Wednesday, July 13, 2016

This one goes out to John Rosenbarger: "'Don’t Be a Dick' May Just Be the Best Motto Yet for Urban Designers."


Uh oh. Here comes the Municipal Time Servers Union to file a grievance on behalf of Pinocchio.

In rebuttal, let's turn to 2014, merely a brief segment of one year out of 35, but who's counting?

John Rosenbarger: Yes, it's a design flaw, and yes, we know who designed it. Why can't we do anything about that?


Answer the question, John Rosenbarger: Can Jeff Speck's ideas work here, or not?

Ranting on John Rosenbarger's fundamental contradictions in the aftermath of an atrocious day in the neighborhood.

As for the link ... too late, suckers.
“Don’t Be a Dick” May Just Be the Best Motto Yet for Urban Designers, by Danya Sherman (Next City)

In the past few years, the number of community-engaged design projects has boomed. Buoyed by good intentions and the recognition that resources in urban landscapes are still unequally distributed, designers, planners, architects and other professionally trained technical experts are working with impacted communities to prevent further harm and built more equitable cities.

But how do designers know when they are replicating harmful dynamics they wish to avoid? How can community-engaged practitioners, instead, be a part of breaking down persistent barriers and building the capacity of communities who have been denied access to resources (in some cases for generations) to take ownership of the neighborhood’s future?

Well, one thing they shouldn’t do is be a Dick. That’s the playful conclusion of a new children’s book-style guide to social impact design practice recently produced by the Equity Collective, a group of leaders and practitioners in the field of community engaged design. Available here as a free downloadable book, Dick & Rick: A Visual Primer for Social Impact Design was created with the intention of encouraging professionals in the field to practice self-reflection, remain aware of power dynamics and stay focused on an ultimate goal of advancing racial, economic and social justice in every decision made.

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