Shalem@puebloplanning.com
(619) 602-3903

Avital@puebloplanning.com

Shalem Aboody-López (they/them) | AICP, MA, MCRP
Cultural Strategist and Memory Worker

Shalem Aboody-López is a Cultural Strategist, Memory Worker, and Artist whose practice lives at the intersection of community power-building, liberatory storytelling, and transformative public policy. For over two decades, they have facilitated participatory planning and narrative-shift processes that center the visions and lived expertise of frontline communities—particularly Queer, Trans, Black, Indigenous, people of color, and others most impacted by environmental racism and systemic inequities.

As the founder of Pueblo Studio, Shalem integrates a trauma-informed, consent-based, and art-rooted storytelling practices that support communities in reclaiming memory, articulating collective visions, and shaping policy and planning outcomes. Their work blends visual and auditory art, popular education, and community-led research to cultivate belonging, build political power, and challenge dominant narratives that harm marginalized communities.

A nationally recognized planner and justice-centered facilitator, Shalem has shaped equitable and just environmental, transportation, and land-use planning across California and the Pacific Northwest. Their contributions have been honored with numerous awards for innovation, community engagement, and equity, including recognition from the American Planning Association and the California Public Information Officials. Shalem is also a committed educator with nearly two decades of teaching experience at institutions including San Diego State University, Antioch University, Pitzer College, Cal Poly Pomona, and Imperial Valley College. Their teaching—rooted in justice, repair, and community wisdom—spans environmental justice, urban planning history and theory, regenerative infrastructure, democratizing community planning, and urban ecology.

Shalem’s practice is shaped not only by formal education— a certified planner with a Master of Community and Regional Planning Program from the University of Oregon, an MA in Political Science from CSU Long Beach, and a BA in History and Political Science —but also by their embodied experience as a queer, nonbinary, Jewish, Xicanx person who grew up in a community impacted by environmental racism. Across all their roles, Shalem centers community voices and cultivates practices oriented toward collective liberation, reciprocity, and a future in which everyone belongs and thrives.

Avital Aboody-López (she/her) | MA
Community Builder and Cultural Arts Producer

Avital Aboody-López is a Community Builder and Cultural Arts Producer with 15 years of experience bringing diverse neighbors, artists, and stakeholders together to collectively imagine and build vibrant, inclusive communities. Her work centers on designing creative community development strategies, curating immersive cultural experiences, and expanding access to the resources that help people and projects thrive.

Avital transforms big ideas into meaningful, grounded initiatives by gathering the right collaborators, cultivating trust, and designing the logistical frameworks that make creative work possible. Her practice spans grantwriting, grantmaking, and supporting artists in accessing the space, tools, and networks they need to flourish. 

Throughout her career, Avital has led creative, community-driven projects that strengthen neighborhood identity, expand economic opportunity, and activate vibrant public spaces. She has managed strategic communications, community outreach, and public-realm improvements that promote walkability and support local businesses. She has collaborated with residents, artists, community groups, Business Improvement Districts, and City staff to advance beautification and revitalization efforts, transforming underused spaces into lively gathering places and micro-enterprise hubs. With a talent for maximizing limited resources, she has organized hundreds of volunteers and partnered with architects, schools, and cultural leaders to create community spaces and participatory art projects, including public murals and multicultural performances.

Rooted in active listening, consensus building, and systems thinking, Avital’s approach is shaped by her BA in Peace and Conflict Studies, certification in mediation, MA in Urban Sustainability and years of facilitating dialogue across difference. As a Jewish Israeli who is committed to Palestinian human rights, she brings a nuanced understanding of power, identity, and relational leadership to every project she touches. Through this lens, Avital continually works to build cultural ecosystems where creativity, equity, and community care can take root and grow.