1. In “Schools and Prisons”, Wiley discusses the shocking similarities between school and prison. She brings up “school-to-prison pipeline” and how the design of schools resembles that of a prison. Although they be similar in architectural design, they aim to serve very different purposes. How can we plan out spaces and environments in schools that will make them feel less like prisons and more like a place for an enjoyable learning experience?
2 In “Black Spaces Matter”, Davis discusses the inequality between “white neighborhoods” and “black neighborhoods”. He talks about how black community spaces desire to not only be better, but also more culturally sensitive. How can architecture improve the black communities living conditions as well as cultural desire?
3. In “Black Lives Matter” Massey, TenHoor and Korsh discuss the history of segregation and how the disparity between whites and blacks has slowly been fading. Black people used to not be able to share simple things like education, bathrooms, and transportation with whites and were extremely discriminated. What can an architect do to make people not only feel equal, but also connected?
1. In “Within Schools and Prisons” by Amber Wiley, Wiley discusses how schools and prisons are architecturally extremely similar, which is called the “school to prison pipeline.” Prisons and schools are both designed to contain and control thier occupants and almost prevent them from getting out or breaking out. Is this type of architecture humane?
2. In “Black Lives Matter,” it is discussed how there is an entire atrchitecture based around the oppression and supression of black culture. If this were to not have happened, what is the largest difference we might have seen in the history of architecture for certain cities?
3. Do you think that RPI has been affected by the architecture built around the oppression of others? If it has been, how can we change this?
1. In the “Black Space Matters” reading, the idea that a person doesn’t need to have a license or degree to make a change in a system or have an understanding of the rules and regulations that must be met at the most basic of levels in design. How can allowing more people who may not have a high level of certifications in design into the process of urban planning and architectural development help change the current social constructs of life in lower income areas and improve the future developments.
2. Extreme levels of segregation and racism have created divides in social, economic, and urban scapes. Specific types of architecture, such as affordable housing and regions in large cities, have lead to clear divide between races, and have created new forms of architecture. Looking forward, how do we as architects bridge that gap, improving the lives of all in different classes and races, with our designs and through urban development?
3. Prisons and schools have long been synonymous, with the focus’s of both being on obedience and discipline. How has this method of forming (and in the case of prisons, reforming) youth and the mislead affected our views of architecture and urban planning? How will we be able to change the methods of teaching and in turn learning without making the system even worse or more complicated, created multiple issues at once?
If it wasn’t clear before this lecture, architecture and urban design is highly revolved around class systems. Whether it’s our educational or incarceration systems, the relationship between economics and quality of life is extraordinarily prominent. Particularly in America (although this concept happens all around the world in all different types of cultures and countries) there’s a seemingly never ending circle of poverty and lack of resources (especially in terms of starting careers, education, and following passions) based off of a person’s economic standing. Although developments in the last century have been crucial for minorities based off of race and sex have improved exponentially, there’s still an obvious disadvantage that occurs in our country in terms of success and quality of life. Discrimination is prominent from the moment a person is born based off of their skin color or their sex. Men and women of color are often held back from the moment that they’re born, with next to no chances of improving their life because the concept of the “institution” holds them back. Schools and prisons are designed in the same fold, designed to created a mold of a person, especially a person of color. Using architecture and urban planning to improve this gap in the institution is crucial in order to bridge the gap between races, and remove the hurdles placed in front of minorities, in order to improve society as a whole, launching the world into an entirely new generation.
1. How can architectural aesthetics work against mass incarceration in black communities with the designs of police stations, courthouses, jails and prisons verses in schools and public facilities.
2. How can infrastructure in schools regulate police intervention and police brutality on the youth and stop the school to prison pipeline in poorer neighborhoods where funding for building and renovating schools is insufficient. How can these schools exemplify less of a prison-y environment and more of a educational one yet still be efficient and economic ?
3. How could the architecture of schools in impoverished communities provide safe spaces for its students without the feeling of incarceration? How could the design prevent the need for constant video surveillance and metal detectors but include the “passive” security measures to remove the ‘prison mentality?’
