Spatial justice is a termed coined by geographers. It means that justice has a geography, and equitable distribution of access, services, opportunities, and outcomes should be a basic human right.

When we overlay demographics, we find a strong overlap between the lack of spatial justice and other forms of injustice, including racial. Level of access to more just environments is often a function of privilege and power, and one’s level of privilege and power is often intimately connected to race.

Design is definitely not a panacea, but it is not without complicity or agency. To not engage at all, is a form of complicity because the status quo maintains the harm. Design does not have the power to single handedly eliminate oppression, but by engaging responsibly and with accountability, design can be leveraged to be a force in the fight for change if we commit to reframing the terms and conditions of who we build for, what we build, and how we build.

Too often we hear people say that designers don’t have any power. But the reality is that any time our decisions have the ability to impact the life of another, I have power. The current system of inequity inherently gives designers more power than the communities who have been historically marginalized and harmed. So the real questions are how do we acknowledge the power we have, share it with those who have less, and use it as an instrument for justice? At Studio O, we deploy this power in how we guide the teams to think about the scope and speed of the project and who needs to be at the table; how we gather, interpret, and share data; and how we support our clients to hold space for vulnerability and risk.

Community-engaged design is a creative- and accountability-based practice in which those most impacted by historical and/or current harms in a local context are the lead stewards in shaping the process, determining its outcomes, and benefiting from its results.

Human-centered design (HCD) is the process through which creative innovations are developed through a deeply empathetic process that places user needs and desires at the heart of the creative development.

“Social innovation” as a platform for design has taken off significantly in the last 20 years, inspired in part by work of firms like IDEO.org, Frog, Dahlberg, etc. HCD is the process framework often deployed for projects in this space. Although historically associated with product design, there has been a significant growth in the application of this practice to service delivery and enterprises from mobile banking to maternal health. Whether design is used to develop strategies, products, or places, there is a belief that it has the capacity to interject creativity and tangibility.Over the years, there have been some transformative projects that have resulted. But there have also been significant failures. Increasingly, there has been an emerging critique that social innovation and HCD don't adequately address the biases that have long been inherent in the design process and that continue to perpetuate structures of oppression, like white supremacy and colonialism. Unless they are explicitly addressing these structures and trying to root it out – from the way in which the design process is carried out to the result of the work - design “solutions” will instead continue to uphold the existence of these structures. Furthermore, empathy, which is often the stated foundation of Human Centered Design process, too often becomes a proxy for deeper inquiry into issues of power, privilege, and positionality. Disrupting cycles of oppression cannot be achieved if we only skim the surface; that merely reinforces complicity in the harm.

Studio O is a multidisciplinary consultancy that works at the intersection of racial and spatial justice. Its mission is to with/in communities in need globally, particularly low-income communities of color, to create or improve systems, services, and places that can sustainably heal conditions of injustice. Its projects range in type from helping to create a model for antiracist housing in Charlottesville, Virginia to undertaking a strategic design effort for a maternal health social enterprise in Nairobi, Kenya. Although I currently run a solo design studio, I work primarily as part of teams. My collaborators vary from project to project and often depend on the context and needs of the project. Most importantly, the teams have the disciplinary representation needed to generate creative, innovative, and contextual ideas.

Because our projects vary in type and context, this looks different across projects. That being said, we typically begin with a process that allows us to identify who needs to be at the table and to learn from them what might be the extent of harm in existence and repair needed. Where appropriate, we map those stories onto space. We can also craft a process that can hold space for continuing to acknowledge the harm and reckon with it. And we often create space (sometimes literally, sometimes figuratively, sometimes both) to begin to reimagine new possibilities and heal. We move iteratively and at the speed of trust, focused on creating relationships that can heal not transactions that can assuage. If you have more questions about how we work, please visit the Work and Media pages to learn more. 

I have been fortunate enough in my career that I have been able to work for and collaborate with trailblazing organizations and firms in the social impact and justice arena. But I think it's important to stress that you don't need to go work at a nonprofit or "alternative practice" to do this work. At its core, engaging social and justice issues in architecture and urbanism is about us embracing a community-centered approach to design; creating dialogue with and learning from beyond the design disciplines; working to hold yourself, your colleagues and clients, and profession accountable to processes and outcomes; and being open to engaging issues of power, privilege, and racism as part of the design framework.

The great – and sometimes maddening – aspect of this kind of work is that there is no direct path. My colleagues and I often represent a variety of different trajectories and skills. I think it’s important to figure out what you’re really good at and passionate about. Use that to help you understand where to dive deep. Because there is no set blueprint or path for this type of work, it’s important to seek out opportunities in a variety of spaces to expand your thinking, your network, and your training.

