Course Syllabus

Premise

There is incredible diversity in the ways we experience and use spaces and places. However, historically the urban landscape has been used as a tool to establish inequitable power/social relationships resulting in an exclusive and disempowering spatial experience for some. As architects and designers, how can we ensure that we are creating equitable spaces and infrastructure that are inclusive to all? This seminar will explore various principles and practice of using design to address equitable access, and environments of safety and well-being particularly for communities of color. This work takes place through critical understandings of historical contexts, the development of new forms of knowledge and practice in our present, and speculating on future radical efforts of racial, social, and cultural reparation, through the process and outcomes of design. Students will be introduced to the practice of Design and Spatial Justice by building a shared foundation of anti-racist forms of communal knowledge and spatial practices, grounded in lived experiences. The course will begin with a collective understanding of the concept and principles of Design/Spatial Justice - its historical underpinnings rooted in an ideology of environmental justice and its connection to the history of injustice in the New York City built environment.

Intention

In this interdisciplinary seminar we will explore together some key questions:

• What are the physical manifestations of institutional racist practice and how have the urban landscapes of New York been shaped by them? 
• How might we design for intersectionality and inclusion of communities of color? 
• How might we better reckon with the past and manifest a future centered in a design /spatial justice praxis in the urban milieu?

Throughout four themes, students will participate in weekly discussions, listen to guest lecturers, site visits and contribute reading reflections. Topics include design justice principles, race, class & place in America, housing justice, transportation infrastructure and historic preservation. Case studies in NYC will be analyzed physically, historically and metaphorically to uncover their contributions to or retractions from a Just New York City.

Course Aims & Objectives

This seminar course offers the following unique opportunities: 

Gain an understanding of design & spatial justice through analytical skills, creative propensities and perspectives with a challenged urban community in NYC.

• Explore the power dynamics inherent in the exercise of design: between experts and non-experts, between owners and end-users, and between organizations and practitioners of color, etc 
• Become familiar with examples of speculative, historic and built projects that have approached issues of intersectionality and inclusion in design and development.
• Explore new ways of visual, physical and spatial methods to communicate strategic visions that center community and cultural assets and community benefit.
• Discuss and practice what it means to engage in a co-creation and co-design process

 

Course Themes

01 Spatial Justice; Race, Class & Place in America

Module 1. In this module, students will reflect on how their identity has shaped (or not) their approach to design/planning, consider their own experiences with unjust spaces, and collectively develop core values for ways design/planning can advance ethics of liberation. Students will begin to grasp that the built environment is not a neutral backdrop that organically developed; instead, it is the result of various social, political, and economic decisions that can create, reinforce, and perpetuate systems of oppression. 

02 Transportation Infrastructure as sites for Social Justice

Module 2 will examine ways in which transportation infrastructure policy and implementation has intersected with issues of systemic racism and spatial justice. We will expand our view through also exploring projects that strive to use infrastructure as a tool for shifting power for underserved communities.  

03 Public Art and Placekeeping

Module 3 will examine the public art can play in supporting people to take ownership of their community and advocate for themselves.  We will explore techniques of creative placemaking, public monuments, and art installations as tools for bringing justice to hidden histories, conserving existing cultural heritage and educating the public.      

04 Burial Grounds and Historic Settlements as Landscapes for Cultural Justice

Module 4 will examine ways in which urban design and planning, landscape architecture, and historic preservation intersect issues of systemic racism and spatial justice. We will explore landmarked African burial grounds and historic African American settlements – their story, how they were preserved and transformed through design to bring justice to their existence.  Exploring their stories will expose how historical patterns of injustice shape our collective memory and signal what has been valued and who has been included in the historical urban narrative of NYC. 

05 Environmental Justice and the City

Module 5 will explore the history of the environmental justice movement and the ways in which land use policy and infrastructure development have negatively impacted the health and welfare of marginalized communities. This module will also showcase local design and planning projects across the city that strive to address the diverse and intersecting environmental justice issues and empower communities in the process.

06 Public Sites as Landscape of Contested Power

Module 6 will explore various projects of New York City government and how they contribute to or detract from a more Just New York City. This module will also showcase projects that deal with affordable housing, criminal justice, community learning and public safety.  Site visits to key projects will be included in this module.

