Architectures of Spatial Justice

by Dana Cuff

A field-defining work that demonstrates how architects are breaking with professional conventions to advance spatial justice and design more equitable buildings and cities.

As state violence, the pandemic, and environmental collapse have exposed systemic inequities, architects and urbanists have been pushed to confront how their actions contribute to racism and climate crisis—and how they can effect change. Establishing an ethics of spatial justice to lead architecture forward, Dana Cuff shows why the discipline requires critical examination—in relation to not only buildings and the capital required to realize them but privilege, power, aesthetics, and sociality. That is, it requires a reevaluation of architecture’s fundamental tenets.

Organized around projects and topics, Architectures of Spatial Justice is a compelling blend of theory, history, and applied practice that focuses on two foundational conditions of its relation to the public and its dependence on capital. The book draws on studies of architectural projects from around the world, with instructive case studies from Chile, Mexico, Japan, and the United States that focus in particular on urban centers, where architecture is most directly engaged with social justice issues.

Emerging from more than two decades of the author’s own project-based research, Architectures of Spatial Justice examines ethically driven practices that break with professional conventions to correct long-standing inequities in the built environment, uncovering architecture’s limits—and its potential.

Genres: Architecture

304 pages, Paperback

Published April 4, 2023

About the author

Dana Cuff is Professor of Architecture and Urban Design at UCLA, where she is also Director and Founder of cityLAB. She is a leader of the Urban Humanities Initiative, a UCLA program sponsored by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Reviews

[Nils Jepson · Rating 4 out of 5]

good and i think cuff is pretty clear-eyed about architecture's limited ability to produce radical change within itself. it's clearly dependent on larger systems and flows of capital, which is the whole problem; it's mainly reserved for the rich, at least in its most traditional form. however, i had a good thought reading this that if social movements and organizing provide the necessary "base" for revolutionary society, architecture can build out a superstructure of joy (lol coining that phrase) and delight for what a better world can be like: crazy post-modern community centers, pools with twirly slides, 8 story libraries, etc. i don't know much about architecture but cuff definitely expanded on what architecture can even mean (it doesn't have to be built!), and i found a lot of the more powerful stuff examining the relationship between client and architect.

book was also nice because there were so many case studies! but also a weakness: the incremental half-houses in Chile and a lot of the UCLA CityLAB stuff felt pretty limited in scope. i guess the strength of her theory didn't always realize itself super clearly in the case studies presented. for instance, ADU laws in California will probably lead to new forms of landlordism and a further unequal political economy -- expanding tenancy perhaps, but also modes to accumulate off of poor people.

alas! the pictures were awesome.

[Dylan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Cuff has the stupefying ability to reword the term “spatial justice” into vapid, endless paragraphs. The little information I found useful was LA’s efforts to legalize Accessory Dwelling Units in suburban backyards and UCLA’s (minimal) efforts to house students. This book was not worth the $35.

[Sarkis Antonyan · Rating 4 out of 5]

i will not be same designer after this. risd could never🍟