When will my reflection show who I am inside?

Habraken’s Questions That Will Not Go Away posits that “our self-image determines the way we design: our buildings reflect how we see ourselves.” To me, this immediately brings up the idea of diversity, or lack thereof, in design. Sure, the gender gap among architects is closing, with academic programs often favouring women even, but this is not being reflected in leadership and decision making positions. Racial, ethnic, religious, and cultural diversity are often harder to pinpoint, though these are often where DEIA efforts are focused. This work to increase diversity in a company especially is often left up to those who are already marginalised and while this often comes from the majority group not wanting to overstep or offend, it forces those who are already disadvantaged to add something further to their plate and often does not provide them with the support or resources to make real change.

The recent push to increase diversity in these areas is positive, but it too often leaves out perhaps the largest marginalised group by ignoring diversity in abilities and neurodiversity. Most often, we see DEI and not DEIA even, not addressing accessibility issues at all, whether they are ability related, economic, information related, or something else. If, as Habraken suggests, design products are a reflection of the designers, not only are groups not being included in the process, but we see yet another reason that the deck is stacked against them, the systems of power and influence designed to keep them down, and the built environment itself further contributing to marginalisation and othering. If we want our designs to reflect our community, we must make our design teams actually and accurately represent that community and stop hiding behind tokenism and performative action. It cannot be the sole responsibility of marginalised groups to solve problems of equity  or to represent an entire community, we all must commit to having the hard conversations and taking meaningful action. Only then can our built environment reflect us as we are and as we want to be, rather than just a small privileged few.