Architecture grad receives Emerging City Champions Fellowship

Amir Naeem, a recent graduate from the School of Architecture in the College of Arts + Architecture, has received a 2018 Emerging City Champions Fellowship from the Knight Foundation.

He will receive $5,000 for his proposal to place jukeboxes in public spaces along the CATS LYNX Blue Line. The jukeboxes will play music after users provide an idea or thought about the community. He developed his project concept while a student in Associate Professor Deb Ryan’s fifth-year architecture studio.

The Emerging City Champions program is open to people age 19-35 in the 26 communities where the Knight Foundation invests. Fellowships were awarded to 20 young community leaders from cities across the United States. Naeem is one of two 2018 Emerging City Champions from Charlotte.

Naeem also participated in Ryan’s architecture studio’s #ShapeCLT project that has conducted research and gathered input from Charlotte millennials to develop a vision for the city’s future growth.