ADPSR News
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ADPSR Announces 2013 Mumford Award Winners Architects/ Designers/ Planners for Social Responsibility (ADPSR) is pleased to announce the winners of its 20th annual Lewis Mumford Awards: Peace: The International Coalition of Sites of Conscience, New York Environment: The Foundation for a Green Future, Boston Development: The Center for Urban Pedagogy, New York more at adpsr.org/home/mumford_awards ADPSR Petition Endorsed by AIA San FranciscoThe AIA San Francisco chapter has endorsed ADPSR's petition urging AIA (National) to amend their Code of Ethics to ban the design of execution chambers and supermax prisons -- buildings that violate human rights. See their latest newsletter for the details.
ADPSR launches AIA Ethics Reform Petition Architects/Designers/Planners for Social Responsibility (ADPSR) is asking the American Institute of Architects to amend its Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct to prohibit the design of spaces for torture and killing. In the United States, this comprises the design of execution chambers and super-maximum security prisons (“supermax”), which inflict torture through long-term solitary isolation. As people of conscience and as a profession dedicated to improving the built environment for all people, we cannot participate in the design of spaces that violate human life and dignity. Participating in the development of buildings designed for torture and killing is fundamentally incompatible with professional practice that respects standards of decency and human rights. AIA has the opportunity to lead our profession in upholding human rights. Sign the Petition (link to left). Read more here
The Housing Question: ADPSR participates in a Roundtable Debate on Foreclosed: Rehousing the American Dream
They asked 5 teams to envision new housing and transportation infrastructures that could catalyze urban transformation, The exhibit drew quick criticism, and there is a continuing debate with exhibit co-organizer Rheinhold Martin, ADPSR President Amit Price Patel, former President Raphael Sperry, IDEO fellow Liz Ogbu, and Professor Tom Angotti. Read the fascinating and important discussion about the state and future of public housing: http://places.designobserver.com/feature/foreclosed-exhibition-roundtable/34578/ _______________________________ ADPSR Volunteers work with local organizations on Prison repurposing project Press Contact: Debbie Reyes, California Prison Moratorium Project, 559-367-6020 Frank Fontes, California Prison Moratorium Project, 559-593-2436 
On June 2 in Chowchilla, CA, twenty ADPSR architects and activists joined the California Prison Moratorium Project to imagine a new purpose to the Valley State Prison for Women (VSPW). The California Department of Corrections & Rehabilitation has proposed converting the facillity to a men's prison, which is widely opposed in the local community. ADPSR was invited to conduct a charrette with the objective of finding new uses for this facility that would benefit the local economy and environment.
There were morning presentations by local activists about the conditions of both the prison and the local community. Like much of the Central Valley, Chowchilla faces a number of challenges: extremely poor air quality, including particulates from diesel trucks and pesticides from agricultural spraying; groundwater tainted with a variety of contaminants, including arsenic; economic stress from high unemployment; and a variety of social stresses including high dropout rates, domestic violence, and poor quality health and health care. Former ADPSR President Raphael Sperry also gave a presentation on how similar facilities has been converted around the world.
In the afternoon groups strategized alternative uses. Options discussed included:
Several options were developed by breakout groups. More information about the charrette is available at http://openarchitecturenetwork.org/projects/chowchilla. For more information about the project contact Raphael Sperry, raphael@arph.net
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S P A C E R |
SPUR, New Village Press, and ADPSR present:
May 21st, 6:00 pm Join us for a discussion with Michael Pyatok, designer of the Oakland Civic Center and the recipient of the 2013 AIA Thomas Jefferson Award for Public Architecture, about improving the design, use and access of public space. more at adpsr.org/home/norcal
BEYOND RESILIENCE: Actions
ADPSR partners with Planners Network for a 2013 conference in New York City, June 6–8 Cataclysmic events are making urban neighborhoods vulnerable to displacement and exposing the inadequacies of traditional planning. Hurricane Sandy laid bare the ongoing crises in low-income communities: unemployment, foreclosures, homelessness, and service cutbacks. Historic patterns of racial discrimination isolated the most vulnerable while wealthier, better-connected residents had the privilege of mobility. Traditional planning policies have facilitated segregated affordable housing and promoted carbon-intensive growth and waterfront development without regard to long-term consequences. Local and federal responses failed poor communities in the wake of the storm and many community-based organizations and activist networks mobilized to fill the gaps. This organizing continues and often strives to go beyond meeting immediate needs for relief towards planning and building a more just collective future. The situations revealed in New York have corollaries in cities across the US and the world. Questions arise: how can activists, academics, and professionals promote alternative, more sustainable, and just ways of preserving and developing the metropolis? What lessons have been learned? What role can progressive planners play? We invite your proposals for community-based workshops, discussions, speakers, and plenaries. Preferred topics include: socially just disaster preparedness and response; environmental justice; cross-sector alliances and organizing; meaningful and equitable employment; climate change; racial, class, and gender justice in planning and zoning policies; waterfront planning; housing justice including affordable housing and quality public housing; gentrification and displacement; redefining/reexamining urban security; transportation justice; water security; and food security.
Please be as specific as possible about who will participate in your proposed session, panel, or workshop and what you expect to accomplish. Limit your submission to 250 words and attach as a separate word document. Include “2013 Conference” in the subject line of the e-mail and send to: PN2013@plannersnetwork.org Toward a Just Metropolis
ADPSR in partnership with Planners Network, The Association for Community Design, and the Center for the Living City produced Toward a Just Metropolis, a 2010 conference dedicated to a just future for all human settlements.
More than 450 planners, architects, designers, urban activists, educators, journalists, policymakers, academics, students, and concerned citizens from diverse backgrounds across North America attended. All shared a passion for social, economic, and environmental justice, and were committed to exchanging their experiences and visions for robust civic engagement, innovative planning, and inclusive community building.
The four-day event was held at various sites throught the SF Bay Area and hosted by the Department of City and Regional Planning and the College of Environmental Design (CED) at the University of California, Berkeley. _______________________________ |
Architects/Designers/Planners for Social Responsibility works for peace, environmental protection, ecological building, social justice, and the development of healthy communities.
