Dr. Fallon Samuels Aidoo

Dr. Fallon Samuels Aidoo is Jean B. Boebel Assistant Professor of Historic Preservation in the University of New Orleans’s Planning and Urban Studies department. She researches and advises preservation of cultural heritage and cultural economies. Latin and African American heritage endangered by disasters, disinvestment and development are the focus of her public scholarship, service and consulting. Currently, she is contributing to the African American Heritage Trail of Martha’s Vineyard, and its counterparts in Los Angeles, New Orleans and Tulsa. Recently she’s served on federal, state and local commissions responsible for renaming, revitalizing and retrofitting historic streetscapes. Dr. Aidoo’s research collaborations with community organizations and governmental authorities (recorded here) yield historical designations and preservation plans as well as public writing and academic publications in Preservation & Social Inclusion, Platform, Future Anterior, Spatializing Politics and the Journal of Environmental Studies & Science (accessible here). At the University of New Orleans, she teaches planning studios and seminars, directs the Historic & Cultural Preservation program, advises the PhD in Justice Studies and leads digital, public and community initiatives of the Urban Entrepreneurship & Policy Institute. Previously she taught architecture and urbanism at Northeastern University, Harvard, and MIT while researching hazards to historic structures for VREF, AECOM, DMJM and the Smithsonian. Dr. Aidoo holds a PhD in urban planning (Harvard), M.S. in architectural history (MIT), B.S. in civil engineering (Columbia University) and a GIS Certificate (Harvard).