The American Institute of Architects (AIA), in collaboration with the University of Washington and the University of Minnesota, has published a supplement to their Guides for Equitable Practice, a framework for understanding and building equity in the architecture profession. Titled “Justice in the Built Environment,” this latest edition serves as a guide for architecture and design professionals looking to do more to advance justice through their design work.
"This new resource is designed to empower architects to use their problem-solving skills to create welcoming spaces for all,” said AIA Executive Vice President/Chief Executive Officer Lakisha Ann Woods. “It also provides perspectives and insights on how architects, in all types of workplaces, can help advance equity in their place of employment, projects, and in society.”
The new supplement also offers guidance on actions that individual practitioners and firms can take to advance equity. The document notes that there are at least five different ways to make the case for justice in the built environment: moral, ethical, business, societal, and professional. Readers are encouraged to see which one might be most relevant for their project or portfolio of projects.
“There was increasing demand for how one explains the value of equitable practices to others, especially clients,” said Renée Cheng, FAIA, UW architecture dean and the project lead on the supplement’s research and writing team. “This guide is about understanding that larger context that is not necessarily architectural practice-specific, but more about how design is perceived by others.”
In its mission to promote equity and justice in the architecture profession, the AIA also recently released a study that sheds light on how bias is manifested and its impacts on the industry. The report gathered the experiences, perceptions, and opinions of women, people of color, and other underrepresented groups within architecture, for the sake of building awareness and addressing issues that may be occurring in firms.
“Justice in the Built Environment” can be downloaded from the AIA’s website here. The Institute will partner with the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA) to publish an additional supplemental edition to the Guides for Equitable Practice later this year that will address inequities in architecture academia.
5 Comments
couldn't imagine a less credible messenger on this front.
Go to any MBA program and I'm sure you're gonna see better progress towards diversity than in any architecture setting. Why? An MBA is a good investment in one's self and a tool toward socioeconomic advancement. Until architecture becomes a career that promises fair compensation for professional services and education, and a road to professional recognition and achievement that doesn't involve years of self-abnegation, POC and lower-income people will continue staying away. This will remain a profession mostly viable for wealthy internationals and the upper and upper middle classes.
That's the elephant in the room that the AIA would ideally address, instead they, like every architecture firm, continue to put out the fluffy, standard-issue bromides about increasing diversity in the workplace. Well guess what, architecture won't become diverse unless you make it an appealing career option to people from diverse backgrounds.
Well said. I couldn't agree more
The AIA should promote diversity by immediately shutting down all operations and encouraging all degenerate architecture bureaucratic artificial gatekeepers and rent-seekers to do the same.
like NCARB!
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