Hosted by

Dr. Deborah Cai, Scholar in Residence of the Conflict Management division and Acting Dean and Professor in Klein College of Media and Communication at Temple University 

Reverend David W. Brown, Assistant Dean for Community and Communication of the Klein College of Media and Communication at Temple University, and Executive Director of the Civic Coalition to Save Lives 

Dr. Quaiser Abdullah, Assistant Professor of Instruction in Klein College of Media and Communication at Temple University, past president of the Association for Conflict Resolution, Director of the Mayor’s Office of Muslim Engagement, City of Philadelphia  

About the Event

The Academy of Management’s Conflict Management division delivers a series of webinars offered by the division’s Scholars in Residence; these webinars are cosponsored by the International Association for Conflict Management.  

In the first of this year’s series, Deborah Cai talks with David Brown and Quaiser Abdullah about how the role of space, which is temporary, and place, which is more permanent, influences urban violence. In 2025, compared to 2024, Philadelphia’s rate of gun violence dropped by 24.5%, yet efforts to reduce this violence still have a long way to go.  

In this webinar, Deborah Cai will begin by providing a broader perspective on space and its relation to conflict management by discussing the organizational literature on how ways that space is managed can impact conflict in the workplace and the sociological literature that considers how space management can impact conflict in neighborhoods. 

Next, David Brown will draw from his work as Executive Director of the Civic Coalition to Save Lives and as someone highly engaged in Philadelphia neighborhoods to discuss how space and place impact violence in Philadelphia. 

In the third segment, Quaiser Abdullah will consider the academic and practical aspects of space and place in community engagement across the city. 

In the final segment of the webinar, David, an ordained minister, and Quaiser, an imam, will talk together about their work with religious communities across the city and the role of religion and faith as they consider space and place in the city.