Follow this tag to curate your own personalized Activity Stream and email alerts.
For nearly 200 years, since the opening of Pennsylvania’s Cheyney University in 1837, H.B.C.U.s have educated thousands of students, including the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Justice Thurgood Marshall, Toni Morrison, Representative Elijah Cummings and Senator Kamala Harris. But from a high of 120 such schools to about 101 in 2019, many have faced an uncertain future. In the last 20 years, six have closed, and several others remain open in name only after losing accreditation.
A recent New York Times report chronicles the increasing pace of financial woes and accreditation hurdles facing Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) in the United States. The report states that in the last 20 years, six HBCUs have shuttered, leaving only 101 of these... View full entry
For minorities and female developers, “access to capital has been the biggest challenge,” said Peebles, who has been an outspoken advocate for diversity in the industry. “I looked at how to address that for a number of years. No one in the country is doing this on a national level.” — therealdeal.com
Real estate developer Peebles Corporation has unveiled a $500 million investment fund that will be used to fuel development projects led by women and racial minorities. According to The Real Deal, the fund will focus on urban infill projects with budgets between $10 and $70 million in... View full entry
The Design Nexus seeks to honor the work of African American designers from a variety of disciplines and backgrounds together on a single platform to showcase their craft and the places they work. — Harvard Graduate School of Design
The Harvard University Graduate School of Design has launched the African American Design Nexus (AADN), a new virtual collection that highlights African American architects and designers from various generations, practices, and backgrounds. National Museum of African American History in... View full entry
Through gorgeous illustrations and a relatable story Norman's Architecture Adventure teaches children how having an imagination is the greatest adventure anyone can have. Nothing holds Norman back, he sees what could be and he creates it. He is unrestricted by age, ethnicity, or preconceptions. — GoArchitect
Now published and available for purchase online, Norman's Architecture Adventure is a fun children's book written & illustrated by Joshua P. Sanabria. By following the steps of a young African American boy that aspires to be an architect just like his mom, the book not only hopes to foster... View full entry
Architects are overwhelmingly male and pale, young and privileged, and there are legitimate concerns about them designing our cities in their image. Fewer than one in every 10 architects is black, Asian or minority-ethnic, and less than a third of UK qualified architects are women. And the numbers are not improving. — The Guardian
Christine Murray tackles one of architecture' ever-pressing questions—can a field lacking in diversity truly design for everyone? In her essay for the Guardian, Murray considers what the world might look like if the politicians, planners, developers and architects actualizing our cities were... View full entry
As one of three finalist candidates, Alan Jones has been elected as the next RIBA President, the highest elected position in UK architecture. As RIBA's current Vice President of Education, Jones will replace incumbent RIBA President Ben Derbyshire starting September 1, 2019 and will serve through... View full entry
The NCARB Board of Directors recently announced a Policy for Diversity in which the organization states a commitment to greater diversity, with respect to gender, race, geography, age, perspective (architect vs. non-architect), and physical ability, when electing leadership positions. The NCARB... View full entry
Nearly 94% of British architects are white, despite 14% of the UK population being of a black and minority ethnic background. [...]
Warren is featured [...] in a new film due to premiere at the Royal College of Art (RCA) this month. Celebrating Architecture, which aims to encourage diversity in the profession, will be accompanied by architecture workshops for around 80 pupils from communities under-represented in the profession.
— The Guardian
The Celebrating Architecture initiative is co-lead by Venetia Wolfenden of the education and architecture consultancy Urban Learners together with design and technology school teacher, Neil Pinder. The film is scheduled to launch this month at London's Royal College of Art, hosted by The... View full entry
Ford sees his teaching as a way to counter the troubled history of urban planning in America. “We've decimated cities that were built by the hands of African Americans [...],” he says. “Those decisions are made by people outside of those communities. There are a limited amount of people at the table to advocate for our communities.”
“I'm letting kids know we have a history of building spaces and places,” Ford adds.
— Rolling Stone
Michael Ford began his mission to introduce the architecture profession to underrepresented youth through hip hop over a year ago. As times goes on, his Hip Hop Architecture Camp initiative is growing as he tours the U.S. This new Rolling Stone article looks into what the kids learn during... View full entry
The NCARB has recently released new data outlining the current state of diversity within the architecture field. The results show that while diversity among licensure candidates is improving, the rate at which non-white individuals are discontinuing their pursuit of licensure remains high... View full entry
In their latest effort to advance diversity and equity in the architecture profession, today the AIA and the National Girls Collaborative announced their new partnership to create new pathways for girls to achieve educational goals that will prepare them for future careers in the architecture and... View full entry
John Cary, author of "Design for Good", recently gave a TED Talk, "How architecture can create dignity for all", emphasizing dignity in design and championing greater diversity in the architecture profession. Cary explains, “Dignity is to design, what justice is to law, and health is to... View full entry
“I try to be the face that I was looking for growing up,” Brown said. “So if I go into a room or an auditorium and just one person is interested in architecture, then I’ve accomplished my mission.”
The name comes from a milestone this past August, when the 400th African-American woman became licensed as an architect. There are 110,000 licensed architects in the country.
— Michigan Radio
Raised in Detroit, architectural designer Tiffany Brown won a 2017 Knight Arts Challenge grant for her project “400 Forward”, which aims to bring in more black girls and women into the field of architecture and urban planning. According to Brown, only 0.3 percent of U.S. architects are black... View full entry
Architecture, like contemporary art in the 1990s and legal theory a decade before, faces a critical moment in theory and practice. What do black citizens of major U.S. cities and global cities have to look forward to in the coming century in terms of urban conditions and their agency in determining how these conditions change and transform? What does an approach to cities that takes into account black agency, social codes and aesthetics have to offer to city-making as such? — CNN
CNN Style highlights USC architecture dean and CriticalProductive editor, Milton S. F. Curry, and his recent role as lead organizer behind Spatializing Blackness, a three-part panel discussion on "contemporary thinking and creative work related to black aesthetics, urbanism and the lived... View full entry
Last year, Harvard's GSD announced the establishment of the Philip Freelon Fellowship Fund designed to "provide expanded academic opportunities to African American and other under-represented architecture and design students at the GSD." Created in partnership with Perkins+Will, where Phil... View full entry
