#40 - Pathways to Equity with Shalini Agrawal

Shalini Agrawal brings over 25 years of experience in community
engagement, and has dedicated her career to bringing diversity
and equity in design, art and architecture. She is co-director of
Pathways to Equity, a leadership experience for responsible
community-engaged design, and founder and principal of Public
Design for Equity, an equity-driven practice for equity-driven
outcomes. Shalini is on the board of Architects Designers and
Planners for Social Responsibility, and Association for Community
Design, as their Director of Fellowship. She is Associate
Professor in Critical Ethnic Studies, Interdisciplinary Design
Studios and Decolonial School at California College of the Arts.


In this episode, we talk about:


How working for Philip Johnson early on in her career made
Shalini realize she wanted to explore alternative avenues of
architecture

How a trip to India made Shalini want to design projects with
people, not just for people

What inspired Shalini decide to co-found the Pathways to
Equity program

How we can acknowledge our power and privilege as design
professionals, and recognize that every time we step into a
community we are a guest

How architects should change their mindset when it comes to
Community Engagement

Holding ourselves and our profession responsible for spatial
injustice, and what individuals can do about it

The interdisciplinary courses that Shalini teaches at
California College of the Arts, including her Radical Redesign
course

On questioning the status quo to think about where equity can
live

Taking an Equity Pause

The ADPSR holding the AIA responsible for their code of
ethics and wanting them to address the prison industrial complex.

Holding space for and supporting women of color in design and
architecture