Black Public Joy
No Permit or Permission Required
Black Public Joy is an urgent, deeply researched, and imaginative work from one of North America’s leading public-space experts. Jay Pitter celebrates the audacious, complex, and enduring expressions of Black joy — joy so powerful that even the auction block could not extinguish it — while showing how public space can be designed to foster safety, belonging, and delight for everyone.
Drawing from more than a decade of practice creating spaces where joy, justice, and belonging come alive, Pitter situates Black Public Joy within both historical rituals and contemporary movements like #BlackJoy and #BlackOutdoors. She blends storytelling, research, and vulnerable personal narrative to reveal how culture, planning, and memory shape our access to joy in parks, streets, transit, and neighbourhoods.
Far more than a book, Black Public Joy is a powerful call to become stewards of one another’s joy and to claim our own — a blueprint for cultivating collective delight and transforming public space into essential urban infrastructure.