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We can all benefit from listening to underrepresented groups
Amplifying the voices of underrepresented groups is necessary to shift the structural disparities in the construction sector, says AJ editor
Emily Booth
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The RIBA’s first-ever head of diversity and inclusion is compelling and frank in her interview with the AJ’s Ella Jessel (‘I’m a woman, I’m a woman of colour, I’m a menopausal woman – all these different identifiers’).
And the value Ramroop places on the importance of listening is particularly pertinent. Throughout her career she has sought to tell stories from unheard voices, and this approach is one from which the whole sector can benefit.
How can we go beyond box-ticking on diversity in architecture?
While architecture is starting address its problems with race and diversity, some initiatives have been accused of ‘BAMEwashing’. Is such a label fair or helpful? We asked five architecture professionals how they feel the profession could best tackle these issues
Architecture’s deep-rooted problems with racism have never been in sharper focus. In the past 12 months the industry seems to have finally started acknowledging its issues and begun taking its first real steps towards including more people from non-privileged and non-white backgrounds.
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For instance, a handful of local authorities have tried, admittedly with mixed results, to open up their frameworks so that those designing the buildings better reflect those who will be using them. But there has been criticism that some of these efforts may just be hollow gestures – box-ticking exercises where black architects or practices led by other un