Spatializing Justice: Building Blocks

Spatializing Justice calls for architects and urban designers to take a position against inequality and practice accordingly, offering a practical handbook for confronting social and economic inequality and uneven urban growth. It encourages practitioners to adopt approaches that range from redefining infrastructure to retrofitting McMansions, and to think of themselves as designers of civic processes, complicate the ideas of ownership and property, and imagine new sites of research, pedagogy, and intervention.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 144 pages
Publication date: 06 October 2022
Publisher: Hatje Cantz

Spatializing Justice is a powerful call to action for architects and urban designers to go beyond the realm of mere building and physical system design. It urges them to take a stance against inequality and to practice accordingly. This manifesto-like collection of thirty concise texts serves as a practical guide for addressing social and economic disparities and uneven urban growth in architectural and planning practices. It encourages practitioners to adopt a range of approaches, from redefining infrastructure to retrofitting McMansions, in order to create more equitable and sustainable cities.

These building blocks challenge the existing modes of practice, urging architects to envision new spatial procedures, political and economic strategies, and modalities of sociability. By challenging exclusionary policies, architects can push the boundaries of architectural experimentation and create designs that are not bound by traditional formal parameters. They must see themselves as designers not only of physical objects but also of civic processes, complicate notions of ownership and property, and imagine new sites for research, pedagogy, and intervention. As one of the texts suggests, "the questions must be different questions if we want different answers."

In conclusion, Spatializing Justice is a visionary call to action that empowers architects and urban designers to play a crucial role in shaping more just and equitable cities. By embracing a holistic approach that encompasses social, economic, and environmental factors, they can create buildings and spaces that promote diversity, inclusion, and sustainability. Through their designs, architects can inspire change and make a positive impact on the lives of individuals and communities.

Weight: 420g
Dimension: 171 x 246 x 15 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9783775752206