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- Empowerment and Disenfranchisement in Architecture
Architecture - Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion: Empowerment and Disenfranchisement in Architecture
Resources addressing the diversity, equity, and inclusion in the architecture community.
Resources
- An Investigation into Bias in the Architecture Profession
The Elephant in the (Well-Designed) Room
In partnership with The American Institute of Architects (AIA), the Center for WorkLife
Law conducted a quantitative study of bias based on gender and race/ethnicity in the
practice of architecture. This study reflects 1,346 architectural professionals’ responses to
the Workplace Experiences Survey, a simple 10-minute survey that picks up basic patterns
of bias, where bias is playing out, and its impact on outcomes. We found an elephant in the
room: White men are having a different experience than all other groups in architecture
workplaces. Women of color reported the worst experiences overall, with white women
and men of color falling in between, but closer to women of color. Implications and
solutions are discussed.
- The National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB)'s 2020 Report on Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in Architecture Licensing
"In early-2020, NCARB and the National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMA) launched a joint survey to identify how minority professionals experience obstacles on the path to licensure. Findings from the survey will highlight areas where our organizations can provide additional support, conduct deeper research, and propose measurable solutions to address disparities."
[From the Introduction] - National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMA)
"N.O.M.A. is run by volunteers whose mission is building a strong national organization, strong chapters, and strong members for the purpose of minimizing the effect of racism in our profession." That mission includes; "foster communications and fellowship among minority architects," "create and maintain relationships with other professionals and technicians whose work affects the physical and social environment," and "fight Discrimination and other selection policies being used by public and private sector clients to unfairly restrict minority architects’ participation in design and construction."
[From "About NOMA"] - The American Indian Council of Architects and Engineers
The purpose of AICAE is to advance the role of American Indian professional engineers, architects and design professionals in practice and to advance their professional skills; promote recognition of member’s professional excellence, service, projects and contributions; encourage American Indians to pursue careers as professional engineers, architects, and design professionals and; consolidate the expertise of members into a single focus for representation on a national level.
[From the About AICAE] - Designing Justice
We are an Oakland-based architecture and real estate development non-profit working to end mass incarceration through place-based solutions that address its root causes: poverty, racism, unequal access to resources, and the criminal justice system itself. Our work counters the traditional adversarial and punitive architecture of justice—courthouses, prisons, and jails—by creating spaces and buildings for restorative justice, community building, and housing for people coming out of incarceration.
[From About section] - Mayors’ institute on City Design: Statement on Undesigning Racism
Since 2020, the MICD Just City Mayoral Fellowship has helped mayors explore the intersection of urban design, planning, and racial justice in each of their cities. This semester-long, highly interactive program brings together a small group of mayors and design experts to directly tackle racial injustices in each of their cities through planning and design interventions.
[From About section]
Blogs
- America’s Cities Were Designed to Oppress
Architects and planners have an obligation to protect health, safety and welfare through the spaces we design. As the George Floyd protests reveal, we’ve failed. - Why Can’t the U.S. Decolonize Its Design Education?