This presentation was very awakening considering one of the first topics addressed was the “I can’t breathe” movement. This was about Eric Gardner and bringing awareness to the people who cannot breath and the people who take away their breath. There was brought up that there is a school to prison pipeline in inner city schools and schools with many minority students due to infrastructural issues. School designs promote utilitarian control, restriction of movement, and order and control. Many projects had been suggested and built to allow for a design that will monitor and control students but still give the environment of free will and movement. These designs were ruined over the years by covering over large windows that allowed a lot of light in and implementing prison-like oppressive security such as metal detectors at entrance, security cameras, and cops being present. Modern schooling focuses too much on control and obedience instead of student success and fail to realize that individuals with differences in personality and skill are more beneficial to society.
1. A rumor was always going around that the high school I attended
was designed by an architect that also designed jails. I never learned
if that was actually true or not. Yet, I can see how similar public high
schools and jails are similar. Schools should be a place for learning
and freedom of thought. Why does the United States on continuously
building these closed and shut buildings for our future generations?
2.Black spaces reminded me of a documentary I saw on HBCUs. These
are perfect spaces for black students to learn, thrive, and speak
without being discriminated. Looking beyond architecture, how do we
elevate these spaces to the next level? what is the next step?
3. Its unfortunate to learn how architects worked and enhanced the
further segregation in our communities through their practices. There
still are areas segregated for communities of color separate from those
of white neighborhoods. How do we as architects, planners, and designers
begin to move past this injustice? how do we fix our predessors wrong
doings?
1. In Black Spaces Matters, Charles mentioned that the latent potential of abandoned or neglected spaces can be influenced in the moment of renewed social protest. How can its optimism and ingenuity work?
2. In Schools and Prisons, Amber mention that steep penalties for minor infractions tend to push out students of color, deny them access to education. So can we say that it is the order maintenance policing that increase the crime rate of poor black because the lack of education is always connected with higher crime rate?
3. According to Black Lives Matter, a dimension that offers resources to sustain alternative visions of Black life is required. So how to build such an architectural space that not only responds to black movement but also activates the aesthetic dimension?
The lecture talks about three main parts: black lives matters, black spaces matters, and the school issues. Unfortunately, architecture and urban design can contribute to violence against black people. After countless killings of black people, the vulnerability long experienced by black people in public spaces challenged the legitimacy of the state. The killing of an innocent black young man shocked the whole state. Although he was just walking along the street, doing nothing bad, he was eventually killed by police. It is vital to have a right perspective towards everyone. If we agree that black lives matter, we must take it into consideration that black spaces matters. In the early twentieth century, people disseminated the myth that black settlement into white neighborhoods negatively affected long-term home values. Where blacks lives is also a reflection of people’s point of view on them.
Something I found very interesting about this week’s readings was how swiftly a young student can end up in prison. The Zero Tolerance policy that teachers have been implementing seems to have the exact opposite affect that they wanted it to. Expelling or Suspending a student for the tiniest of mishaps seems to be the school’s way of freeing themselves of all responsibility over that student and therefor leaving it only with the parents. However, the parents most likely have work or other concerns and cannot focus on keeping track of them while educating them. Left on their own and free of any adult supervision the student may fall into some trouble or many cases, behind bars.
Is there an architectural move available that would influence more of a Dewey-like learning environment?
The notion of schools and prisons having similarities has to do with its hierarchical implementation and its construction. Even if we as architects begin to design institutions that stray away from that idea, how much would that actually change the prison-like tendencies? Is it really the architecture or is it the government?
The problem that persists is the cultural divide that a lot of architecture creates. In what ways could we design a building that is more sensitive to the environment in which it is place and that of the students who attend?
At the end of the race matters presentation, there was an interesting question asked regarding what was read for that week. To avoid plagiarism of any sort, the question reads: In “Black Lives Matter”, The Newark riots of the 1960’s are discussed as a form of opposition to discriminatory real estate development. Is the destruction that is caused by riots a necessary evil when there is no other way to overcome these policies? Or are there other, more effective ways? I found this question interesting because of the way in which the word “necessary” was used. In the instance that is regarded, riots, more so that of poor black communities, do not happen for no reason. Riots are a result of a group of individuals’ voice being unheard or silenced altogether. But the reason why this topic is being alluded to is because riots actually are effective. See for a riot to occur there has to be something deeply rooted into communities, people do not collectively come together and riot because someone got their parking spot taken. In other words it is not spur of the moment that has been experienced one time. It is a combination of multiple moments along with other attempts to change the situation in a peaceful but we do not talk about those because they are ineffective.
1) What is the relationship between architecture and institutional oppression? How does architecture become a tool designed to inspire fear and conformity? What form does it take and what is the historical precedent for it, if there is one?
