Working Group: Fostering Inclusivity in Architectural Education

Working Group investigates exclusionary practices in architectural pedagogy as a means to build more equitable and inclusive architecture programs and therefore, a more diverse profession. At the Fall 2019 ACSA Conference, Less Talk | More Action, the authors led a small roundtable discussion where participants identified barriers to studying architecture and discussed ways that schools were working to overcome these barriers. After this discussion, the authors conducted further research to deepen their understanding of several of the barriers discussed. The following paper outlines the session discussion and subsequent research. The authors use data from national organizations such as ACSA, AIA, and NAAB to understand the current demographic makeup of institutions and architecture offices, and survey diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) statements on architecture program websites, in light of new NAAB criteria that requires programs to communicate their DEI statements. Because many barriers affect whether students would choose to study architecture in the first place, the authors identify programs working at the K-12 level to expose underrepresented minority students to architecture, and map programs to understand their distribution in the United States. The authors discuss examples of educators working to reinvent architecture pedagogy to produce more inclusive environments, and make recommendations on what can be done to foster more inclusive architectural pedagogy and urge national organizations to hold programs accountable beyond the DEI statement.

https://doi.org/10.35483/ACSA.FALL.19.29

Volume Editors
Amy Larimer, Deborah Berke, Diana Lin, Drew Krafcik, John Barton & Sunil Bald

ISBN
978-1-944214-24-1