Woodbury University Professor of Architecture Dr. Anthony Fontenot recently joined leading scholars at the Urban History Association’s 11th Biennial Conference, held October 9–12, 2025. This year’s conference, themed Metropolitan Majorities, examined how cities and regions reflect the social, political, and cultural shifts shaping urban life today.
Fontenot participated in the panel “California (Sub)Urbanisms: Innovative Community Planning on the Left Coast,” organized by Margaret Crawford (University of California, Berkeley) and Matthew G. Lasner (Independent Scholar). The session brought together experts in architectural and urban history to explore California’s long-standing role as a site of experimentation in community planning, housing innovation, and suburban development.
Radical Politics, Architecture, and Social Change
Fontenot’s presentation, “The Political Activism of Gregory Ain: Low-Cost Modern Housing and the Construction of a Social Landscape,” examined how mid-century architect Gregory Ain merged radical socialist ideas with architectural experimentation to envision a more just and inclusive built environment. Many of Ain’s most pioneering projects reimagined the postwar suburb through cooperative housing models that actively promoted racial integration and social equality, fusing Ain’s interest in radical left-wing politics and design. The “social landscape” Ain proposed was both spatial and ideological: it challenged the prevailing ideal of suburban domestic isolation, proposing instead the neighborhood as a “democratic commons,” where architecture could foster connection, diversity, and shared civic purpose.
“Ain’s housing projects—modest in scale but radical in intent—sought to democratize modernism and embed social values into the everyday fabric of urban and suburban life,” Fontenot said.
His talk highlighted how architecture can serve as a tool for equity and community empowerment—values that continue to resonate in contemporary planning and design discourse.
California as a Laboratory for Urban Futures
The California (Sub)Urbanisms panel showcased the state’s enduring role as a testing ground for innovative urban and suburban design. Alongside Fontenot’s presentation on Gregory Ain’s politically charged housing experiments, the panel featured Elaine Stiles (Roger Williams University), who traced the evolution of regional construction practices in “Long Before Levitt: The California Method of Home Building Before and After World War II.” Anthony Raynsford (San José State University) examined ecological urbanism in “Planning for Ecotopia: Sim Van Der Ryn’s Urban (Re)Designs of Bay Area Suburbs, 1978–82,” highlighting the environmental aspirations of late-20th-century planning. T.F. Tierney (University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign) explored the spatial logic of tech industry landscapes in “Tinkering with Typology: Silicon Valley’s Corporate Campus,” revealing how corporate architecture reshaped suburban form. Together, these presentations framed California as a dynamic site of experimentation—where housing, ecology, and corporate power intersect to shape urban futures.
Moderated by Crawford and Lasner, the discussion examined how California’s unique political, ecological, and cultural conditions have inspired alternative approaches to planning and community building. The panel emphasized how grassroots activism, environmental design, and architectural innovation intersect to shape new models of metropolitan living.
“Understanding the history of socially engaged design helps us imagine alterative urban futures,” Fontenot reflected. “California’s history demonstrates that when political activism intersects with architectural innovation, it can reshape the built environment in profoundly transformative ways.”
About the Urban History Association
The Urban History Association (UHA) promotes interdisciplinary scholarships on cities and urbanization, fostering dialogue across fields such as history, architecture, planning, and design. Its biennial conference convenes some of the most distinguished scholars and practitioners to share insights, engage in critical exchange, and deepen collective understanding of urban life and its complexities.
About Anthony Fontenot
Dr. Anthony Fontenot is a Professor of Architecture at Woodbury University. His teaching and research explore the intersections of modern design, architecture, politics, ecology, and the built environment. His work focuses on how architecture and urban planning can contribute to the creation of more equitable, environmentally responsive, and socially engaged communities.