IAU Origins

OUR MISSION

Welcome to the Institute for AfroUrbanism (IAU). Founded in 2021, we serve as a catalyst for urban alchemy, intellectual exchange and creative enrichment of Black citizens worldwide. Our mission is to create a thriving Black citizenry by identifying and executing opportunities for social and spiritual enrichment. Rooted in Detroit, our work aims to close the gap between the city's present and its potential through intentional programming and research.

Defining:
AfroUrbanism

At the heart of our mission is AfroUrbanism—a movement activating interdimensional Black Genius for the ideation and manifestation of thriving Black futures. IAU is the mechanism that organizes and informs this transformative movement, committed to unveiling the universal capacity to THRIVE within everyone.

Core Principles

  • Right Relationship

    "Right Relationship" is our ethical paradigm, guiding interactions with each other, the environment, institutions, and government. It's the cornerstone of our approach to creating a just and equitable world.

  • Reparative Justice

    We view "REPAIR" not merely as a destination but as an ongoing journey, foundational to achieving right relationships and correcting historical imbalances.

  • Affirmative Framework

    We shift from a focus on what we want to dismantle, to what we want to build. By accessing untapped capacities, we elevate our outcomes and actively contribute to collective thriving.

  • The Seventh Generation

    Considering the impacts that the thoughts and decisions we make today will have on the world seven generations in to the future

“A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots.”

— Marcus Garvey

Our Path to Thriving

Ancestral Alchemy

We explore African heritage for technologies applicable to our thriving futures, embracing Ancestral Alchemy as a guiding principle.

Black Imagination

Through cosplay, world-building, AfroFuturism, and more, we expand our ideas about what is possible for our futures.

Radical Self-Care

Promoting Black self-care as a form of activism, recognizing that caring for ourselves is a prerequisite for community care.

Diasporic Assembly

Mobilizing Black individuals on every continent around a shared vision for our collective futures.

Sovereign/Sacred Black Spaces

Studying and replicating historical and present ways in which we've built sovereign and sacred communities and institutions.

Founder •

Chief Manifestor •

Founder • Chief Manifestor •

Lauren A. Hood

Lauren A. Hood (Detroit, Michigan) is a writer, city planner and community developer with a focus on the imaginative capacities of the arts. In 2021, she founded the Institute for AfroUrbanism (IAU), a research organization for strategic development focused on the ideation and enrichment of Black communities.

IAU Constellation:

A Global Tapestry of AfroUrbanists

Our conspirators across programs and professional partnerships

The IAU Manifesto

  • 01

    We intentionally promote our agency to inspire its activation in others

  • 02

    We accept abundance as a birthright

  • 03

    We embody audacity in honor of our ancestors wildest dreams

  • 04

    Thriving can’t happen alone, we do so in constellations, supported by our ancestors– both actual & chosen, in this realm & others

  • 05

    We are living legacies & conjurers of the future

  • 06

    We employ rituals in lieu of rules

  • 07

    We recognize our Blackness as a portal to precious ancestral technologies

  • 08

    We don’t acknowledge spatial boundaries, we exist multidimensionally

IAU Quests

  • The Black Thriving Index

    Engaging in peer-to-peer research, the BTI is a database and publication program conducted by and for Black citizens, to uncover strategies and examples for Black Thriving.

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  • IAU Dreamstead Campus

    A permanent home and convening space for the global constellation of IAU revolutionaries, located in Detroit’s North End neighborhood.

    Visit IAU

  • IAU Global Expeditions

    Traversing the diaspora to ignite Black Thriving across continents and fuel the movement for collective empowerment.

    Join Us

  • IAU Accomplice Program

    Guiding organizations along a continuum from awareness to accomplice, fostering a culture of Black Thriving.

    Learn More