaolim85.bsky.social · Feb 6

Continuing on the theme of the previous PTP editorial by @lkb-pdx.bsky.social ...

Theo Lim @chaolim85.bsky.social · Feb 6

Very timely...

Planning Theory & Practice @planningtheory.bsky.social · Feb 6

In her article "Populism, Planning, and the Politics of Discontent" Harriet Dunn shows how the state is reframed as a "guardian" of the public interest to redefine planning as supporting conservatism, rather than as a means for transformative change. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Populism, Planning, and the Politics of Discontent

The article provides an analysis of contemporary localist-populist movements’ understanding of, and approach towards, spatial planning and urban development. This is achieved through an in-depth ca...

www.tandfonline.com

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Theo Lim @chaolim85.bsky.social · Feb 6

With the rise of gen AI, and the dizzying fire hose of (illegal) policies out of the new US administration, what do words mean anymore? I muse on this question for planning practice, research, and education in this editorial for @planningtheory.bsky.social www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Words and Meaning in 2024

Published in Planning Theory & Practice (Ahead of Print, 2025)

www.tandfonline.com

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Reposted by Theo Lim

Shannon Mattern @shannonmattern.bsky.social · Sep 10

Looking fwd to this week's methods class: What Values Animate Your Research? What does / shld matter beyond prestige, metrics + funders’ egos? What abt access, civic engagement, social justice, etc., and when are those values @ odds w/ The Academy's? cimsmethods.wordsinspace.net/2024/portfol...

Screenshot of our class website with the course title, "CIMS Theory + Methods"; plus week's theme, "What Values Animate Your Research?" and a colorful abstract image

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Theo Lim @chaolim85.bsky.social · Sep 6

The mobilizing power of youth in planning. I made a 5-minute video summarizing our participatory action research project to address adaptation to rising temperatures in Roanoke, VA: youtu.be/WEM5ASM-QXY?...

The H.O.P.E. for Heat Resilience Project

YouTube video by Theo Lim

youtu.be

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Theo Lim @chaolim85.bsky.social · Mar 26

This is one activity in our H.O.P.E. for Heat Resilience project, funded by the NSF CIVIC Innovation program. Virginia Tech
students are mentoring younger students from Roanoke, VA
to gain skills in urban planning, while themselves learning how to work in community. More info: heat2hope.org

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Theo Lim @chaolim85.bsky.social · Mar 26

What can the development of a serious game for urban park design teach us about community planning? A lot! Understanding diverse park user preferences, facilitation skills, conflict resolution, spatial synergies and tradeoffs in design, empathy, and care. www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPjo...

Learning about community planning through serious games

What can the co-development of a serious game for urban park design teach us about community planning? Turns out, a lot: understanding diverse park user pref...

www.youtube.com

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Theo Lim @chaolim85.bsky.social · Dec 17

We are extremely excited for the next few months, and grateful for the opportunity, from the NSF CIVIC Innovation
program. #workforcedevelopment #urbanplanning #diversityandinclusion. Learn more about our project here: heat2hope.org

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Theo Lim @chaolim85.bsky.social · Dec 17

These letters are going out to eight high school students in Roanoke. Over the next 10 months, they, with the support of Virginia Tech Urban and Regional Planning students, will be creating plans to build community capacity to deal with the effects of rising temperatures in Roanoke, VA.

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Theo Lim @chaolim85.bsky.social · Nov 10

An excellent reflection on Science Policy over the decades. Incl explanation of how we find ourselves in current anti-expert anti-elite culture. What role has our “belief in” science as separate from/superior to values & interests played? issues.org/science-poli...

Theo Lim @chaolim85.bsky.social · Oct 28

Just back from NSF hq for the kickoff event for our CIVIC Innovation award. This program is doing wonders to legitimize participatory action research (the number of times I've been asked how the kind of research I do counts as "research"! 😡). Now can say, NSF gave us $1M to do it! It's RESEARCH

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Theo Lim @chaolim85.bsky.social · Oct 23

Check out my new Viewpoint article out in J of the American Planning Assoc— participatory action research reveals roles of social capital and care in heat resilience planning. Also connects to sociotechnical theories of “infrastructure” www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Necessary Considerations When Framing Urban Heat Resilience as an Infrastructure Issue

Conceptualizing urban heat resilience as an infrastructure problem emphasizes the urgency with which we must adapt to global climate change, but also risks ignoring the continued marginalization th...

www.tandfonline.com

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Reposted by Theo Lim

Greg GRIFFIN @gregpgriffin.bsky.social · Oct 20

A new Journal of the Am. Planning Assoc. viewpoint by @chaolim85.bsky.social encourages incorporating social capital and care with infrastructure planning—a much-needed connection of our field to socio-technical theories:
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Necessary Considerations When Framing Urban Heat Resilience as an Infrastructure Issue

Conceptualizing urban heat resilience as an infrastructure problem emphasizes the urgency with which we must adapt to global climate change, but also risks ignoring the continued marginalization th...

www.tandfonline.com

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Reposted by Theo Lim

Shannon Mattern @shannonmattern.bsky.social · Oct 12

I've been working with the amazing folks at LibraryStack for the past several months on this open-access booklet about "reparative redaction" - or, aesthetic practices that deploy redaction as a protective or reparative technique (that's little me on the cover :) It's coming out tomorrow, I think! 🤗

A black cover with a blurry photo showing a hazy grandmother and child in the background and nine- or ten-year-old me, with my face blotted out with pink marker and black pen, in the foreground, with the title Reparative Redaction at the top

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Theo Lim @chaolim85.bsky.social · Oct 11

Just stumbled on this short video a student made after interviewing me last spring... GREAT editing of my rambling on ~ www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILY5...

The Story of an Urban Planner: Theo Lim

www.youtube.com

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Heatmap News @heatmap.news · Oct 9

“Before they did this activity, if you asked one of these middle school kids if humans can control the temperature outside, they’d say no way."

What @chaolim85.bsky.social's students revealed about urban heat:

How Much Can Heat Vary Within a City? These Kids Strapped on Sensors to Find Out.

A summer school program in Roanoke, Virginia, could change the way people think about heat.

heatmap.news

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