Lilian Knorr
Woodrow Wilson School Postdoctoral Research Associate
Lilian Knorr completed her PhD in Urban Policy and Planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in July 2014. An interdisciplinary scholar, she holds an MA in Comparative Politics from the Johns Hopkins University and earned an Urban Design Certificate from MIT while in the doctoral program. She is interested in the relationship between youth, the state and the urban built environment. Her dissertation examines the impact of urban policy, governance and place-making strategies on the everyday experience of urban youth. It also investigates the myriad ways that young people utilize and transform urban space in their everyday lives through their cultural activities, such as hip hop, skateboarding, pickup basketball and graffiti. Her research is based on case studies in New York City and Paris and was supported by a fellowship from the Minda de Gunzberg Center for European Studies at Harvard University. While in Paris Lilian was a visiting scholar at the Laboratoire Architecture Anthropologie at l’Ecole Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture de Paris La Villette. At Princeton, Lilian will work on turning her dissertation into a book, entitled Youth and Cities: Planning with Low-Income Youth and Urban Youth Cultures in New York City and Paris. The book will explore the potential role of urban planning, policy and design in improving youth contexts and outcomes.