 

 

Schedule

Note: This schedule may change during the semester

 

MONTH	DATE	MODULE / TOPIC	ASSIGNMENT	WEEK
Jan	23	Principles of Design & Spatial Justice Course Introduction:     12PM: Joined by GSAPP Community Fellows: Malika Khalsa (Salvadori Center) and Fernando Ortiz (NYC EDC)	·        Online Article: RACE COUNTS - How race, class, and place fuel a pandemic ·        Online video: Race, Architecture, and Tales for the Hood, by Bryan Lee Jr. (TED Talk)   After Class / Assignments Inspired by the readings and Bryan Lee Jr.’s TED Talk, Write a 250 word reflection on how your own identity, life experiences, or community has shaped (or not) your own creative interests and/or approach to design, planning or preservation Due Jan 30	Week 1
Jan	30	Race, Place and Class in America Lecture by Ifeoma Ebo	After Class / Assignments Book Title: Zoned Out: Race, Displacement, and city Planning in New York City. Chapter Title: Chapter Two - Racialized Land Use and Housing Policies. Book Authors: Tom Angotti and Sylvia Morse   Visit Mapping Inequality (richmond.edu) and find a redlined neighborhood in New York City.  Create a digital collage that tells the story of how the neighborhood was impacted by redlining, urban renewal, blockbusting and/or other forms of racist built environment practice/policy. Use different techniques such as mapping, historic timelines etc to reveal neighborhood change over time.  Be prepared to present your collage in class. Due Feb 6	Week 2
Feb	6	Environmental Justice and the City Guest Lecture by Lida Aljabar	After Class / Readings ·                  Book: Resilience for All | Chapter 2: A Short History of Community Engaged Design ·                  Youtube video (30min) Peggy M. Shepard: WE ACT for Environmental Justice | One to One - YouTube ·                  Regenerative Development and Design: A Framework for Evolving Sustainability | Chapter 8: Developmental Work After Class / Individual Assignments Stakeholder / Ecosystem of Power Map: Identify an underacknowledged issue that is important in your community. Map the stakeholders (people, organizations, institutions) associated with this issue, and the power dynamics underpinning it.   Listening Tool: Using the under-acknowledged issue that you identified in the stakeholder map, design a listening tool that would allow you to meaningfully connect with and learn from stakeholders impacted by the issue. Describe your intentions for the tool and create a storyboard illustrating how the tool would be deployed. Be prepared to present your listening tool in class Due Feb 13	Week 3
Feb	13	Praxis: Burial Grounds and Historic Settlements as Landscapes for Cultural Justice Virtual Guest Lecturer by Andrea Roberts	After Class / Readings ·        When Architecture and Racial Justice Intersect | Architectural Digest ·        The Fight to Preserve African-American History | The New Yorker ·        Preserving African American Places Report After Class / Individual Assignments Critical Analysis of (Un)Just Spaces: Create a digital collage that captures your impressions of the injustice of a chosen space (interpreted broadly).  The collage must embody your interpretation of how design was deployed (whether intentionally or not) as a tool of exclusion. The collage must use diverse mediums. This can include hand drawing, computer drawing, diagrams, maps, photography, found images, newsprint, gifs, video, sound, etc. The collage must be spatial and visually represent your interpretation of how policy impacted spatial relationships. Consider the use of color, perspective, manipulation of view and image, superimposition, layers, digital intervention as strategies to convey your interpretations. Be prepared to present your collage in class. ·        Due March 27	Week 4