2) In”Schools and Prisons,” Amber Wiley talks about the relationship between schooling and mass incarceration. How has whiteness developed a monopoly on the Dewey system of schools?
3) What are some examples of black architecture?
1. Does the feeling of incarceration have something to do with how architecture in the US are generally constructed since most of the spaces are comparatively small and enclosed?
2. How are we supposed to treat previously built schools and buildings that are long in history because some of them fail to provide adequate and open spaces for students. However most of the time these buildings are considered to be historical and unique.
3. Do we really need “black architecture”?
1) In constituting schemes of social stratification in urban conditions, systems of surveillance have also been established. These systems also gives architecture agencies of monitoring people’s daily lives. As Wiley suggested, these systems are practices that are “an integral part of life,” as well as “architectural brief” in design. The question: in what condition of urban design does architecture liberate itself from being part of a system of surveillance.
2) The notion of “ecosocial” architecture mentioned in David II’s Black Space Matter seems to suggest that the racial mattering of spaces and urban condition is inherently associated with the manifestation of human ecology and their differences. Does this also imply that architecture is the sole driver for class-based and identity-based expressions, and therefore necessitates segregation?
3) Massey suggests that architecture should resist the exercise of operation of biopolitical powers. But are architects disenfranchised in this condition? With the site-specificity and context-aware culture of practice, can architects really resist such operation, or should architects instead focus on developing new typologies that preserves communal identities?
Architecture is only half of the equation when it comes to race. Certainly the planning, zoning and construction of buildings and cities contributes to discrepancies between racial communities, yet the opposite is also true. There are policies in place throughout history that predetermined the conditions of living and social interactions between citizens. In terms of urban citizenship, much creativity could be explored in terms of how racial typologies shapes textuality and engages experiential qualities and sensory modalities in architecture, plainly based upon historic experiences that are face within races. This places black architecture in a unique position in the discipline. The experience of architecture could become the experience of community, through which everyone could be brought together.
Though much of the bureaucratic barriers faced by people of color in this country have been removed, social and architectural discrimination is still a pressing issue. There are few black spaces in the country that are safe and architectural vibrant, with many black spaces falling to schools or community centers. These schools and community centers resemble jails more than happy places however, with schools keeping order much in the way that jails do. While the architectural changes that are needed cannot fix all of the problems faced by black Americans, they can certainly contribute to an improvement in the living conditions and potentially lead to more equality in the future.
The talk was good, with the exception of the end. Like we understand the school to prison pipeline and reiterating it got pretty old pretty fast. I would have liked to see a more in detail or higher level analysis of the text, and extra sources brought in to talk about. Talk about Maurice Cox and Detroit Future City. To say riots is the only option left is a copout of an answer and does not reflect the level of analysis needed in my opinion
The presentation of Race Matter, went very in depth with explaining how some school systems in low budget communities have a relationship with prisons. Moreover, this country we live in today has very little amounts of black spaces that are architecturally sound and generally safe. The relationship between schools and jails has been the same for a prolonged period of time. I believe that in the future the architectural community will create new and beneficial schools for communities like the ones mentioned in the lecture. It is certain that the development of new schools and community centers will not secure complete safety and solve the bigger problems in today’s world, but it definitely has the possibility to open up doors to new ideas that could later benefit these communities.
How can architecture be used to open up racial and social possibilities? The power of architecture can create conditions for a systematic embrace or repression of a specific part of the population. Up until the 60s the Jim Crow laws created oppressive spaces for colored people in the United States not only were black people isolated from the rest of the population, they were forced into places that often did not accommodate their needs very well if at all. typologies such as the panopticon and modern day churches evolved from social and cultural conditions that aid in the performance of the program, whether it be surveillance or spiritual teaching.
In what ways can architecture create more open minded spaces that accepts everyone for their differences? Society must redefine the education system because schools are becoming more like prisons for minorities, a place supposedly for learning and making friends is transformed into juvenile detention. There is a zero tolerance policy for even the smallest mistakes made by a student of color. By looking deeper into the school to prison pipeline, the layouts and designs are quite similar. There are flaws in the architectural designs which subconsciously condition its inhabitants, drawing a clear line between the two is the first step towards reversing the pipeline effect. Getting rid of the underlying discrimination from the environment can help towards constructing unprejudiced spaces. The quality of education is deteriorating by mimicking the prison, students of color are taught in fear. A pressuring environment where one mishap can send students to jail cells and go on their permanent records. Fixing the designs of schools will resolve only a portion of the problems, a new order is needed and awareness should increase.
