I think you are acquainted with this place
Reckoning
Our last several weeks of sustainability studies would never have happened if the architecture profession (and the fields it depends on) had not adopted so many unsustainable practices in the last centuries. Our current condition is, to a great extent, shaped by decisions that have led to accumulated environmental, economic, and social challenges. All of these are exacerbated by invisible policies regarding class and race that have had very, very visible impacts on our cities. Some of the most devastating of these are discussed in the short film below:
- For more on this documentary, click here.
Because the unfair policies described in Segregated by Design were enacted at the federal level, there are very, very few communities nationwide (especially when you consider the country's largest cities) that escaped from the one-two punch of urban renewal and highway construction (that, even if it was enacted in a value-neutral way, would have led to physical devastation) and the racist policies behind them. This is certainly true of Nashville and the other big cities in Tennessee, whose historic grids--and the largely Africa-American neighborhoods that populated them--were reshaped, disrupted, and dismantled with the construction of highways and institution of redlining policies.
- Click the image below to visit an interactive website that allows you to swipe between the pre- and post-"renewal" cities. In class, we will focus on Jefferson Street and the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Nashville, so take some time to study them in particular.
For a very good overview of Nashville's history as a city, read this publication by the Civic Design Center.
Although there were points of resistance to these developments in the architecture community and society at large, they could not stop the policies from (re-)shaping our cities and the communities within them. One of the strongest calls from within the community was voiced at an AIA Convention in Portland held in 1968, just a few months after the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. The keynote was presented by civil rights leader Whitney M. Young, the executive director of the National Urban League, founded in 1910 to improve the standards of living for African Americans and other marginalized groups through increased economic empowerment, equality, and social justice.
Architects can no longer feel comfortable in thinking that the problems of our cities--not all of which architects are responsible for but some of which they could help to ameliorate--are a past matter of history, part of the problems of the 1960s that only the most optimistic people could believe were solved with the Civil Rights Movement. The #BlackLivesMatter movement, which gained so much unwanted attention and energy from the brutal killing of George Floyd, has shone a light on the continued challenges before us.
Architect Bryan C. Lee, design principle at Colloqate Design, a multidisciplinary "Architecture + Design Justice practice focused on expanding community access to, and building power through the design of social, civic, and cultural spaces," has written and spoken widely on these issues. His perspective on the oppression built in to the design of our cities is encapsulated in this (necessarily) shocking statement,
For nearly every injustice in the world, there is an architecture that has been planned and designed to perpetuate it.
The following article points out how the profession of architecture has been complicit in these oppressions and offers a path forward through the Design Justice movement, which comprises policy decisions, professional actions and attitudes, community engagement, and a focus on designing "liberating spaces."
Good Places & Social Equity
Beyond equality, which ensures that everyone is offered the same resources, equity is the state of giving all people "what they need to enjoy full, healthy lives.... like equity, equality aims to promote fairness and justice, but it can only work if everyone starts from the same place and needs the same things." Our opportunities to increase equity take several forms; some of them follow below.
Public & Professional Policies
An important way that architects can counter bad policies is to get involved with the process by which those policies are adopted: vote, attend city council meetings; run for office. Really! More immediately, work and educational environments, and access to both, require continued attention and reform.
- Watch the following, which updates information from earlier in the class about representation, and work to ensure that your workplaces are equitable and open to greater access (and find lots, lots, lots more by clicking here.)
Design
In the realm of design, architects need to find ways to work around or through prevailing and oppressive policies, but can also focus on designing better places and cities at all scales. Policy and design work together to make our cities inclusive.
- Watch the video below for a view into small-scale design initiatives that can have significant impact on people's lives
At a broader scale, the design of cities and streets, as well as approaches to regionalism that favor environmental and culturally sustainable approaches to design, are the focus of many architects working to revitalize historic cores and design new settlements on the basis of old principles. Urban streets are deemed "good" when they promote street life and contribute to a coherent image. Because of this, the world's great cities are known for well-defined streets as much as individual monuments. Consider these famous places:
Michigan Ave., Chicago
Ocean Drive, Miami
Wangfujing Street, Beijing
The Strip, Las Vegas
La Rambla, Barcelona
Champs-Élysées, Paris
Lower Broadway, Nashville
These are famous streets, well-known for their aesthetic coherence and recognizable design characteristics, and lively street life surrounding the amenities they offer. They also can be seen as important antidote to the sameness that has spread globally, connecting human need for distinctive, authentic places with approaches to sustainable design. One might question, however, the access they allow or promote. In short: whose streets are these?
Similar questions are oftentimes posed to New Urbanist designers, whose policies aim to be sustainable. To what extent do they achieve the three realms? Watch on for two views:
Social Equity
Ideally, our policies, practices, and design coalesce into environments that promote social equity. Yasmeen Lari, whom you've met before in context of her vernacular-inspired architecture, provides a great summary of the intersection of racial, environmental, and economic concerns in this recent address, and provides a powerful voice to the conclusion of this lesson.
For a transcript, click here.
