Shanasia Sylman

Shanasia Sylman is a Ph.D. student who is interested in the different ways marginalized communities manage and own open spaces in the US. For the last four years, Sylman has been working as an outdoor recreation planner for the National Park Service, assisting with park planning projects for national parks as well as local and community-driven outdoor recreation and conservation projects across the country. It became apparent how the process of creating and managing parks and open spaces does not account for systemic barriers to land access for marginalized communities, so Sylman’s proposed research intends to take a critical look at how land protection, conservation, and stewardship practices are evolving to redress social injustices and create more equitable opportunities for land ownership and stewardship. She holds a master’s in Urban Planning from the Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD) and a bachelor’s in Environmental Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Outside of the classroom, Sylman enjoys binging sitcom reruns, watching the occasional horror movie, attempting hobbies that never quite stick (blogging, photography, calligraphy), yoga, mindfulness, online shopping, and trying new recipes.