Decolonising the Built Environment

Liberating the City
by Kiara Ama Jade Callender
IG: @kiarakalinda.studio

Kiara Callender studies on BA Design for Branded Spaces and is about to begin Creative Shift's WFH Residency in May. Her intention for this year was to establish herself as an interdisciplinary artist within the industry and to build the foundation for financial independence by setting up multiple streams of income. Callender has been awarded the WFH grant to kickstart a product-based brand, to craft and sell a collection of functional art objects.  She hopes to eventually break into the collectable design market and to work on public art and placemaking commissions. The artist is in the process of collating her skills and interests, varying from sound design to sculpture, into a cohesive practice, with the working thesis title: "How could public art and design in London create accessible acoustic interventions that enhance residents' mind-body wellness?"

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source: unknown

Living in a British-Caribbean household where politics has always been critically discussed, I've been passionate about advocating for social justice from a young age. But, as I grow wiser I'm coming to understand that for any real change to take place there needs to be healing on a global, national, local, and individual level. What I am learning on my personal healing journey is that, for the truth to set you free, you first have to identify all the false narratives that play out in your subconscious.

On a societal level, "[c]olonialism requires an assault on the immaterial culture of a people in order to protect an assault on their material resources; the management of consciousness is a permanent concern for those in power, and there is no end to the need for or attempts at its management" (Ball, 2011). Today, in a so-called "post-colonial" world, we are still subjected to colonial systems of education, media, and messaging, which were designed to largely shape and influence our values, ways of knowing, and our emotional worlds on a day to day basis. So, to whichever identities one prescribes, only once we can accept and acknowledge that the large majority of us are still somewhat mentally enslaved by the powers that be, can we begin to strip back the conditioning that harms our being- this is called decolonisation. 

source: Instagram. @babylonchantdown.

"Colonialism requires an assault on the immaterial culture of a people in order to protect an assault on their material resources; the management of consciousness is a permanent concern for those in power, and there is no end to the need for or attempts at its management."

Thus, in light of the British Government's recent denial of the existence of systemic racism in modern Britain, we can very clearly see here how, through semantics alone, the institution continually attempts to dictate an entire population's perception of reality. The truth, however, is partly that the process of colonialism, being "the entire conquest of land and people" (Fanon, 1964),  still plays out on an infrastructural level on British soil through inequitable urban planning and design.

​Whether through lack of access to green space in London's inner-city (impacting residents' mind-body health), or the process of gentrification (displacing vulnerable populations and erasing their histories), for example, the needs of economically disadvantaged communities are more often than not ignored. These decisions disproportionately affect such communities holistically, not just materially and financially, but on a mental and emotional level, creating a self-perpetuating cycle of oppression. Given that poverty rates were almost twice as high among People of the Global Majority (PGM)- i.e. BAME/BIPOC - (39%) compared to white groups (21%) in pre-COVID London, this is inarguably a racialised issue (Trust for London, 2020).

"Design is the intention (and unintentional impact) behind an outcome." - Creative Reaction Lab, 2018.

Under this definition, in the move towards a more equitable future, we must therefore broaden our understanding of what it means to be a designer to include anyone in a position of power to make decisions that impact others and the environment- e.g. politicians, public artists, developers, teachers, etc. So, the question is how can we all become equity designers? 
 
Creative Reaction Lab's framework for Equity-Centered Community Design is based on the values of "equity, humility-building, integrating history and healing practices, addressing power dynamics, and co-creating with the community" (Creative Reaction Lab, 2018; p.3). It is a practice that requires the cultivation of core attributes and skills within designers, such as empathy and deep listening, to gain a more nuanced understanding of how to design for and with often silenced communities, to achieve the outcomes needed to be liberated from systemic oppression. Through my thesis research and throughout my career, I would like to explore how, in "us[ing] listening, scoring and performing as tools for design processes", sonic urbanism can be utilised as an equity-centred approach to decolonising urban spaces (Theatrum Mundi, 2019). â€‹

