What does it mean to be anti-racist and more specifically and what does it mean to practice anti-racist design? To better understand some of today’s barriers to creating affordable multi-family housing, we must first examine the history of racism found within decades and centuries old housing processes.

For this last event of our Future-Decker Conversation Series, we invite you to join us in practicing, although at a smaller scale, ways to collectively (re)design the typical housing development process. Participants and facilitators will examine and propose alternative paths along the typical development roadmap, from pre-development to closing, that can lead to more socially just futures in our triple-decker filled cities.

Come prepared to share your stories, ask questions, and participate in what will be a engaging anti-racist design workshop.

Pre-Work & Resources

We wanted to share a list of resources that could be helpful in better familiarizing yourself with histories, concepts, and practices relating to anti-racist design and housing. While you are not required to read every single item on here, we do recommend taking a look at the exhibition, redlining maps, and the Boston Housing Toolkit to learn more about housing development in the city. Participants will also have the opportunity to read these before attending the event, although we do not expect everyone to be on the same page before joining each break-out group.

Future-Decker Exhibition
Here you’ll learn more about triple-deckers specifically, their history, how they are currently maintained and built, as well as folks’ visions of the Future-Decker.
Mapping Inequality - Redlining in New Deal America
We cannot talk about anti-racist housing design without discussing the history of redlining maps in the US. This interactive map allows you to see the notes written by researchers in the 1930’s about the demographics of city neighborhoods, as well as where in the City institutions pulled investment opportunities from.
Furman Center Under One Roof: Building an Abolitionist Approach to Housing Justice
Furman Center put on a Symposium where speakers were invited to discuss how to apply an abolitionist approach to housing
Boston Housing Toolkit (Boston Planning and Development Agency) and Massachusetts Housing Partnerships’ Affordable Housing Terms Glossary
A great 101 breakdown on housing and more specifically affordable housing in Boston

Future-Decker Conversation Series

Join the Boston Society for Architecture for a virtual conversation series as a part of the upcoming exhibition, Future-Decker. The series will feature discussions with residents, architects, designers, and other practitioners as they share and learn from one other about the past, present, and future of the iconic building type: the three decker.

Speakers and participants will build upon the architectural, economic, and ultimately social value of triple and future deckers in the City of Boston and the region.

Learn more about Housing

Anti-racist Design: Reimagining the Future of Multi-family Housing

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