Developing a community-centered design for justice framework

This (confidential) project in the Pacific Northwest, became a community-centered provocation for how designing for justice could show up in a public-private space.

An eight-month engagement, this project's confidentiality challenged our ability to earn trust and build relationships with community leaders in the region. Successful community work, digital ethnography, and in-depth research with activists, organizers, and local leaders resulted in insights and directives to incorporate elements of design justice into all parts of a large-scale master planning process.  

Outcomes included a focus on economic inclusion of BIPOC communities throughout the building process and investment strategies to ensure the inclusion of MWBE businesses in procurement, design and program cues for safety, belonging, and inclusion across the site, and opportunities to support initiatives aimed at the region's housing crisis.