Are you a student who wants to focus on this area of work or a professional who wants to deepen your skills? Are you a community member who wants to better advocate for the issues in your community or just become better acquainted with the structures at work? Or do you have a general curiosity about these topics. There is an increasing wealth of resources to respond to these questions. A compilation of those that we are most familiar with is listed on the Resources page.

I was the weird child in my family who drew, but I grew up in a family of social scientists! I went to college intending to study engineering, but I fell in love with architecture. The degree at Wellesley was great in that architecture was not an official department so I was able to design the major. I had an interest in not only architecture and art but also, influenced by my upbringing, urban economics and urban sociology. I incorporated those subjects into my degree. After college, I spent a year living, working, and traveling through Sub-Saharan Africa thanks to a Thomas J. Watson Fellowship. My focus was on urbanization, the informal sector, and the role of architecture in both. The things I learned and saw that year, in combination with what I did in college, launched me on a path focused on how to create and nurture places that value everyone’s stories.I've continued to follow experiences that build on that throughout the many stops on my trajectory. That includes my Master’s in Architecture degree at Harvard where I sought to develop my voice as a designer while also actively pushing to decolonize design. It also includes my work at the nonprofit Public Architecture, where I was part of the early staff and leadership and helped shape both the design and advocacy work of the organization. Community-engaged design was in the early stages of its current manifestation, and since Public Architecture was at the vanguard of the movement, I became involved in shaping the field. I left to join the newly formed IDEO.org as part of their inaugural class of fellows, and similarly became involved in shaping the new space that that organization was charting in the field. After the fellowship, I created my own company, Studio O, and it serves a platform to continue to push the envelope on what practices are essential to nurture the type of places and the type of future that inspired me at the start of my career.

Since exploring the connection between spatial and racial justice issues in architecture and urbanism has been part of how I have framed my understanding of architecture; it's part of my designer DNA. I see the end goal of my work not as creating better buildings but creating environments and conditions that catalyze and support community healing and thriving. I use my design skills support my capacity to think about creatively and at multiple scales about the framework that can support that outcome. They help me reimagine beyond the limits beyond what is possible and create opportunities for others to do the same.

The firm and organizations that inspire me represent a range of different disciplines and practices, from community-engaged design firms to equity policy research hubs to grassroots economic justice organizations. The list of who I look to continues to evolve but you can see the latest list on the Resources page.

Because our projects vary in type and context, this looks different across projects. That being said, we typically begin with a process that allows us to identify who needs to be at the table and to learn from them what might be the extent of harm in existence and repair needed. Where appropriate, we map those stories onto space. We can also craft a process that can hold space for continuing to acknowledge the harm and reckon with it. And we often create space (sometimes literally, sometimes figuratively, sometimes both) to begin to reimagine new possibilities and heal. We move iteratively and at the speed of trust, focused on creating relationships that can heal not transactions that can assuage. If you have more questions about how we work, please visit the Projects and Thoughts to learn more.

While we work with a diversity of client types, there are some common threads across the spectrum. Because Studio O prioritizes working on projects that could be models, we look for clients that are ready to be in a space of deep experimentation with us. We also firmly believe in participatory processes that enable those most impacted by the project to be stewards in shaping it, which means recognizing them as co-clients. And since we center healing as the framework for our work, we hold space and time for conversations around harm in our process. We find the clients with the greatest fit are the ones ready to embrace the multi-layered complexity of all of that.

We are primarily take on projects that impact historically marginalized communities. We are issue agnostic, meaning that our projects could tackle housing, education, economic development/poverty alleviation, etc. We prefer to take on projects in their early stages when there is a capacity to ensure alignment with our values and seed the practices that we believe are essential for a healing-based outcome.

No two projects or context are the same and as such it is hard to define a typical scope. Our activities can range from community-engaged research to spatial justice advising to conceptual designer. Oftentimes, our role is hybrid, plugging into a variety of needs across the project. A recent cross section of roles has included serving as a spatial justice advisor for an equitable development process of a large scale park to conducting a strategic assessment focused on inclusivity and belonging for a major museum to operating at the intersection of design and community building for a low-income housing redevelopment to creating and serving as strategic lead for a reparative visioning process around a vestige of racialized urban renewal.

Creating projects that can help heal the conditions of injustice requires diverse teams of thinkers. As such, Studio O works primarily as part of teams. Our collaborators vary from project to project and often depend on the context and needs of the project. We prefer teams that have the disciplinary representation needed to generate creative, innovative, and contextual ideas. Our process works best when there can be a dynamic exchange of ideas.

If what we take on and the way we work feel like a fit, please visit Contact for more information. And if it doesn’t quite feel like a fit, visit Resources for more information that can help you think through how to address these issues in your work and other firms that might be a better fit.