What truly diverse + inclusive international programs can teach Americans
Articles in Journals
- Casting an architectural lens on disaster reconstruction
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to serve two main purposes: first, casting an architectural lens over the disaster context propagates deeper understanding of affected communities who depend on, and can benefit from, better understanding of rebuilding processes; second, by reframing architecture as a “social equaliser” we can make sustainable buildings more accessible to a society that is undergoing massive post-disaster change. Design/methodology/approach – This paper presents the findings of my doctoral research on the role of architects in humanitarian endeavours. Based on empirical research and fieldwork conducted on professional responses to three recent disasters: the 2010 Canterbury earthquake; the 2010 Haiti earthquake; and the 2004 Hurricane Katrina, the author has used Horst Rittel's design methods paradigm as a conceptual framework to reconstruct and re-evaluate our understanding of disasters. Drawing from 49 semi-structured interviews with key architectural-design practitioners in the three case sites, this study proposes a re-conceptualisation of urban reconstruction that prioritises community empowerment through design processes rather than through architectural symbolism. Findings – Drawing from 49 semi-structured interviews with key architectural-design practitioners in the three case sites, this study proposes a re-conceptualisation of urban reconstruction that prioritises community empowerment through design processes rather than through architectural symbolism. Practical implications – This study is an attempt to reconcile the contentious views that exist across multiple sectors by offering design as an ultimately renewable resource and a source of community empowerment. Originality/value – The main value proposition of this research paper is that, while many studies acknowledge disasters as truly “wicked problems” (resistant to resolution and riddled with complexities), few attempts to integrate the multi-disciplinary perspectives that can advance our understanding of disasters. - The psychology of justice buildings: A survey experiment on police architecture, public sentiment, and race
Empirical investigations examining how the architectural design of justice buildings impacts the public is scant and heavily skewed toward the design of penal institutions. Applying theories of hostile and welcoming building design, this study uses a survey experiment to investigate the impact that welcoming and hostile police station designs have on public affect and behaviorally relevant perceptions. Findings reveal main and interactive effects of architectural design on positive affect. Specifically, building design becomes a significant predictor of perceptions depending on an individual's self-identified racial or ethnic group, where Black and Latino respondents report greater positive emotional responses when presented with hostile as compared to welcoming building designs. However, there was no impact of building design on negative affect or behaviorally relevant perceptions to report crime. The results of this study have potential implications for impacting public perceptions about policing and improving service delivery experiences. •Hostile (as compared to welcoming) police building designs lead to lower positive affect.•Black individuals report greater positive affect for hostile (as compared to welcoming) police buildings.•Latino individuals report greater positive affect for hostile (as compared to welcoming) police buildings. - A Response to "An Interior of Inclusion or The Illusion of Inclusion"
Letters offers a forum for sharing ideas, exchanging dialog, and stimulating conversations and debate on critical issues that impact the designed environment as presented in the Perspectives section of the Journal of Interior Design. Diversity has become a flashpoint on North America's political stage and beyond. It is not new but instead, and unfortunately, a part of our nation's fabric as noted by the struggles the interior design profession has had in its own attempts to more accurately reflect the diversity of the United States. In 2018, Jack Travis authored a Perspective published in the Journal of Interior Design. The following letters were received in response to assure that the conversation did not end there. - Urban agriculture in Kathmandu as a catalyst for the civic inclusion of migrants and the making of a greener city
This research explores the opportunities offered for the creation of a green city on the recently secured Bagmati riverbanks in Kathmandu, which is subject to rapid inward migration from landless rural farmers. The research asks what architectural theory and practice can contribute to this setting to support the fit between emergent bottom-up initiatives and top-down city investments. To this end, it deepens and extends loose fit theory, research methods, and reflective practices to investigate latent possibilities, assemble a narrative of embedded change, and create spatial imaginaries of topographical change on the Bagmati riverbanks. Moreover, it argues that architectural theory and practice can play a vital role in integrating migrants into civic institutions and helping generate a highly green city by making the relationships between setting and occupant explicit, stimulating and representing alternative imaginaries, and framing a civic discourse.
- Urban interventions: Architecture as a mechanism of inclusion
In the rapidly urbanizing world, it may seem normal to hear that while only 2% of the earth's surface is occupied by cities, 53% of the world's population lives in cities. What may seem alarming however is the fact that of that 53%, 33% of city dwellers today actually live in slums. To place matters into a more unsettling perspective, it is estimated that by 2030 over 2 billion people will live in slums. With this comes a sense of urgency: how do we respond as architects to these realities? The context of this thesis is based on what Jorge Jauregui calls the broken city: that is, the "tension between the so-called 'formal' urbanization and 'informal' areas of uncontrolled sprawl." This realization makes the possibility of interventions in these types of places particularly complex: how does design adapt to the logics that exist in place while allowing for a more connected city? Can architecture act as a mechanism of inclusion rather than exclusion, thus extending the right to the city to all? This thesis therefore investigates the various means by which architecture and urban infrastructure might be introduced into an urban informal settlement in Buenos Aires with minimal disruption of the "logics" of the place. - Teaching embodiment: disability, subjectivity, and architectural education
This article analyses an experiment in teaching non-normative embodiment in architectural design at the University of California, Berkeley. Connecting the paucity of approaches to embodiment in US architectural education to a lack of diverse voices in pedagogy, the article explores how cultivating subject-focused, embodied ideas of learning contest traditional architectural education. This analysis interweaves three strands of critique: Thomas Dutton's 'hidden curriculum', which argues that asymmetries of power, based on race, class, gender, etc. are reproduced in design education; Greig Crysler's call for critical pedagogy in architectural education; and Nirmala Erevelles' argument that disability is a productive basis for post-structuralist transformations of curriculum.