Sonic urbanism challenges the western occularcentric approach employed by planners and architects when shaping cities; it is an interdisciplinary movement that expands far beyond the underground niche of conceptual sound art and performance. I would argue that innovators in the field include BlackSpace, a US-based national network of black architects, artists, designers, and urban planners. They work with and on behalf of black urban communities to preserve and reclaim their cultural domains and public spaces in the face of gentrification. BlackSpace's manifesto-based practice centres black joy and liberation, by creating spaces for the community to express themselves, to be heard and validated- a process that is in fact healing for all stakeholders involved in urban planning projects. Proof of their impact lies in New York's Bronx Point, a new development designed around local community feedback, which incorporates affordable housing, green space, a farmer's market, local employment schemes, and the Universal Hip Hop Museum (Bishop and Scott, 2021).

Source: bronxpoint.nyc

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A post shared by Babylon Chant Down (@babylonchantdown)

On a more grassroots level, Babylon Chant Down is a perfect example of a platform that draws on ancient African oral tradition and Caribbean sound-system culture to reclaim, democratise, and transform the public spaces of South London into safe spaces for self-expression. The non-profit organisation, founded by artists Muva of Earth and Izzy Gzowski, came about through the need for a healing antidote to the heat of last summer's Black Lives Matter demonstrations (Babylon Chant Down, 2020). With their communities, the women co-produced the events in the form of open-mic peaceful protests with spoken word, live instrumentation, dancing, and book fairs. I also heard of another peaceful protest last year whereby a community of Rastafarians, armed with their drums and sound system, led a march highlighting historical sites of black success and struggle throughout the streets of London. These both exemplify the healing power of sound on the individual and collective body and its potential to liberate the collective consciousness from colonial oppression, in the context of the built environment.

source: LS:N Global.

Amidst the backdrop of a global pandemic, however, it is clear that our relationship with cities is changing, and it is forecasted that their designs and infrastructure will be increasingly data-led as we interact more remotely with the urban environment (Bishop and Scott, 2021). So, as I start to position myself as a forward-thinking artist-designer, I'm beginning to ask: how can I use my discipline to decolonise space across the digital and physical domain? As an artist, I recognise that my craft is a gift- it is a tool that gives me agency to tell stories and to create platforms that allow others to tell theirs. Passionate about worldbuilding, I aim to deliver transformative and immersive experiences across varying scales, domains, and media; I want to create healing spaces that facilitate internal transformation.  For the near future, I'm speculating mixed-reality experiences and AR/VR tours that acknowledge and celebrate the black and PGM presence and pasts throughout London. I imagine performances, placemaking schemes, and physical and digital public artworks that privilege the healing potential of sound, preserve oral tradition and tell the collective stories of the cities we grow up in, allowing us to better understand the power constructs they contain and uphold.​ 

This is my mission.

References
Babylon Chantdown. 2020. Available at: <https://www.instagram.com/p/CDzUKA7pZgM/> [Accessed 10 April 2021].
Ball, J. 2011. I Mix What I Like! A Mixtape Manifesto. AK Press. Baltimore, USA. p.4.
Bishop, K. and Scott, S. 2021. EQUILIBRIUM CITIES. Macro Trands. [online] LS:N Global. Available at: <https://www-lsnglobal-com.arts.idm.oclc.org/macro-trends/article/26527/equilibrium-cities> [Accessed 10 April 2021]. 
Creative Reaction Lab. 2018. EQUITY-CENTERED COMMUNITY DESIGN FIELD GUIDE. [PDF] St. Louis, Missouri, USA, pp.3, 4. Available at: <https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/ECCDfieldguidedownload> [Accessed 10 April 2021].
Fanon, F. 1964. Toward the African Revolution. Grove Press. New York, USA. p. 34.
Theatrum Mundi. 2019. New publication: Sonic Urbanism. [online] Available at: <https://www.e-flux.com/announcements/278193/sonic-urbanism/> [Accessed 10 April 2021].
Trust for London. 2020. London's Poverty Profile: Poverty rates by demographics. [online] Available at: <https://www.trustforlondon.org.uk/data/poverty-rates-demographics/> [Accessed 10 April 2021]