What design for Urban Design Justice?

Abstract

Emerging theories of Design Justice ask architects and planners to center the voices of long-oppressed groups. But which kinds of spatial transformations can concretely inform a just praxis of urban design? To answer this question, we compare-in-difference how disadvantaged people counter exclusion by designing spaces in Baitu (China), Los Angeles (USA), and Rome (Italy). We find that diverse groups activate similar spatial logics in order to resist erasure and displacement: they carve out possibilities, take ownership of space, and break dominant aesthetics. These logics help us identify three design pathways that can detach technical knowledge from the interests of oppressive forces. Supporting ground-up claims, but at the same time using their trained skills to facilitate decisive, long-term transformations of space, we propose that professional designers Situate Possibilities, Exclude-to-Include, and Reject Aesthetic Canons.