Hi! I’m working on two reports about equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) in the building industry, and I’m looking for contributions from you or others in your firm. See below for what I’m looking for, and please reply directly to me at paula@buildinggreen.com.
NOTE: Ideally, I’m hoping people will want to provide names and firm names, but I am also open to some anonymous answers during interviews. I want very candid responses about successes and failures. Calling out firms and individuals for not solving systemic problems is NOT the purpose of these reports!
The first report focuses on EDI in the AEC professions and the firm, laying out the current state of things and looking for solutions. Some questions I’m interested in:
- How diverse is your firm and its leadership? If it’s reflective of the profession as a whole, are you taking measures to remediate that? If it’s more diverse than the profession as a whole, what’s your take on why?
- How does your sustainability position influence EDI in your firm? What have been your specific successes, and what are some specific examples of falling short?
- Does your firm have an EDI specialist on staff, and can I speak to them?
- Has your firm offered implicit bias training, and what was that experience like?
- What are your diversity stories? When have you seen that greater EDI has improved the design process? When have you seen that insufficient EDI measures may have harmed your practice?
- If you are white, how do you act as an ally to people of color in your firm?
- If you are male, how do you act as an ally to women in your firm?
- If you are a person of color, what is it like to practice in an overwhelmingly white-dominated profession? What are some of your stories, either positive or negative?
- If you are a woman, what is it like to practice in a male-dominated profession? What are some of your stories, either positive or negative?
The second report focuses on EDI in practice, looking at how (and why) we can more effectively include diverse voices in the design process. Some questions I’m interested in:
- How has EDI work within the firm (or lack thereof) influenced how open your team is to working with marginalized communities during the design process?
- What are some strategies you have used to include and listen to marginalized voices? What are some specific successes, and where specifically have you fallen short?
- In a white-dominated profession of affluent and privileged people, how can architects best approach low-income communities and communities dominantly of color to solicit their input?
- How can inclusion and diversity best be leveraged to support positive outcomes?
- What are some specific project case studies we can hold up to help others with positive process and outcomes, and some lessons learned?
- What does equitable and just architectural practice look like?
