Spatial Politics is an experimental architectural and urban design practice that pursues service and impact in the built environment through spatial design and applied research. It seeks to demonstrate a more equitable and inclusive model of practice motivated by expanding access to design and prioritizing the agency of individuals and communities in shaping their own cities and spaces. Through its work, Spatial Politics calls for a radical reimagining of the role of design in society, one that recognizes its inherent political nature and embraces its potential to promote a progressive social agenda.
As a concept, Spatial Politics refers to the power dynamics that manifest and are negotiated in physical space. It can involve the distribution and allocation of resources, the use of and control over land and property, the establishment of borders, and the enforcement of territorial claims. Spatial Politics also includes the construction of and representation of space in social, cultural, and political contexts, and the ways in which space is experienced and contested by different individuals and groups of people.
There is much talk about the good that design can do and yet the architecture and planning professions are not set up to deliver on that promise. The traditional top down approach is flawed. As designers, we have a responsibility to do better, to listen more, and to abandon our egos. Too often, existing models of practice produce outputs that are primarily aesthetic pursuits, often ignorant to the needs and desires of future users and relevant communities.
While we do not subscribe to an abandonment of beauty, our conception of “beauty” must be redefined. Design should be an inclusive and generative process that prioritizes participation and engagement. The legacy of designing FOR must be replaced with a new model of designing WITH. Design is a political act, but it has rarely truly been democratized. Participation in planning and decision-making must be expanded, because the power dynamics that currently dictate our cities and spaces have not created equitable or just results.
Source: Native Land Digital (2023)
Spatial Politics acknowledges that it operates on the unceded indigenous lands of the Lenape people, the original inhabitants of the land now politically designated as New York City. We seek to honor the Munsee Lenape and Canarsie who remain the rightful stewards of these stolen lands, though they were violently displaced from wider Lenapehoking as a result of continual European and American settler colonialism. We recognize the ongoing struggle of indigenous peoples to secure recognition, sovereignty, self-determination, and justice both here and around the world.
Spatial Politics is a project of Justin Paul Ware.