Advocacy groups and resources for the architectural worker

Advocacy groups

AIA New York Cultural Diversity Initiative
“AIA New York’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee seeks to provoke a dialogue about diversity issues and give agency to issues of inclusion and representation . . . The practice’s shifting cultural landscape requires all of us to diversify.”

AIA Women’s Leadership Summit
The AIA Women’s Leadership Summit aims to “raise the profile of women in the profession, share and promote the design work of women, explore new paths to leadership, [and] provide education opportunities.”

Architects/Designers/Planners for Social Responsibility
“ASPSR advocates for a society where investments are made in buildings that lift people up, and where willful human rights abuses are a thing of the past.” They “believe that the design professions can help provide leadership to achieve a just, peaceful, and equitable world.”

Architexx
A “cross-generational group of academics and practitioners,” Architexx is an “organization for gender equity in architecture that seeks to transform the profession of architecture by bridging the academy and practice.”

Black in Design
“Organized by the Harvard University Graduate School of Design African American Student Union (GSD AASU), the Black in Design Conference recognizes the contributions of the African diaspora to the design fields and promotes discourse around the agency of the design profession to address and dismantle the institutional barriers faced by [its] communities.”

Build Out Alliance
“Build Out Alliance promotes and advocates for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people serving openly and with pride in all roes within the building, design, and construction industry.”

Equity by Design (EQxD)
“Equity by Design is focused on achieving equitable practice in architecture in order to retain talent, advance the profession, and engage the public in understanding architecture’s true value and impact.”

QSPACE
“QSPACE is a queer architectural research organization that pushes for organized action through exhibitions, publications, digital archiving, and design guidelines; QSPACE is a hub for students, professionals, and academics to connect and collaborate on LGBTQ topics in the built environment.”

Resources for the architectural worker

JustDesign.US
A project of the Architecture Lobby, “Just Design is an initiative to recognize fair labor practices in architecture.” Through a nomination process, they “seek to profile exemplary firms through an employee questionnaire and employer interviews.”

The Architecture Lobby
“The Architecture Lobby, Inc. is an organization of architectural workers advocating for the value of architecture in the general public and for architectural work within the discipline. It believes that the work architects do—aesthetic, technical, social, organizational, environmental, administrative, fiduciary—needs structural change to be more rewarding and more socially relevant.”

Who Builds Your Architecture?
“WBYA? is a coalition of architects, activists, scholars, and educators that tackles the pressing question: who builds your architecture? to examine the links between labor, architecture and the global networks that form around building buildings.”

The Architectural League believes it is important to share these useful and dynamic resources for members of the architectural community. Sharing this information does not indicate endorsement of every activity or position of the listed organizations.

Don’t see your group? Contact Antonio Huerta at huerta@archleague.org