Because our projects vary in type and context, this looks different across projects. That being said, we typically begin with a process that allows us to identify who needs to be at the table and to learn from them what might be the extent of harm in existence and repair needed. Where appropriate, we map those stories onto space. We can also craft a process that can hold space for continuing to acknowledge the harm and reckon with it. And we often create space (sometimes literally, sometimes figuratively, sometimes both) to begin to reimagine new possibilities and heal. We move iteratively and at the speed of trust, focused on creating relationships that can heal not transactions that can assuage. If you have more questions about how we work, please visit the Projects and Thoughts to learn more.

We work with a diversity of collaborators, and most of projects are stewarded by multidisciplinary teams. We believe that breaking past the limits and the harm of the status quo require cross disciplinary thinking and creativity. We have a similar approach to how we consider collaborators as we do to clients, who in truth are collaborators as well! Because Studio O prioritizes working on projects that could be models, we want collaborators that are ready to be in a space of deep experimentation with us. We also firmly believe in participatory processes that enable those most impacted by the project to be stewards in shaping it, which means recognizing them as co-clients/co-collaborators. And since we center healing as the framework for our work, we hold space and time for conversations around harm in our process. We find the collaborators with the greatest fit are the ones ready to embrace the multi-layered complexity of all of that.

We are primarily take on projects that impact historically marginalized communities. We are issue agnostic, meaning that our projects could tackle housing, education, economic development/poverty alleviation, etc. We prefer to take on projects in their early stages when there is a capacity to ensure alignment with our values and seed the practices that we believe are essential for a healing-based outcome.

No two projects or context are the same and as such it is hard to define a typical scope. Our activities can range from community-engaged research to spatial justice advising to conceptual designer. Oftentimes, our role is hybrid, plugging into a variety of needs across the project. A recent cross section of roles has included serving as a spatial justice advisor for an equitable development process of a large-scale park to conducting a strategic assessment focused on inclusivity and belonging for a major museum to operating at the intersection of design and community building for a low-income housing redevelopment to creating and serving as strategic lead for a reparative visioning process around a vestige of racialized urban renewal.

Creating projects that can help heal the conditions of injustice requires diverse teams of thinkers. As such, Studio O works primarily as part of teams. Our collaborators vary from project to project and often depend on the context and needs of the project. We prefer teams that have the disciplinary representation needed to generate creative, innovative, and contextual ideas. Our process works best when there can be a dynamic exchange of ideas.

We get approached often by architecture or planning firms looking for a community engagement consultant. Our approach is not intended to be a more dynamic form of community engagement. We see the process of engaging community as akin to building a sacred relationship with the collaborative heart of a project. And that heart is foundational, driving the ethos of the project, from the way the brief is interpreted to the outcomes we must be accountable to. We often operate at the intersection of community engagement/community building and design/strategy, helping to steward the weaving process. If you’re looking for a community engagement consultant who can manage logistics, we will not be a fit.

If what we take on and the way we work feel like a fit, please visit Contact for more information. And if it doesn’t quite feel like a fit, visit Resources for more information that can help you think through how to address these issues in your work and other collaborators that might be a better fit.

Studio O is a nontraditional design studio and we typically don’t hire staff directly, though hiring opportunities with partners may exist.As noted in the introduction to this section of inquiry, we typically don’t hire staff. However, we remain open to hearing about your interest and seeing your work in case there’s a time when a staffing need may arise. From time to time, opportunities also become available via our partners. If you would like to be on our radar, please submit a brief note of interest and your resume to hello@thisisstudioo.com. You’re also welcome to share work samples but please keep the file size to 3MB or less. We also suggest you check the Resources section for a list of other firms and organizations that might be of interest.

Regretfully, we don’t generally have the capacity to take on interns. However, we remain open to hearing about your interest and seeing your work in case there’s a time when a staffing need may arise. From time to time, opportunities also become available via our partners. If you would like to be on our radar, please submit a brief note of interest and your resume to hello@thisisstudioo.com. You’re also welcome to share work samples but please keep the file size to 3MB or less. We also suggest you check the Resources section for a list of other firms and organizations that might be of interest.

We don’t typically take on volunteers. If you have time wealth and are ready to contribute, there’s likely a local community organization wherever you are based that could make use of that resource. We encourage you to seek them out and figure out how to be of humble service to them and become proximate to the stories and frameworks we have articulated.

We greatly appreciate your desire to chat more but unfortunately, creating the spaciousness to both do the work and tend to our rest means we generally do not have the bandwidth to do informational interviews. Please refer to Learning from Studio O/Liz Ogbu section to see the questions we frequently get asked. The Thoughts page offers further insights around our thinking. The Resources page offers a place for you to continue this learning journey. And you can always check out our Speaking Calendar to look for upcoming talks in the world where you can see us share our latest thinking.

We’ve compiled a list of firms and organizations that are inspiring us right now on the Resources page.