Abstract
Marginalized communities around the world are disproportionately impacted by the distribution of unjust infrastructure and environmental conditions. However, through distributive, procedural, and restorative frameworks, it is possible to teach spatial designers to challenge, inform, and reshape the world toward a more just and equitable future. This chapter delves into the various themes developed as part of the “Spatial Justice” professional elective at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, which offers an interdisciplinary perspective on urban studies, urban design, and the roles that social, environmental, and ecological justice play in designing a more just and equitable urbanity. In this course, students explore critical urban theory, justice, counter cartographies, design activism, participatory systems, and spatial agency using alternative mapping methodologies to render legible latent sociospatial asymmetries.
TopInstitution Of Higher Education Program Context
City of Lincoln
The city of Lincoln, and more broadly, the state of Nebraska, is predominantly white. According to the American Community Survey (2018), in 2018 there were 15 times more white residents (227,000 people, 79.1%) in Lincoln than residents of any other race or ethnicity. There were 29,300 (7.77%) Hispanic and 12,500 (4.35%) Asian residents, the second and third most common ethnic groups. Black residents accounted for only 4.25% of the population (12,200 people). Nebraska itself has a documented history of segregation: for example, as recently as 1975 the US Supreme Court struck down Omaha, Nebraska’s segregated schooling practice. In the early 20th century, the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) held a significant presence in Nebraska, and by 1922 the state had 45,000 KKK members, with Klan demonstrations, parades, and cross burnings becoming commonplace in many areas and Lincoln’s “klavern,” with an estimated 5,000 members, the largest and most vocal in the state. In 1924 the Nebraska KKK held its statewide convention in Lincoln and more than a thousand klansmen paraded openly through the streets (Hildebrand, 2010).
Key Terms in this Chapter
ATLAS: A collection of multimedia maps.
Restorative: Reconciliation between oppressors and the oppressed.
Activism: Intentional actions to instigate change.
Agency: The ability of an individual to produce change.
Provocation: A prompt to elicit an intellectual response.
Participatory: Inclusion of others in decision-making processes.
Platform: Media for engagement in the exchange of products or ideas.
Distributive: Provision of access to benefits and burdens of resources and environmental conditions.
Procedural: The process by which priorities are set and decisions are made.
Critical Theory: A philosophical approach focusing on reflective assessment and critique of society and culture to reveal and challenge power structures.