Design Collective Using Black-Centered Approaches to Transform Cities

Nate Berg reports on BlackSpace, a collective of Black urban planners, architects, artists, activists, and designers. "Committed to Black-centered planning and design, the organization works through community workshops, planning exercises, and cooperative design efforts to proactively bring Black voices and concerns into a development process that has long ignored them."

BlackSpace is addressing long-standing inequities in the planning and outreach process, access to resources, and professional fields that lack diversity and representation. The organization’s manifesto includes strategies such as "move at the speed of trust," "plan with, design with," and "seek people at the margins."

BlackSpace began in New York City, but groups have started in other cities, including Chicago and Oklahoma City. "As a nonprofit, BlackSpace often relies on its network of members to spread its principles through their own work. Being a manifesto-based organization means that there doesn’t have to be a specific BlackSpace workshop or design event for its ideas to take root," writes Berg.