Design Activism studio

The UW LA Winter 2018 Design Activism Studio is a partnership with the Ethiopian Community Center of Seattle (ECS) and City of Seattle Equity & Environment Program, Office of Sustainability & Environment to develop a series of projects that engage the Ethiopian and broader East African communities that live, work, and come together in the Rainier Valley. The Studio was developed in collaboration with Sara Cubillos (City of Seattle), Meron Kasahun and Rahel Gaguro with the Ethiopian Community in Seattle. It served as an exploration of a human centered co-design approach to address issues and challenges of designing in the urban public realm. The site is centered in the Rainier Valley which is undergoing rapid change and is one of the most culturally and economically diverse neighborhoods in the Pacific Northwest. Focus of the process recognized the multiplicity of social identities, the complexity of a sense of community belonging, designing for authentic sense of place, and support the development of a critical race and social justice lens. The Rainier Valley is a microcosm of many of the challenges faced by many cities today that are undergoing rapid growth including gentrifi cation, homelessness, transportation congestion, environmental degradation, and unequal access to public goods and services. Effort will be directed towards moving beyond static representations and understandings of identities, borders, and territories into depictions and design responses that refl ect a fl uid and ephemeral reality. Th e hope is for alternate futures and readings of the territories in question to emerge.

Students: Richard DeSanto, Yunxin Du, Roxanne Glick, Yang He, Juliana Hom, Yutong Hu, Mo Li, Kevin Van Meter, Nina Mross and Ariel Scholten

Client: Ethiopian Community in Seattle and City of Seattle Equity & Environment Program, Office of Sustainability & Environment

Collaborators: Sara Cubillos (City of Seattle), Rahel Gaguro (Ethiopian Community in Seattle), Meron Kasahun (Ethiopian Community in Seattle), Ariana Cantu (UW School of Social Work)

Reviewers: Biruk Belay (Site Workshop), Stephanie Hsie (Weinstein A+U), Malika Kirkling (Miller Hull), Sergio Max-Talamoni (Environmental Works), Rico Quirindongo (DLR Group), Roma Shah (Olson Kundig)