The planning and construction of certain districts contribute to racial issues. The conditions of housing units and communities determine how people living in these areas will be viewed as well as how they interact with one another. The architectural design of these spaces negatively impacts the community spaces and drives rifts between individuals, sometimes causing violence and shining a negative light on these neighborhoods. In the presentation, they went on to describe how even in diverse schools, students would be picked out and presented as “an issue” just based on their skin color. One student brought up how when black students wore their hair naturally they were punished or even kicked out of school. A place in which they were sent to learn and be educated, but in return are punished for being themselves.
I found the inherent link between race and place to be a very important part of this week’s discussion. The undeniable connection between spaces and racism in American history directly relates to both our daily lives and our profession as architects. I think that this week’s presentation was important in bringing this aspect of architecture to our attention in the way that many other social or environmental responsibilities have been thus far in RPI’s school of architecture. It’s important for us to not only recognize this negative correlation, but discover ways to reverse it through our design.
A great accomplishment of the Race Matters presentation was the examination of the history of the Black Live’s Matter movement, going well beyond the readings and modern day context. One presenter covered the origin and timeline of racial inequality between African American and white people in our country. An example was reflecting on the Jim Crow laws and their residual effects leading to what’s known as the New Jim Crow Laws. Another particularly impressive decision on the presenter’s part was the level of transparency exercised when talking about present issues – candidly discussing topics the majority of white people in authority positions don’t even want to recognize in our society. This was done in part by acknowledging the origin of racism in (morally, culturally, personal autonomy) and the meaning of Black Lives Matter in depth and disclosing accounts of the innocent lives taken. They also exhibited more interesting and critical thinking beyond the text discussing imperative African American historical figures; people like Booker T. Washington and his role in evolving Tuskegee University – juxtaposing the oppressive educational system in the U.S. for students of color covered in Amber Wiley’s “Schools and Prisons”.
Contemporary Design Approaches 
1. In “Schools and Prisons”, Wiley discusses the shocking similarities between school and prison. She brings up “school-to-prison pipeline” and how the design of schools resembles that of a prison. Although they be similar in architectural design, they aim to serve very different purposes. How can we plan out spaces and environments in schools that will make them feel less like prisons and more like a place for an enjoyable learning experience?
2 In “Black Spaces Matter”, Davis discusses the inequality between “white neighborhoods” and “black neighborhoods”. He talks about how black community spaces desire to not only be better, but also more culturally sensitive. How can architecture improve the black communities living conditions as well as cultural desire?
3. In “Black Lives Matter” Massey, TenHoor and Korsh discuss the history of segregation and how the disparity between whites and blacks has slowly been fading. Black people used to not be able to share simple things like education, bathrooms, and transportation with whites and were extremely discriminated. What can an architect do to make people not only feel equal, but also connected?
LikeLike
1. In “Within Schools and Prisons” by Amber Wiley, Wiley discusses how schools and prisons are architecturally extremely similar, which is called the “school to prison pipeline.” Prisons and schools are both designed to contain and control thier occupants and almost prevent them from getting out or breaking out. Is this type of architecture humane?
2. In “Black Lives Matter,” it is discussed how there is an entire atrchitecture based around the oppression and supression of black culture. If this were to not have happened, what is the largest difference we might have seen in the history of architecture for certain cities?
3. Do you think that RPI has been affected by the architecture built around the oppression of others? If it has been, how can we change this?
LikeLike
1. In the “Black Space Matters” reading, the idea that a person doesn’t need to have a license or degree to make a change in a system or have an understanding of the rules and regulations that must be met at the most basic of levels in design. How can allowing more people who may not have a high level of certifications in design into the process of urban planning and architectural development help change the current social constructs of life in lower income areas and improve the future developments.
2. Extreme levels of segregation and racism have created divides in social, economic, and urban scapes. Specific types of architecture, such as affordable housing and regions in large cities, have lead to clear divide between races, and have created new forms of architecture. Looking forward, how do we as architects bridge that gap, improving the lives of all in different classes and races, with our designs and through urban development?
3. Prisons and schools have long been synonymous, with the focus’s of both being on obedience and discipline. How has this method of forming (and in the case of prisons, reforming) youth and the mislead affected our views of architecture and urban planning? How will we be able to change the methods of teaching and in turn learning without making the system even worse or more complicated, created multiple issues at once?
