Abigail Moriah
Abigail is a community planner passionate about connecting people, mentorship, and creating spaces for belonging in the field of urban planning. She has a diverse background in the nonprofit, community and public sectors, which has shaped how she engages in urban planning practice.
Abigail’s practice focuses on Black experiences and community engagement in planning and development, particularly housing development. For over 15 years, she has been involved in social, affordable and nonprofit housing and mixed-income, mixed-use development.
Abigail seeks to redefine how planning is done through practice and research. Throughout her work, she emphasises bridge building across sectors and encourages intentional and meaningful engagement between communities, practitioners and academic institutions.
Abigail is also passionate about creating spaces for belonging and building an equity focus in the field of planning. In 2018, she launched the Black Planning Project, a nonprofit that seeks to highlight Black perspectives in planning and contribute knowledge to the field through research, education and consulting.
She has also helped establish two organisations that seek to connect, support and create access for racialised planners. In 2019, she supported a group of young professionals in establishing the Mentorship Initiative for Indigenous and Planners of Colour (MIIPOC)—a mentorship programme for Indigenous, Black and otherwise racialised emerging professionals in planning—and in 2020, she collaborated with her peers to start the Black Planners and Urbanists Association.
Abigail regularly lectures at various planning programmes, provides workshops for firms on Black planning and, on occasion, writes about this work.