Los Angeles has long been shaped as a creative frontier, formed by migration, ambition, and reinvention. As it confronts intensifying wildfires, housing pressures, and cultural transformation, LA offers powerful insight into how communities adapt, build resilience, and create belonging in a city defined by the pursuit of prosperity. 

This Future Fridays session brings together artists, organizers, and civic voices who are shaping the region’s evolving identity. Through lived experience and conversations, participants will explore how place and identity evolve together to influence opportunity, culture, and community. 

About the Speakers

Steven Lewis is an architect, urban designer, facilitator, and a tireless advocate for social justice and diversity within the field of architecture. His current practice, Thinking Leadership, leverages years of experience ranging from architecture and urban design to community engagement and leadership facilitation. He was most recently a principal with the firm ZGF Architects, where he led the Los Angeles office’s urban design practice. Prior to joining ZGF, Steven was appointed by Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, to the position of Urban Design Director for the City’s Central Region, where he played a key role in shaping the vision of present and future development. Steven is the AIA 2016 Whitney M. Young, Jr. Award recipient, and was elevated to the AIA College of Fellows in December of 2015. His desire to make the profession of architecture more accessible to people of all backgrounds led him to run for AIA National President in 2023. While unsuccessful, Steven was able to engage with architects from all around the country and many from abroad to deliver his message of hope and relevance through service to those most in need.  

In 2008 after serving four years with the U.S. General Services Administration’s Office of the Chief Architect in Washington, DC, Steven returned to Southern California to join Parsons as a Design Manager. Steven was a Loeb Fellow at the Harvard Graduate School of Design for the 2006-07 academic year. He was a founding partner of the Los Angeles-based firm of RAW International in 1984, and for the next twenty years, was an essential part of the firm’s growth and success. In December of 2010, he concluded a two-year term as President of the National Organization of Minority Architects, traveling around the country advocating for architects-of-color, while cultivating the next generation of diverse architects and designers. In 2011, Steven launched a consulting practice – “Thinking Leadership – What we Do…Who we Are” – aimed at assisting clients attain superior outcomes through his engagement. More than anything, Steven is a facilitator of partnerships and alliances between groups and individuals who seek to use architecture and design to effect positive change to our world. 

Ben Stapleton is a recognized sustainability leader with a focus on building teams and designing programs to deliver impactful results. As Chief Executive Officer for USGBC California, his work focuses on coordinating an ecosystem leveraging the built environment to help make California a more sustainable, resilient, and equitable place for all. His development and delivery of a portfolio of community engagement and education focused programming have centered on climate justice, high-performance buildings, occupant health, corporate sustainability, and regional resilience, fostering a sense of connection and shared purpose.  

Ben has been named a lifetime Senior Fellow for USC’s Marshall Brittingham Social Enterprise Lab (BSEL), which honors exceptional leaders for their commitment to the fields of social entrepreneurship, corporate social responsibility, nonprofit management, and sustainability. 

Previously, he launched and then managed the internationally recognized regional epicenter for sustainability in Downtown L.A., the La Kretz Innovation Campus, while leading operations, finance, and major program initiatives for the LA Cleantech Incubator (LACI). He is a recipient of JLL's distinctive Da Vinci Award for Innovation, the Net Zero Conference’s Trailblazer Award for Industry Leadership, AIA Los Angeles Honorary Membership, the L.A. Business Council's Community Impact Award, and CoStar’s Power Broker designation in the Los Angeles market. 

Ben served on the Blue Ribbon Commission on Climate Action and Fire Safe Recovery, and is a frequent speaker, moderator and sustainability expert for media. Ben holds a MBA from the USC Marshall School of Business and a BA degree in Economics from UCLA.  He is a LEED AP O+M, ENV SP, and WELL AP certified green building nerd driven by a connection to nature while being inspired by the people around him. 

Anish Saraiya serves as the Director of Altadena Recovery for Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger. In this role, he leads community-focused initiatives centered around public infrastructure and public policy, aimed at enhancing resilience, rebuilding and recovery of the unincorporated Altadena community. 

Prior to his current position, Saraiya served as Supervisor Barger’s Planning and Public Works Deputy and Senior Advisor on land use planning, development, public infrastructure, environment and sustainability, and housing. In this capacity, he played a pivotal role in shaping policies and programs that balance growth with environmental stewardship, addressing the needs of both urban and rural communities within the Fifth Supervisorial District. 

Before transitioning into public policy, Saraiya worked as a Civil Engineer for Los Angeles County Public Works. There, he specialized in transportation planning and traffic engineering, contributing to the development of infrastructure projects that improved mobility and safety across the County. 

Saraiya earned his degree in Civil Engineering from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, equipping him with a strong technical foundation that has informed his work in both engineering and public policy. 

Born in Dallas and raised in the San Gabriel Valley, Saraiya has deep ties to the Los Angeles area. Outside of his professional endeavors, he is an avid sports fan and dedicates much of his time to coaching his children’s sports teams, fostering a sense of community and teamwork.

About Future Fridays 

Future Fridays is the National Building Museum’s signature online series as part of the Future Cities initiative, hosted by James Darius Ball, director of Future Cities. Each one-hour session highlights the people, stories, and decisions that shape cities and everyday life in communities across the country. 

In its second year, the series emphasizes personal narratives and community perspectives, showing how residents, planners, designers, and civic leaders influence neighborhoods, public spaces, and city life. Participants can share their own perspectives, ask questions, and gain insight into how local choices reflect broader trends shaping American cities. 

Future Cities programming extends beyond Future Fridays, with a four-year slate of exhibitions, events, lectures, publications, digital activations, and community-based engagements designed to reach audiences from all walks of life and encourage participation in shaping the places where they live, work, and play.