LikeLike
If it wasn’t clear before this lecture, architecture and urban design is highly revolved around class systems. Whether it’s our educational or incarceration systems, the relationship between economics and quality of life is extraordinarily prominent. Particularly in America (although this concept happens all around the world in all different types of cultures and countries) there’s a seemingly never ending circle of poverty and lack of resources (especially in terms of starting careers, education, and following passions) based off of a person’s economic standing. Although developments in the last century have been crucial for minorities based off of race and sex have improved exponentially, there’s still an obvious disadvantage that occurs in our country in terms of success and quality of life. Discrimination is prominent from the moment a person is born based off of their skin color or their sex. Men and women of color are often held back from the moment that they’re born, with next to no chances of improving their life because the concept of the “institution” holds them back. Schools and prisons are designed in the same fold, designed to created a mold of a person, especially a person of color. Using architecture and urban planning to improve this gap in the institution is crucial in order to bridge the gap between races, and remove the hurdles placed in front of minorities, in order to improve society as a whole, launching the world into an entirely new generation.
LikeLike
1. How can architectural aesthetics work against mass incarceration in black communities with the designs of police stations, courthouses, jails and prisons verses in schools and public facilities.
2. How can infrastructure in schools regulate police intervention and police brutality on the youth and stop the school to prison pipeline in poorer neighborhoods where funding for building and renovating schools is insufficient. How can these schools exemplify less of a prison-y environment and more of a educational one yet still be efficient and economic ?
3. How could the architecture of schools in impoverished communities provide safe spaces for its students without the feeling of incarceration? How could the design prevent the need for constant video surveillance and metal detectors but include the “passive” security measures to remove the ‘prison mentality?’
LikeLike
This presentation was very awakening considering one of the first topics addressed was the “I can’t breathe” movement. This was about Eric Gardner and bringing awareness to the people who cannot breath and the people who take away their breath. There was brought up that there is a school to prison pipeline in inner city schools and schools with many minority students due to infrastructural issues. School designs promote utilitarian control, restriction of movement, and order and control. Many projects had been suggested and built to allow for a design that will monitor and control students but still give the environment of free will and movement. These designs were ruined over the years by covering over large windows that allowed a lot of light in and implementing prison-like oppressive security such as metal detectors at entrance, security cameras, and cops being present. Modern schooling focuses too much on control and obedience instead of student success and fail to realize that individuals with differences in personality and skill are more beneficial to society.
LikeLike
1. A rumor was always going around that the high school I attended
was designed by an architect that also designed jails. I never learned
if that was actually true or not. Yet, I can see how similar public high
schools and jails are similar. Schools should be a place for learning
and freedom of thought. Why does the United States on continuously
building these closed and shut buildings for our future generations?
2.Black spaces reminded me of a documentary I saw on HBCUs. These
are perfect spaces for black students to learn, thrive, and speak
without being discriminated. Looking beyond architecture, how do we
elevate these spaces to the next level? what is the next step?
3. Its unfortunate to learn how architects worked and enhanced the
further segregation in our communities through their practices. There
still are areas segregated for communities of color separate from those
of white neighborhoods. How do we as architects, planners, and designers
begin to move past this injustice? how do we fix our predessors wrong
doings?
LikeLike
1. In Black Spaces Matters, Charles mentioned that the latent potential of abandoned or neglected spaces can be influenced in the moment of renewed social protest. How can its optimism and ingenuity work?
2. In Schools and Prisons, Amber mention that steep penalties for minor infractions tend to push out students of color, deny them access to education. So can we say that it is the order maintenance policing that increase the crime rate of poor black because the lack of education is always connected with higher crime rate?
3. According to Black Lives Matter, a dimension that offers resources to sustain alternative visions of Black life is required. So how to build such an architectural space that not only responds to black movement but also activates the aesthetic dimension?
LikeLike
The lecture talks about three main parts: black lives matters, black spaces matters, and the school issues. Unfortunately, architecture and urban design can contribute to violence against black people. After countless killings of black people, the vulnerability long experienced by black people in public spaces challenged the legitimacy of the state. The killing of an innocent black young man shocked the whole state. Although he was just walking along the street, doing nothing bad, he was eventually killed by police. It is vital to have a right perspective towards everyone. If we agree that black lives matter, we must take it into consideration that black spaces matters. In the early twentieth century, people disseminated the myth that black settlement into white neighborhoods negatively affected long-term home values. Where blacks lives is also a reflection of people’s point of view on them.