Feb	20	Student presentations of final assignments (project 1 &2). Joined by Malika Khalsa GSAPP Community Fellow (Salvadori Center) Workshop Resources: ·        Neighborhood Planning Playbook ·        Design as Democracy: Techniques for Collective Creativity – Edited by David delaPena, Diane Jones Allen, Randolph T. Hester Jr…. ·        IDEO Human Centered Design Toolkit		Week 5
Feb	27	Student presentations of final assignments (project 1 &2). Joined by Malika Khalsa GSAPP Community Fellow (Salvadori Center) Workshop Resources: ·        Neighborhood Planning Playbook ·        Design as Democracy: Techniques for Collective Creativity – Edited by David delaPena, Diane Jones Allen, Randolph T. Hester Jr…. ·        IDEO Human Centered Design Toolkit		Week 6
Mar	6	CLASS Cancelled		Week 7
Mar	13	SPRING BREAK		Week 8
Mar	20	Student presentations of final assignments (project 1 &2). Joined by Malika Khalsa GSAPP Community Fellow (Salvadori Center) Workshop Resources: ·        Neighborhood Planning Playbook ·        Design as Democracy: Techniques for Collective Creativity – Edited by David delaPena, Diane Jones Allen, Randolph T. Hester Jr…. ·        IDEO Human Centered Design Toolkit		Week 9
Mar	27	Praxis: Public Art and Place keeping for Racial Justice: Virtual Guest Lecturer Sue Mobley	After Class / Readings ·        Harlemworld by the Studio Museum of Harlem ·        Reconstructions: Architecture and Blackness in America by MOMA ·        Hip Hop Architecture by Sekou Cooke ·        POWER TO THE PEOPLE: Empowerment and Disruption in Community Engaged Design | National Endowment for the Arts	Week 10
Apr	3	Student presentations of final assignments (project 1 &2). Joined by Malika Khalsa GSAPP Community Fellow (Salvadori Center) Workshop Resources: ·        Neighborhood Planning Playbook ·        Design as Democracy: Techniques for Collective Creativity – Edited by David delaPena, Diane Jones Allen, Randolph T. Hester Jr…. ·        IDEO Human Centered Design Toolkit	After Class / Readings ·        Expanding Architecture: Design as Activism Bryan Bell and Katie Wakeford ·        “Urban Spaces and the Mattering of Black Lives” by Darnell L. Moore (pp. 18-20 in The Just City Essays: Visions for Urban Equity, Inclusivity and Opportunity by Toni L. Griffin, et al.)	Week 11
Apr	10	Praxis: Transportation Infrastructure as Sites for Social Justice Public Sites as Landscape of Contested Power: Harlem Burial Ground | MTA Bus Depot | Future Affordable Housing Site NYC EDC Site Visit and Lecture by GSAPP Community Fellow Fernando Ortiz (NYC EDC)	After Class / Readings ·        Online Article: “America’s Cities Were Designed to Oppress” Bryan Lee Jr. ·        Online Article: Robert Moses and His Racist Parkway, Explained. - Bloomberg (Links to an external site.) ·        Online Article: The lingering effects of NYC's racist city planning—Hopes & Fears (hopesandfears.com) (Links to an external site.) ·        Online Article: Robert Moses wove enduring racism into New York's urban fabric | Boing Boing (Links to an external site.) ·        Online Article: The Racist Legacy of America's Inner-City Highways - D Magazine (Links to an external site.)	Week 12
Apr	17	Public Sites as Landscape of Contested Power Lecture by Ifeoma Ebo	After Class / Readings ·        Just Urban Design: The Struggle for a Public City Edited by Kian Goh, Anastasia Loukaitou-Sideris, Vinit Mukhija ·        “Defining the Just City Beyond Black and White” by Toni L. Griffin (pp. 6-9 in The Just City Essays: Visions for Urban Equity, Inclusivity and Opportunity by Toni L. Griffin, et al.)	Week 13
Apr	24	Student presentations of final assignments  (project 3) Potentially Joined by GSAPP Community Fellows: Malika Khalsa (Salvadori Center) and Fernando Ortiz (NYC EDC)		Week 14
May	1	Student presentations of final assignments  (project 3) Potentially Joined by GSAPP Community Fellows: Malika Khalsa (Salvadori Center) and Fernando Ortiz (NYC EDC)		Week 15

