Signals of Inclusion

How is it, exactly, that multiple communities may coexist in the same physical spaces? This contribution to DUSP's racially just research initiative emphasizes the role of design analysis and listening in ways that are not as obviously apparent in the department's four strategic priorities, and this project seeks to develop and apply methods for combining these to see, hear, and read the built environment in ways that can advance racial justice, in part by revealing ways that matters of inclusion and belonging can be viscerally conveyed--thereby demonstrating additional venues through which racial justice must be more positively be signaled and pursued. 

Key questions arise: Can signs of inclusion be identified at the neighborhood scale? What sensory mechanisms are deployed to convey welcome? What sensory mechanisms are deployed to convey division? How much of this is conveyed through texts and images, and how much through soundscapes and smellscapes? When, where and why do these exist, or not exist, in a neighborhood? Do digitization platforms play a role in enhancing or diminishing signs of inclusion? Do these signs (physical or virtual) come from residents, non-residents (such as those who work at/for commercial establishments), or civil society organizations? What is the role of decision-makers and planners in encouraging them? Is it possible to learn from successful cases or is it entirely contextual? These are some of the questions we face when thinking about existing and new neighborhoods in the city of the digital age. 

This project entails convening a diverse group of scholars for a January 2025 workshop at MIT, intended to develop an edited book and action plan to identify and promote ways that neighborhood design in heterogeneous places can promote higher levels of inclusion and belonging for all. It is also intended to enhance intellectual connection among recent DUSP doctoral alums, senior scholars, and current DUSP students and faculty.