LikeLike
Something I found very interesting about this week’s readings was how swiftly a young student can end up in prison. The Zero Tolerance policy that teachers have been implementing seems to have the exact opposite affect that they wanted it to. Expelling or Suspending a student for the tiniest of mishaps seems to be the school’s way of freeing themselves of all responsibility over that student and therefor leaving it only with the parents. However, the parents most likely have work or other concerns and cannot focus on keeping track of them while educating them. Left on their own and free of any adult supervision the student may fall into some trouble or many cases, behind bars.
LikeLike
Is there an architectural move available that would influence more of a Dewey-like learning environment?
The notion of schools and prisons having similarities has to do with its hierarchical implementation and its construction. Even if we as architects begin to design institutions that stray away from that idea, how much would that actually change the prison-like tendencies? Is it really the architecture or is it the government?
The problem that persists is the cultural divide that a lot of architecture creates. In what ways could we design a building that is more sensitive to the environment in which it is place and that of the students who attend?
LikeLike
At the end of the race matters presentation, there was an interesting question asked regarding what was read for that week. To avoid plagiarism of any sort, the question reads: In “Black Lives Matter”, The Newark riots of the 1960’s are discussed as a form of opposition to discriminatory real estate development. Is the destruction that is caused by riots a necessary evil when there is no other way to overcome these policies? Or are there other, more effective ways? I found this question interesting because of the way in which the word “necessary” was used. In the instance that is regarded, riots, more so that of poor black communities, do not happen for no reason. Riots are a result of a group of individuals’ voice being unheard or silenced altogether. But the reason why this topic is being alluded to is because riots actually are effective. See for a riot to occur there has to be something deeply rooted into communities, people do not collectively come together and riot because someone got their parking spot taken. In other words it is not spur of the moment that has been experienced one time. It is a combination of multiple moments along with other attempts to change the situation in a peaceful but we do not talk about those because they are ineffective.
LikeLike
1) What is the relationship between architecture and institutional oppression? How does architecture become a tool designed to inspire fear and conformity? What form does it take and what is the historical precedent for it, if there is one?
2) In”Schools and Prisons,” Amber Wiley talks about the relationship between schooling and mass incarceration. How has whiteness developed a monopoly on the Dewey system of schools?
3) What are some examples of black architecture?
LikeLike
1. Does the feeling of incarceration have something to do with how architecture in the US are generally constructed since most of the spaces are comparatively small and enclosed?
2. How are we supposed to treat previously built schools and buildings that are long in history because some of them fail to provide adequate and open spaces for students. However most of the time these buildings are considered to be historical and unique.
3. Do we really need “black architecture”?
LikeLike
1) In constituting schemes of social stratification in urban conditions, systems of surveillance have also been established. These systems also gives architecture agencies of monitoring people’s daily lives. As Wiley suggested, these systems are practices that are “an integral part of life,” as well as “architectural brief” in design. The question: in what condition of urban design does architecture liberate itself from being part of a system of surveillance.
2) The notion of “ecosocial” architecture mentioned in David II’s Black Space Matter seems to suggest that the racial mattering of spaces and urban condition is inherently associated with the manifestation of human ecology and their differences. Does this also imply that architecture is the sole driver for class-based and identity-based expressions, and therefore necessitates segregation?
3) Massey suggests that architecture should resist the exercise of operation of biopolitical powers. But are architects disenfranchised in this condition? With the site-specificity and context-aware culture of practice, can architects really resist such operation, or should architects instead focus on developing new typologies that preserves communal identities?
LikeLike
Architecture is only half of the equation when it comes to race. Certainly the planning, zoning and construction of buildings and cities contributes to discrepancies between racial communities, yet the opposite is also true. There are policies in place throughout history that predetermined the conditions of living and social interactions between citizens. In terms of urban citizenship, much creativity could be explored in terms of how racial typologies shapes textuality and engages experiential qualities and sensory modalities in architecture, plainly based upon historic experiences that are face within races. This places black architecture in a unique position in the discipline. The experience of architecture could become the experience of community, through which everyone could be brought together.
