2021 Structural Engineering Fellowship
Decolonizing Urban Landscapes: Reclaiming a Black and Indigenous Right to the City through Structural Design

Social justice in the built environment has often been considered an urban planning and political issue rather than an engineering concern. The most well-known examples of using the built environment to perpetuate injustice include redlining, unfair housing policies, and gentrification. However, injustices can also be seen at the scale of individual structures: highways divide neighborhoods, skyways between buildings literally elevate private users above the public, and building column layouts and bridge alignments can inhibit accessibility. In New York from the 1920s to the 1970s, one master builder even purposefully designed bridges with low clearances to discourage buses on his parkways and limit bus-riding low-income racial minorities from accessing the beach. [1] Structures are more than the product of technical parameters, building materials, and scientific tools. As engineers, and especially as engineering students, we are often provided with problem statements and quantitative information and asked to find solutions. This results in decontextualized problems in which the social framework has been rendered irrelevant. However, our structures are not neutral, timeless, and placeless; they are physical manifestations of our contemporary values.

Just as culture informs structures, structures can also inform culture. As built environment practitioners, there are three stages during which we can effect social change:

1. Planning: When deciding where, what, and when to build, we need to consider the implications of our decisions. What is this project’s socioeconomic legacy? When we designate heritage structures, whose heritage are we honoring and whose are we neglecting? “Good” design is typically reserved for high-profile landmark projects; how can we lend our technical expertise to projects that may be smaller scale but more impactful?

2. Conceptual Design: In developing a structural system and architectural program, we inherently define a problem statement and design objectives. Who are the assumed target users of this structure, do their demographics align with those of the greater community, and does the conceptual design reflect their needs? Does the public get similar benefits as private users? Does the structure enhance social connectivity?

3. Detailed Design: Does the spatial layout reinforce or confront users’ biases? Do entrances cater to pedestrians at the street level or wealthier users in a private garage? Are walkways and cycling paths on bridges prioritized over the roadway? Do structural elements weave in artistic elements that reflect the local culture and use sustainable materials? The proposed research will examine how structures and designers respond to these questions. Emphasis will be placed on structures that address the intersection of race and the urban environment, particularly where Black and Indigenous groups have been underrepresented.

Case Study: Bending toward Justice on Chicago’s South Side

In the United States, racial disparities have been woven into the urban environment since the country’s inception. Today, many cities are addressing their troubled histories of racialized marginalization through urban regeneration. One case study exists in Chicago’s Bronzeville neighborhood on the South Side: until the 2010s, Bronzeville was separated from Lake Michigan by railroad tracks and Lake Shore Drive; meanwhile, the North Side is mostly railroad free and connected to the lakefront every quarter mile. [2]

To address Bronzeville’s lack of lakefront access, the 41st and 43rd Street Bridges were constructed in 2018. Each bridge had to span over active rail, catenary wires, and eight expressway lanes, all of which were to remain operational during construction and restricted the possible footprint of the bridge. Combined with ADA slope requirements and a desire to mirror the sweeping lakefront park paths, these design conditions led to a solution consisting of complex inclined arch bridges with S-curved decks that are supported by hangers on only one side. [3]

The bridges provide ADA-compliant access to the lakefront, integrating aesthetic form with structural function to address community needs. Residents even displayed signs thanking the team for connecting their community to the lakefront. [4] While regeneration may be complex and controversial, reinvestment in disadvantaged communities has great power to improve social outcomes.

Case Study: Reestablishing an Indigenous Urban Narrative in Aotearoa / New Zealand

Another country in which racial inequity in the urban environment is being addressed is New Zealand, or Aotearoa in Māori. After centuries of adapting to Pāhekā (Eurocentric/non-Māori) culture, Indigenous Māori started protesting for social justice in the 1970s. Today, their influence spans across all realms, including the building industry: the Te Aranga Māori Design Principles within the Auckland Design Manual are promoted across all Auckland Council building projects, [5] many of which will be studied for this proposed research.

Auckland is not the only city where Māori principles have taken root. Christchurch has had a unique opportunity to decolonize the city and incorporate innovative seismic-resistant systems into its rebuilt structures after its 2010–11 earthquakes. For the Tūranga Christchurch Central Library, designers collaborated with the Matapopore Charitable Trust, local iwi (tribes), librarians, and other stakeholders to design a resilient, culturally-sensitive, and technically advanced community building. Architectural elements and the spatial layout were informed by Māori cultural concepts.

Structurally, the building will sustain minimal damage under a large earthquake. To achieve this, engineers created a novel seismic force-resisting system that consists of post-tensioned concrete rocking walls with seismic extrusion dampers developed at the University of Canterbury. [6] These work alongside a steel moment-resisting frame with rocking base connections. Under small earthquakes, the building responds like a fixed-base structure; with increased loading, it sways at the base and then self-centers after shaking stops. [7]

This structure is one among many projects that have embraced Aotearoa / New Zealand’s Indigenous heritage and empowered Māori professionals, from authorities to building industry professionals and artists, throughout the entire process. With widespread participation across the country, Māori culture permeates through the built environment rather than being restricted to individual sites or rural reservations.

For too long, Black and Indigenous communities have been exiled from the urban environment—both physically, through lack of connection or spatially-embedded cultural values, and programmatically, through unjust design practices and project development processes. Reinvesting in these communities not only improves social outcomes for marginalized groups, but also positively impacts all citizens. By studying exemplary inclusive projects through this fellowship, we can be inspired with ethical practices to create a more equitable, sustainable, and inclusive urban landscape for all.

Notes

[1] Robert Caro, The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York (New York: Vintage Books, 1975), 952.

[2] Jeff Yoders, “Project of the Year, Best Landscape, Urban Development: 41st Street Pedestrian Bridge Over Lake Shore Drive,” Engineering News Record, March 19, 2020, https://www.enr.com/articles/48905-project-of-the-year-best-landscape-urban-development-41st-street-pedestrian-bridge-over-lake-shore-drive.

[3] Yoders, “Project of the Year.”

[4] Yoders, “Project of the Year.”

[5] “Te Aranga Principles,” Auckland Design Manual, accessed February 28, 2021, http://www.aucklanddesignmanual.co.nz/design-subjects/maori-design/te_aranga_principles.

[6] “UC Engineering Innovation Boosts New City library's Quake Resilience,” University of Canterbury, August 28, 2018, https://www.canterbury.ac.nz/news/2018/uc-engineering-innovation-boosts-new-city-librarys-quake-resilience.html.

[7] “Tūranga – Engineering,” Christchurch City Council Libraries, accessed February 20, 2021, https://my.christchurchcitylibraries.com/turanga/turanga-about-the-building/turanga-engineering/.

United States and Canada

Australia and New Zealand