Shift Practice to Shift the Landscape

摘要

The year 1968 was seminal in changing the sociopolitical landscape of American life and, in turn, the built environment. It gave birth to important policy initiatives like the Fair Housing Act and saw civil rights leader Whitney M. Young Jr. confront the American Institute of Architects' whiteness and indifference to issues facing African Americans. Fifty years later, this past September, the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture hosted "Shifting the Landscape: Black Architects and Planners, 1968 to Now." The three-day symposium convened architects, scholars, planners, and students from around the world to consider work still relevant today, from social justice and economic inclusion to cultural identity and conservation. Speakers included the museum's architects David Adjaye and Zena Howard, urban planner Toni Griffin, landscape designer Sara Zewde, and artist Amanda Williams, among many others.