15 Facts About Roger Katan

Roger G Katan is a French-American architect, planner, sculptor, and activist born in Berguent, Eastern Morocco, on January 5,1931.

Roger Katan created, with Pratt and City College graduate students, one of the first Community Design Centers, offering free technical assistance to community organizations.

Roger Katan supported the Civil Rights Movement and the students' claim for social responsibility.

In 1964, Roger Katan was already prescribing participation and putting his talent as an architect in the service of the poorest when Paul Davidoff tossed the phrase advocacy planning.

Roger Katan was invited by student organizations calling for social change.

Roger Katan's talks included Yale, Harvard, MIT, Berkeley, Columbia, etc.

From 1963 to 1975, Roger Katan was involved in the art world.

Roger Katan's sculptures became models of imaginary cities and villages, some of which resemble the artist's birthplace in Morocco.

In both agriculture and construction, Roger Katan has always encouraged traditional methods as well as local, sustainable materials.

Roger Katan supervised a displacement program in Mali in 1978 and the creation of a National Construction Standards Institute in Bamako in 1979.

Roger Katan helped individuals restore their traditions through small self-managed productive projects.

In 1980, he advised the Dutch Technical Cooperation in Colombia to rethink rural education and in 1984 Roger Katan built the first New Rural School for the Colombian government.

In 1999 Roger Katan moved to Sauve, southern France, where he helped his current wife Julie, a ceramic artist, and Aline Crumb, a comic strip artist, launch their art gallery, Galerie VP.

Roger Katan attended primary school in Berguent, Eastern Morocco, near the Algerian border, whose population was then about 800.

From 1963 to 1975, Roger Katan's works were shown in museums and galleries, including Finch College Museum of Art in New York, and various art festivals.