Design , as an object, as a practice and as a knowledge, is an integral part of the society thus cannot be ignored when studying power and oppression in society. the objective of this study is to critically look at ‘design’ as a social phenomenon and study power and oppression in design by paying attention to the networks and relationships between the domains of design practice, production and everyday life.
Dear Dr.Thanussayan Karunakaran;
Communities have been marginalized as a result of circulation patterns that disconnect from surrounding urbanism in order to isolate a certain set of people within a boundary. It is a common problem in large public housing developments from the early to mid-twentieth century. The issues that cities face when constructing these neighborhoods are rooted in paternalism and lingering institutional racism, as well as presumptions about how a stigmatization group would prefer to live. Intend classifications, such as circulation and how large developments connect to their surroundings, are important enough to be redefined in an architect's code of ethics. It should be a professional requirement to ensure equitable access both within and outside one's neighborhood. In many cases, the majority of new housing in these developments is offered at the market rate, so instead of giving poor residents a chance to stay, projects hasten the dismantling of their communities as services catering to affluent newcomers flood in and push others out. To avoid displacing communities with floods of capital, architects (and their clients) must broaden their scope of services to include pre-design exercises that accurately and critically assess how development will affect the most vulnerable. These questions can only be effectively addressed at the start of the design and construction process, and they should be among the first things a designer introduces. It is the designer's responsibility to bring the voice of community end users to the table a good place to start in the effort to turn design toward the service of inclusion and equality.
In the US, over and over we witness the needs of people with low incomes, diverse cultural ideas and the wrong color skin routinely deprived of basic human services and educational opportunities. I’d like to suggest that design as a way of thinking (vs making objects) can be part of changing this. But we’ve studied this, created awareness and used grants to fund small endeavors to bring change.
More often we fail. We fail because our ideas have little to do with things people want and their values.
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