Books
The Arsenal of Exclusion and Inclusion by ISBN: 9781940291345Publication Date: 2017-11-15Who gets to be where? The Arsenal of Exclusion & Inclusion examines some of the policies, practices, and physical artifacts that have been used by planners, policymakers, developers, real estate brokers, community activists, and other urban actors in the United States to draw, erase, or redraw the lines that divide. The Arsenal inventories these weapons of exclusion and inclusion, describes how they have been used, and speculates about how they might be deployed (or retired) for the sake of more open cities in which more people have access to more places. With contributions from over fifty architects, planners, geographers, historians, and journalists, The Arsenal offers a wide-ranging view of the forces that shape our cities.by Interboro (Tobias Armborst, Daniel D'Oca, Georgeen Theodore)
Temporary Appropriation in Cities by ISBN: 3030321193Publication Date: 2020-01-02This book conceptualises and illustrates temporary appropriation as an urban phenomenon, exploring its contributions to citizenship, urban social sustainability and urban health. It explains how some forms of appropriation can be subversive, existing in a grey area between legal and illegal activities in the city. The book explores the complex and the multi-scalar nature of temporary appropriation, and touches on its relationship to issues such as: sustainability and building re-use; culture; inclusivity, including socio-spatial inclusion; streetscape design; homelessness; and regulations controlling the use of public spaces. The book focuses on temporary appropriation as a necessity of adapting human needs in a city, highlighting the flexibility that is needed within urban planning and the further research that should be undertaken in this area. The book utilises case studies of Auckland, Algiers and Mexico City, and other cities with diverse cultural and historical backgrounds, to explore how planning, design and development can occur whilst maintaining community diversity and resilience. Since urban populations are certain to grow further, this is a key topic for understanding urban dynamics, and this book will be of interest to academics and practitioners alike.
Advances in Industrial Design by ISBN: 3030511936Publication Date: 2020-07-08This book addresses current research trends and practice in industrial design. Going beyond the traditional design focus, it explores a range of recent and emerging aspects concerning service design, human-computer interaction and user experience design, sustainable design, virtual & augmented reality, as well as inclusive/universal design, and design for all. A further focus is on apparel and fashion design: here, innovations, developments and challenges in the textile industry, including applications of material engineering, are taken into consideration. Papers on pleasurable and affective design, including studies on emotional user experience, emotional interaction design and topics related to social networks make up a major portion of the contributions included in this book, which is based on five AHFE 2020 international conferences (the AHFE 2020 Virtual Conference on Design for Inclusion, the AHFE 2020 Virtual Conference on Interdisciplinary Practice in Industrial Design, the AHFE 2020 Virtual Conference on Affective and Pleasurable Design, the AHFE 2020 Virtual Conference on Kansei Engineering, and the AHFE 2020 Virtual Conference on Human Factors for Apparel and Textile Engineering) held on July 16-20, 2020. Thanks to its multidisciplinary approach, it provides graduate students, researchers and professionals in engineering, architecture, computer and materials science with extensive information on research trends, innovative methods and best practices, and a unique bridge fostering collaborations between experts from different disciplines and sectors.
From Conflict to Inclusion in Housing by ISBN: 9781787350342Publication Date: 2018-04-15Sociopolitical views on housing have been brought to the fore in recent years by economic crises and rises in migration. Through case studies covering a range of geographical contexts, this book's chapters build a narrative encompassing issues of housing equality, the biopolitics of dwelling and its associated activism, initiatives for social sustainability, and cohabitation of the urban terrain. This volume presents an ethical view of the stakeholders who are typically unaccounted for, thus offering a critique of recent governmental policy on housing access and development.
