Lead Researcher, IMLab.
As a recent graduate of UCLA’s Masters in Urban and Regional Planning program, Taylor is interested in how the built environment can become more flexible and participatory. He has worked with REMAP intermittently for several years, but was brought on full-time in late 2013 to focus on REMAP’s innovative partnership with the Los Angeles State Historic Park (LASHP): the Interpretive Media Laboratory (IMLab). Taylor serves as IMLab’s lead researcher and manages the development of content for several projects including LASHP Trails and FLOW.
As a native Angeleno, Taylor grew up exploring the streets of Los Angeles on a skateboard—an experience that sparked an interest in the politics of urban space. Inspired by skateboarding’s beautiful interpretation of the built environment, he developed a passion for skateboarding photography. Academically, Taylor focused on the social sciences, graduating from UCLA as a Psychology major and Anthropology minor. In Urban Planning, he found a field in which he could apply what he learned in the social sciences to a practical topic: the production and management of urban space.
Taylor’s interest in urban design parallels REMAP’s interest in the design of new technologies: we both seek to redefine citizens or the “community” as active participants rather than passive consumers. Taylor believes the experimental new technologies being developed by REMAP for IMLab have the potential to be replicated in urban communities around the world, encouraging collective expression of urban residents’ creative capacities and serving as a reminder that the city is always evolving.