 

ASSIGNMENTS

 

Reading Reflections- Individual Assignments

Responses will be assessed on a participatory basis (credit/no-credit). Students should be able to demonstrate that they have engaged with materials through written or multi-media mediums (i.e. film, images, reels, etc.). Be prepared to present all reading reflection exercises to the class.

 

Project 1: Neighborhood Research & Presentation-Team Based Work

• Students will work in teams of 2-4 for this assignment
• As A Team Collectively Choose A Redlined Neighborhood From The New York City Redlining Maps(Links to an external site.) 
• Research The History Of The Neighborhood And Identify 3 Significant Spacesthat are relevant to the history of the neighborhood as it relates to red lining and social shifts  (Public Space, Residence, Public Building Etc) And 3 Significant Neighborhood Challenges that are relevant to the history of the neighborhood as it relates to red lining and social shifts
• Present A 30-45 minute Virtual Tour of Your Neighborhood And The Sites To The Class. Incorporate Interviews, Photos, Film Clips
• Each week I will meet with a different team to discuss their site and details of the assignment. 
• For grading all presentations are to be submitted on Canvas by April 24th but the presentation itself will be earlier in the semester. Submissions must be in pdf format and include any links to video content.

 

Project 2: Community Workshop : Crafting a Design/Spatial Justice Manifesto

• Students will work in teams of 2-4 for this assignment
• The intention of the workshop exercise is to build the capacity to both empathize with the community, change your own perspective and the perspective of others. The audience for your workshop are youth in our designated community ages 14-17.
• You will choose one site in your community that you will develop (vacant site) or redevelop (existing building)

• Create a 30-45 minute workshop to engage your classmates to support the crafting of your design /spatial justice manifesto and ideas for your site (building/site program, and design) .  Your workshop may encourage your fellow classmates to engage with different personas and perspectives in the community (new resident, retired person, business owner, immigrant, homeless person, single mother etc).  The intention of your workshop is to get feedback /insight on your chosen themes, ideas for your designated site and how they may impact the community.  This insight will help you formulate your manifesto and community toolkit.
• As a team, craft a manifesto in the form of a set of at least 4 design principles with graphic representation. It should be born out of the contextual and thematic research, workshop feedback and personal conviction

• For grading your Manifesto must be submitted on Canvas by April 24th but the presentation itself will be earlier in the semester. Submissions must be in pdf format and include any links.

 

Project 3: Manifesto Based Community Toolkit

• Students will work in teams of 2- 4 for this assignment
• As a team collectively create a visual representation of your neighborhood-based Design Justice Manifesto
• For each manifesto principle include the following – either:
  • One precedent in the world that physically demonstrates your manifesto principle or
  • One design concept that physically demonstrates your manifesto principle
• You can have a combination of precedents or designed concepts

• Create a 30-minute presentation of your Design Justice Manifesto and community toolkit

• For grading your Manifesto and Toolkit presentation must be submitted on the portal by the end of the semester but the presentation itself will be earlier in the semester. Submissions must be in pdf format and include any links.

 

 

 

Course Understandings

 

Reading Reflections

 

Responses will be assessed on a participatory basis (credit/no-credit). Students should be able to demonstrate that they have engaged with materials through written or multi-media mediums (i.e. film, images, reels, etc.)

 

Use of Class Materials and Recordings

 

Original class materials (handouts, assignments, tests, etc.) and recordings of class sessions are the intellectual property of the course instructor. You may download these materials for your use in this class. However, you may not provide these materials to other parties (e.g., web sites, social media, other students) without permission. Doing so is a violation of intellectual property law and of the student code of conduct.

 

Community Agreements

 

Co-created with students on the first day of class

 

 

Module Projects

 

Each module will have one analytical assignment that build on the lectures and texts. These assignments will often include a creative/visual component and will ask students to investigate a specific topic through maps, diagrams, photographs, drawings, videos, collages, and other mediums/methods

 

General Participation

 

Participation (including attendance, sharing of reflection assignments and contributions to discussions) will count for 25% of your course grade.  Your presence in class is important to me. Collective liberation takes collective work and it is my hope that we will all do our best to show up for ourselves and for each other. Participation can take many forms for different people. If you do need to miss a class, please communicate with me.

 

Grading Procedures

 

It is my belief that learning should be non-punitive, and I will work with you to expand a collective definition of success.

 

Final grades will be based on the following criteria:

 

25% Participation / Engagement / Attendance

10% Weekly Class Assignments (Individual)

20% Project 1_Neighborhood Research (Team based work)

20% Project 2_ Project 2: Community Workshop: Crafting a Design/Spatial Justice Manifesto (Team based work)

25% Project 3_ Project 3: Manifesto Based Community Toolkit (Team based work)

 

It is expected that all assigned material be read before class, and that every student come to all class sessions prepared to discuss their assignments, the assignments of others, or assigned material. Verbal participation will be the measure of this, be it in the form of questions, challenges, clarifications, or arguments. Grading of assignments will be based on engagement with the material and commitment to the work. I will prioritize learning, growth, risk-taking, and experimentation over perfection, production, and “safe” success.