Designing for Diversity by Call Number: Stacks 720.8 A628d - ARCH LibraryISBN: 9780252026416Publication Date: 2001-06-11Providing hard data for trends that many perceive only vaguely and some deny altogether, Designing for Diversity reveals a profession rife with gender and racial discrimination and examines the aspects of architectural practice that hinder or support the full participation of women and persons of color. Drawing on interviews and surveys of hundreds of architects, Kathryn H. Anthony outlines some of the forms of discrimination that recur most frequently in architecture: being offered added responsibility without a commensurate rise in position, salary, or credit; not being allowed to engage in client contact, field experience, or construction supervision; and being confined to certain kinds of positions, typically interior design for women, government work for African Americans, and computer-aided design for Asian American architects. Anthony discusses the profession's attitude toward flexible schedules, part-time contracts, and the demands of family and identifies strategies that have helped underrepresented individuals advance in the profession, especially establishing a strong relationship with a mentor. She also observes a strong tendency for underrepresented architects to leave mainstream practice, either establishing their own firms, going into government or corporate work, or abandoning the field altogether. Given the traditional mismatch between diverse consumers and predominantly white male producers of the built environment, plus the shifting population balance toward communities of color, Anthony contends that the architectural profession staves off true diversity at its own peril. Designing for Diversity argues convincingly that improving the climate for nontraditional architects will do much to strengthen architecture as a profession. Practicing architects, managers of firms, and educators will learn how to create conditions more welcoming to a diversity of users as well as designers of the built environment.
Space Unveiled by Call Number: eBookISBN: 9781317659112Publication Date: 2014-08-01Since the early 1800s, African Americans have designed signature buildings; however, in the mainstream marketplace, African American architects, especially women, have remained invisible in architecture history, theory and practice. Traditional architecture design studio education has been based on the historical models of the Beaux-Arts and the Bauhaus, with a split between design and production teaching. As the result of current teaching models, African American architects tend to work on the production or technical side of building rather than in the design studio. It is essential to understand the centrality of culture, gender, space and knowledge in design studios. Space Unveiled is a significant contribution to the study of architecture education, and the extent to which it has been sensitive to an inclusive cultural perspective. The research shows that this has not been the case in American education because part of the culture remains hidden.
The Good Immigrants by Call Number: eBookISBN: 9781400866373Publication Date: 2015-04-27Conventionally, US immigration history has been understood through the lens of restriction and those who have been barred from getting in. In contrast, The Good Immigrants considers immigration from the perspective of Chinese elites--intellectuals, businessmen, and students--who gained entrance because of immigration exemptions. Exploring a century of Chinese migrations, Madeline Hsu looks at how the model minority characteristics of many Asian Americans resulted from US policies that screened for those with the highest credentials in the most employable fields, enhancing American economic competitiveness. The earliest US immigration restrictions targeted Chinese people but exempted students as well as individuals who might extend America's influence in China. Western-educated Chinese such as Madame Chiang Kai-shek became symbols of the US impact on China, even as they patriotically advocated for China's modernization. World War II and the rise of communism transformed Chinese students abroad into refugees, and the Cold War magnified the importance of their talent and training. As a result, Congress legislated piecemeal legal measures to enable Chinese of good standing with professional skills to become citizens. Pressures mounted to reform American discriminatory immigration laws, culminating with the 1965 Immigration Act. Filled with narratives featuring such renowned Chinese immigrants as I. M. Pei, The Good Immigrants examines the shifts in immigration laws and perceptions of cultural traits that enabled Asians to remain in the United States as exemplary, productive Americans.
Designs for the Pluriverse by Call Number: eBookISBN: 9780822371816Publication Date: 2018-03-15Arturo Escobar presents a new vision of design theory by arguing for the creation of what he calls "autonomous design"--a design practice aimed at channeling design's world-making capacity toward ways of being and doing that are deeply attuned to justice and the Earth.
