Diversity Workshop
Hidden in Plain Sight – How Space Upholds Social Inequities
January 21, 2025
4:30 – 6:30 PM Pacific
Location: 151 SW 1st St., Suite 300
Portland, OR 97204
Understanding inequity as a design problem is a critical step to practice
inclusive design. This interactive workshop explores cultural dimensions of
space and spatial dimensions of equity through an interdisciplinary socio-spatial
equity framework. Presented through a critical race spatial lens, this
workshop examines dominant assumptions in architecture, “colorblind-spots”
in design, and power-laden messages communicated in everyday
built environments. Socio-spatial questions, critical dialogue, and
pedagogical exercises serve to illuminate ways space acts to normalize the
status quo. Through an understanding of prevailing racial and social
inequities, participants will clarify what a social equity paradigm invites
us to acknowledge, examine, and practice.
Facilitated by Dr. Amara H. Pérez
Socio-Spatial Educator, Researcher, and Strategist
Amara H. Pérez, PhD, is a long-time social justice educator, community organizer, participatory action
researcher, and critical strategist. For over 25 years her work with communities and students of color in
N/NE Portland has been informed by popular education, critical theories of power, and community engaged
research methods. Her current research draws from critical pedagogy, critical race theory
(CRT), and spatial theories to examine the role of planning, design, and built environments in
maintaining systemic oppression.
In 2017, Amara partnered with Portland Community College (PCC) to use CRT in facilities planning and
campus design as a means to further the college’s strategic vision for equity and inclusion. In designing
the project, Amara brought forward two key strategies: a critical race spatial lens (CRSL) she developed
as an integrated framework for praxis and a student participatory action research project called, Space
Matters – created to recruit, train, and support a cohort of 25 students of color to collaborate as coresearchers.
To engage and learn from educational leaders, architects, and other stakeholders, Amara
used interviews, focus groups, praxis-oriented dialogue sessions, and workshops. Working closely with
PCC students and stakeholders resulted in institutional change at the college – new approaches to
procurement processes as well as the use of a critical race spatial lens as a key equity strategy in a
number of district-wide planning and capital projects.
Since then, Amara has partnered with Edmonds School District, Seattle Public Schools, Portland Public
Schools, Portland State University, OHSU, National Park Service, and Multnomah County Library System
to introduce and use a critical race spatial lens in facilities planning and capital projects aimed to support
racial equity and social justice.
Amara brings an interdisciplinary lens to exploring social and spatial justice, the intersection of race,
class, and gender, and the relationships between the ideological and material world. Her professional
experience advancing equity strategies within educational settings combined with her community–
based experience working for local social change, enables her to work closely with students,
educational leaders, and the design community to bridge the theory/practice “divide.”
Members: FREE | Non-Members: $20
Event Sponsor: $250