LikeLike
Though much of the bureaucratic barriers faced by people of color in this country have been removed, social and architectural discrimination is still a pressing issue. There are few black spaces in the country that are safe and architectural vibrant, with many black spaces falling to schools or community centers. These schools and community centers resemble jails more than happy places however, with schools keeping order much in the way that jails do. While the architectural changes that are needed cannot fix all of the problems faced by black Americans, they can certainly contribute to an improvement in the living conditions and potentially lead to more equality in the future.
LikeLike
The talk was good, with the exception of the end. Like we understand the school to prison pipeline and reiterating it got pretty old pretty fast. I would have liked to see a more in detail or higher level analysis of the text, and extra sources brought in to talk about. Talk about Maurice Cox and Detroit Future City. To say riots is the only option left is a copout of an answer and does not reflect the level of analysis needed in my opinion
LikeLike
The presentation of Race Matter, went very in depth with explaining how some school systems in low budget communities have a relationship with prisons. Moreover, this country we live in today has very little amounts of black spaces that are architecturally sound and generally safe. The relationship between schools and jails has been the same for a prolonged period of time. I believe that in the future the architectural community will create new and beneficial schools for communities like the ones mentioned in the lecture. It is certain that the development of new schools and community centers will not secure complete safety and solve the bigger problems in today’s world, but it definitely has the possibility to open up doors to new ideas that could later benefit these communities.
LikeLike
How can architecture be used to open up racial and social possibilities? The power of architecture can create conditions for a systematic embrace or repression of a specific part of the population. Up until the 60s the Jim Crow laws created oppressive spaces for colored people in the United States not only were black people isolated from the rest of the population, they were forced into places that often did not accommodate their needs very well if at all. typologies such as the panopticon and modern day churches evolved from social and cultural conditions that aid in the performance of the program, whether it be surveillance or spiritual teaching.
LikeLike
In what ways can architecture create more open minded spaces that accepts everyone for their differences? Society must redefine the education system because schools are becoming more like prisons for minorities, a place supposedly for learning and making friends is transformed into juvenile detention. There is a zero tolerance policy for even the smallest mistakes made by a student of color. By looking deeper into the school to prison pipeline, the layouts and designs are quite similar. There are flaws in the architectural designs which subconsciously condition its inhabitants, drawing a clear line between the two is the first step towards reversing the pipeline effect. Getting rid of the underlying discrimination from the environment can help towards constructing unprejudiced spaces. The quality of education is deteriorating by mimicking the prison, students of color are taught in fear. A pressuring environment where one mishap can send students to jail cells and go on their permanent records. Fixing the designs of schools will resolve only a portion of the problems, a new order is needed and awareness should increase.
Second Try
LikeLike
The planning and construction of certain districts contribute to racial issues. The conditions of housing units and communities determine how people living in these areas will be viewed as well as how they interact with one another. The architectural design of these spaces negatively impacts the community spaces and drives rifts between individuals, sometimes causing violence and shining a negative light on these neighborhoods. In the presentation, they went on to describe how even in diverse schools, students would be picked out and presented as “an issue” just based on their skin color. One student brought up how when black students wore their hair naturally they were punished or even kicked out of school. A place in which they were sent to learn and be educated, but in return are punished for being themselves.
LikeLike
I found the inherent link between race and place to be a very important part of this week’s discussion. The undeniable connection between spaces and racism in American history directly relates to both our daily lives and our profession as architects. I think that this week’s presentation was important in bringing this aspect of architecture to our attention in the way that many other social or environmental responsibilities have been thus far in RPI’s school of architecture. It’s important for us to not only recognize this negative correlation, but discover ways to reverse it through our design.
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A great accomplishment of the Race Matters presentation was the examination of the history of the Black Live’s Matter movement, going well beyond the readings and modern day context. One presenter covered the origin and timeline of racial inequality between African American and white people in our country. An example was reflecting on the Jim Crow laws and their residual effects leading to what’s known as the New Jim Crow Laws. Another particularly impressive decision on the presenter’s part was the level of transparency exercised when talking about present issues – candidly discussing topics the majority of white people in authority positions don’t even want to recognize in our society. This was done in part by acknowledging the origin of racism in (morally, culturally, personal autonomy) and the meaning of Black Lives Matter in depth and disclosing accounts of the innocent lives taken. They also exhibited more interesting and critical thinking beyond the text discussing imperative African American historical figures; people like Booker T. Washington and his role in evolving Tuskegee University – juxtaposing the oppressive educational system in the U.S. for students of color covered in Amber Wiley’s “Schools and Prisons”.
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