Reconsidering Design Justice in Architecture and Urban Design in the Post-pandemic Era

Dear Colleagues,

Design justice is a concept and practice that aims to ensure that the designs of environments, services, systems, and products promote social, economic, and environmental justice (White et al., 2020). It is a response to the recognition that many design decisions have social and political consequences. Designers have a responsibility to achieve greater equity and inclusion in their work. The central concern of design justice is to identify and dismantle the power dynamics that shape design decisions, working to shift that power into the hands of those who have historically been neglected or marginalized.

A variety of historical factors have contributed to the design justice movement (Lee, 2019). Some of the most notable events in the United States include, but are not limited to, the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 60s, the Disability Rights Movement of the 1960s and 70s, the Feminist Movement of the 1960s and 70s, and the Environmental Justice Movement of the 1970s and 80s. These forces played a role in advancing the contemporary design justice movement and its approach to design in a way that seeks to address systemic inequalities and injustices in society.

The roots of the contemporary design justice movement are rich and diverse and can be traced back to a series of discussions and events that took place in the early 2000s and brought together designers, community organizers, and social justice advocates (Costanza-Chock, 2020). Some of the most notable events have included various gatherings, including the Design as Protest symposium, which was first held in 2002 at the University of California, Berkeley, and has been held multiple times since then. These events and other related activities helped to lay the foundation for a more critical and socially engaging approach to design and led to the development of new design methodologies and approaches that prioritize equity, justice, and inclusion, such as participatory design, co-design, and community-based design. More recently, the Black Lives Matter movement, which began in 2013, has highlighted the systemic racism and injustice faced by Black communities in the United States; this too has led to a greater emphasis on designing products and environments that are inclusive and accessible to people of all races and backgrounds. Design justice advocates continue to push for a more socially responsible and responsive approach to design in order to work towards creating more just and equitable futures and cities for all.

In recent years, the design justice movement has encountered numerous historic moments of reflection following the COVID-19 pandemic and George Floyd’s death. In addition, it faces a series of questions that deserve attention: How have the pandemic, the extrajudicial killing of George Floyd, and increasing social tension around the world impacted the design justice movement? Do these recent events require practitioners and educators to redefine design justice and its role? How might Artificial Intelligence (AI) foster (or undermine) design justice practices? How could design justice respond to the rise of intersectionality in the United States? These are just some of the inquiries that might help people to reconsider design justice in light of the recent changes, conflicts, and divisions in the world.

Ideally, papers should address at least one or more of the following areas to reconsider design justice:

1. Critical assessment of the past, present, and future of the design justice movement;
2. Design justice response to the (post-) COVID-19 pandemic, George Floyd’s death, intersectionality, and the anti-abortion movement;
3. Education on design justice in architecture and urban design;
4. Governments’ support for design justice;
5. Response to racialized places and practices (e.g., discriminatory zoning policies);
6. Role of community development organizations in design justice;
7. Impact of AI and other technological advances on design justice practices;
8. Pedagogical approaches to design justice;
9. Practice models of design justice;
10. Impact of DIY movement on design justice;
11. Research methods to investigate design justice;

We welcome papers that address some of these questions, research areas and other relevant topics; reflect on the design justice movement; examine current issues or trends in design justice; investigate the examples of best; or propose new approaches to educate or practice design justice in the face of emerging changes in society.

Prof. Dr. Joongsub Kim
Guest Editor

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• design justice
• social justice
• environmental justice
• participatory design
• community-based design
• equity