Reimagining spaces through collective design, community-led creativity, and architectural inclusivity.
How We BeganThe UDesign Justice Initiative is a platform that directly addresses community issues through design.
It exists for all the diverse and underrepresented communities.
It challenges the dominant design methodologies, narratives, processes, and systems in academia and practice, and tests new ideas.
It does these actions by centring community-led processes, decolonizing practices, understanding the narratives, and amplifying the voices of marginalized populations.
The initiative seeks to reframe how we understand oppressions and exclusions, and co-create more equitable, just, and inclusive spaces, policies, and practices.
Design shapes how we live, but not everyone benefits equally. Planning, architecture, housing, infrastructure, and digital systems distribute power, safety, opportunity, and dignity. Historically, these systems have privileged some groups while marginalizing others, embedding inequities into the physical and social fabric of cities.
“Design justice rethinks design processes, centers people who are normally marginalized by design, and uses collaborative, creative practices to address the deepest challenges our communities face.”
— Sasha Costanza-Chock, Design Justice, MIT Press, 2020
To convene, co-design, and catalyze justice-centered solutions with communities, practitioners, and institutions — pairing storytelling and evidence to influence decisions, embed accountability, and deliver practical action projects that improve daily life.
Calgary where people most impacted by spatial injustice lead decisions about housing, mobility, public space, and services, so policies and projects reflect community needs, strengthen belonging, and improve resilience.
Reimagining how design is done by challenging outdated codes, adopting inclusive and iterative processes, and embedding innovation, ethics, and long-term thinking into every stage — designing with communities, not just for them.
Raising public understanding of design’s role in justice, shifting mindsets, and promoting critical thinking through accessible education, storytelling, and knowledge sharing.
Creating environments that are physically, socially, and culturally accessible; addressing racial bias, affordability barriers, and intergenerational needs; and ensuring spaces honour Indigenous Peoples, disabled communities, and all marginalized groups with dignity and care.
Strengthening community connections, fostering social integration, and enhancing emotional well-being by addressing isolation and cultivating collective belonging, trust, and safety in shared spaces.
Reframe dominant narratives about place by centering lived experience and elevating diverse voices. Challenge the stories that define “who belongs” in certain spaces, and cultivate new ones that reflect the histories, perspectives, and aspirations of marginalized communities.
With a commitment to accountability, this approach emphasizes responsibility for actions, systems, harms, and biases, guided by accurate, data-driven insights, feedback loops, and a focus on meaningful impact for communities.
Rooted in empathy and understanding, this approach nurtures dignity, care, kindness, and hospitality, embracing vulnerability and strength-based connections.
Grounded in authenticity, humility, and integrity, this approach prioritizes clear, accessible, and respectful communication, transparency, trust, equality, justice, consensus, and consent, while remaining true to values through honesty, sincerity, openness, restoration, data accuracy, and a not-for-profit commitment.
Rooted in accessibility as a baseline, this approach embraces inclusive, community-driven and community-focused collaboration that values lived experiences, collective ownership, intentional engagement, knowledge sharing, solidarity, and stewardship, ensuring diverse voices are heard and embedded in process-oriented, mixed-use, and open-access designs that meet people where they are.
Accessible, safe, and welcoming spaces that prioritize relationships, reciprocity, meaningful connections, inspiration, tolerance, and building connections foster inclusive communities.
Adaptable, be flexible, challenge status quos, change, modular design.
Creative curiosity, ingenuity, innovative thinking, open-source collaboration, and inventive communication drive progress.
Intergenerational responsibility, continuity, investment loops, longevity, and long-term commitment are key to sustaining impact.
Acknowledging privilege, embracing cultural intersectionality, engaging in evaluation and feedback loops, learning from mistakes, recognizing diverse perspectives, practicing self-reflection, understanding different approaches, and welcoming discomfort are essential to growth.
