Shared Space - How Architecture Can Foster Inclusion with Maya Bird-Murphy

How Architecture Can Foster Inclusion with Maya Bird-Murphy

08/04/20 • 46 min

In this episode, Maya and I explore how architecture can help create community and foster inclusion – how often it’s purposefully designed to exclude and how we can change that. Maya’s journey to create Chicago Mobile Makers started off with two questions - 1. How can we diversity the design profession? 2. How can we improve disinvested communities? And, can those two things happen simultaneously?

Maya believes that architecture should not be a privilege and must expand to accommodate more people through teaching and community engagement. While working full time and completing her master's, she founded Chicago Mobile Makers, a nonprofit bringing design focused skill-building workshops to marginalized Chicago communities. Her journey - from growing up in the Historic Oak Park with Frank Lloyd Wright tours down the road, to architecture school at Ball State and a Master's degree at Boston Architectural College while working full time, to where she is today - is a roadmap for those looking to chart their own path and be the change they want to see in the world. '

Her story is an inspiration for anyone thinking about going into a design field, or really any field, and doesn’t see themselves represented. In many ways she let pain be her guide and created something uniquely special and life giving. As her and her colleagues at Chicago Mobile Makers look to this next school semester in the face of COVID-19, the mobile maker has some very special things in store that are uniquely positioned to benefit Chicago area youth. If you want to learn more about here or her work please check out the links below to her website, Chicago Mobile Maker’s Website and their recent feature in Dwell Magazine. Links: Maya Bird-Murphy: Website / @mayabirdmurphy Chicago Mobile Makers: @chicagomobilemakers / https://www.chicagomobilemakers.org/ Dwell feature of Chicago Mobile Makers

Previous Episode

Accessibility: How to Create Places That Are Safe, Inclusive, and Walkable

On this episode we discuss the importance of designing accessible and inclusive places of connection. When we use universal design principles that honor the human experience, we are creating more inclusive, equitable and welcoming places for all people. I share an example from my own practice working with clients to create spaces that are accessible for the people they serve, like the new clinic at Parkland Hospital.

Perhaps the most foundational attribute of a good third place is that it is accessible to those who can use it. The best versions foster a sense of ownership and become regular parts of people’s lives. This requires safe, convenient, affordable, and comfortable access to the place (1). For children, this means they can gather, play, and explore with some independence from parents as developmentally appropriate. For senior adults or people with disabilities, this means that there are easy physical access options, benches to rest, and spaces to shelter them from the elements. For all ages, the ideal is a space that is within walking distance from home, work, or school. Humans evolved to navigate our worlds on our feet, and much research has shown the benefits of physical activity on the health of our minds and bodies(2), and the role of pedestrian friendly streets, neighborhoods, and cities in fostering well-being for all - on foot, wheelchair, stroller or walker.

Studies have demonstrated that people living in walkable, mixed-use neighborhoods have more social capital compared to residents of car-oriented suburbs. People in walkable neighborhoods report being more likely to trust others, participate politically, know their neighbors, and be socially engaged (3). Car dependence limits opportunities for in-person interaction, and whenever possible, it is best to shift away from auto travel when we think about how people access a third place.

1. Cattell et al., 2008; Cheang, 2002; 2. Renalds et al., 2010; Wood, Frank, & Giles-Corti, 2010; 3. Leyden, 2003

My Website: https://www.erinpeavey.com/sharedspace

FULL REPORT: https://www.hksinc.com/how-we-think/research/connecting-irl-how-the-built-environment-can-foster-social-health/

Parkland Clinic: https://www.mccarthy.com/projects/parkland-hospital-outpatient-clinic-2

Redlining & Green Space: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/past-racist-redlining-practices-increased-climate-burden-on-minority-neighborhoods/

How to Build Inclusive Cities: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-06-17/how-to-build-inclusive-cities

Equity and Green Space: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-03-19/access-to-green-space-varies-by-class-race-in-the-u-s

Universal Design: http://universaldesign.ie/What-is-Universal-Design/The-7-Principles/

Research on impact of neighborhood environment on postpartum depressive symptoms: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0165032719320105

Next Episode

How To Design for Comfort: Human Scale

This week's podcast we dig into one of the six attributes that help to create environments of connection, Human Scale. I interview Thom Grieving, Principal of HKS, about his team's work around a very special project that helps to exemplify what design with human scale for connection looks like at University of California at San Diego, Theater District Living and Learning Neighborhood. For this project, the Dean and leadership of UCSD had thoughtfully embedded considerations around social health and social connection in the original program of spaces and considering community health and wellness were key aims that the project targeted.

Spaces designed at a human scale use architectural detailing and variety to create small and intimate environments that are comfortable for people to move through or occupy. These are spaces that meet our basic human needs for comfort, safety, and interest (1), and that feel good to be in for reasons that are often indescribable. City blocks designed at a human scale have been shown to promote more social interactions and lingering (2), whereas research reveals that blocks with large expanses of monotonous storefront elevate stress responses and speed walking (3).

This conclusion was tested at a Whole Foods in New York City, where a research team found that despite the store operator’s desire for Whole Foods to feel like a local grocery store and blend with the existing neighborhood, the expansive glass storefront actually repelled passersby, who quickened their pace to get past it (4). This finding echoes a growing body of research in both human and mouse models that show how spaces devoid of ornamentation and variety can elicit a strong stress response (5), believed to be linked to the painful boredom they provoke (6).

A well-established component of human-scale design is the quality of providing prospect and refuge (7), offered by buildings or spaces that create a sense of enclosure while giving people the ability to look out—for instance, being under a patio pergola or on a front porch and watching the street. If you have ever felt the pull of a cozy booth seat or rested at the base of a tree, you have experienced the natural comfort of a space that provided prospect and refuge. This quality promotes a dual sense of security and openness that allows us to deepen existing friendships and form new ones.

Citations: 1. Montgomery, 2018; 2. Ellard, 2018;3. Ellard, 2018; Montgomery, 2018; 4. Ellard, 2018; Montgomery, 2018; 5. Bayne, 2018; Salingaros, 2014; 6. Ellard, 2018; 7. Dosen & Ostwald, 2016

Links: