The Built Environment and Racial Oppression

Gabriella A Carcelli

The Ohio State University

ARTEDUC2600 Visual Culture Diversity

Jasmine Floyd

11/23/2023
 The Built Environment and Racial Oppression

The consumption of visual culture constructs the implicit mindset society holds regarding

various issues. In everything we see, watch, study, admire, we formulate opinions, the way

“modern life is mediated” (Kiroff, 425). We learn from the visuals encountered in everyday

routine. Homes, structures, and built environments are hubs for living and learning. Architecture

as a style of building inherently influences the human mind the same way a social media post or

television commercial would. The influences of man-made surroundings and structures heavily

contribute to ideas about the way society functions.

Historically, racism and classism have been represented in the way human living quarters

are organized. Modern neighborhoods, urban-suburban dynamics, and public property are

affected by social constructions. The designed domestic and outdoor environments are pieces of

everyday visual culture which actively represent historical racial and classist prejudices.

Architecture as Visual Culture

The discipline of architectural design is not typically thought of as fine arts. Kiroff

references architecture as a domain of the fine arts in Visual Language in Architectural Design

(425) most notably for communication. The built environment natural visuals that are regularly

encountered, and the design process produces visual culture as well. Architecture’s use of

“concrete graphic images” and “principals with urban design, landscape design, [and] CAD”

cultivates its own sphere of visual culture (Kiroff, 426). The physical appearance of homes and

yards usually has much to say about the people that live there. Theoretically this is only

representative of socioeconomic status, being that more desirable homes are inhabited by those

who can afford them. The environment can communicate ideas as visual culture does. The nature

of imagery produced in the design process also coincides to mass imagery like typical visual
culture represents. Kiroff compares this to the “storytelling” that media content functions as

(428). We make inferences about a neighborhood based on visual cues. For example, seeing a

community park or play area leads the visual culture consumer to believe that the neighborhood

is inhabited by individuals who value social spaces, possibly for their children. These are

assumptions that become harmful to those individuals within social institutions.

History of Racial Issues in Architectural Design

Throughout American history, themes of industrial development and housing have

created living conditions majorly controlled by government and economics. Most notably this

occurred in redlining practices post WWII, where legislation allowed developers and realtors to

discriminate against nonwhite families wishing to purchase homes. The result is segregated

neighborhoods and unjust living patterns based on racial identity which still affect cities like

Columbus today. Discriminatory biases became “epistemic legitimacy and to derive a rational,

historically conscious theory of design” in architectural studies (Wilson, 135). In choosing

layouts of homes “typological theories tying each nation to race with its own distinct

architecture” were legitimate reasonings within the discipline (Wilson, 137). One example was

the work of Eugène-Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc, a 19th century German architect who depended on

eugenic ideologies “linking a racial group to a distinct typology of dwelling” with “descriptions

of the physical and mental attributes of the race” (Wilson, 139). His work depicted drawings of

men of different races along with what he thought was adequate housing for each. Architectural

design as a result has deeply rooted racist tendencies which have segregated American

neighborhoods. This is just of many examples where eugenic ideologies have created alarming

systematic oppression.
 The Impact of Redlining

The racial segregation of American neighborhoods is a known phenomenon which

prevented people of color from benefitting from the same property rights that white people did,

especially during the 20th century. Racist legislation and practices persist in mortgage and real

estate industries today. They contain the same oppressive ideas that certain individuals belong in

certain neighborhoods, at the risk of ruining precious property values. Mindy Fullilove in

“Redlining Trauma” describes this as “literally, the presence of a single [redacted] family meant

that an area was given the worst possible rating” (85). The general preference was “homogenous

neighborhoods” that were “protected from undesirable racial elements” (Fullilove, 85). The

result is displacement trauma of minorities and the fear of coexistence in American

neighborhoods (Fullilove, 86). The reality is that redlining practices have persisted in living

patterns, maintaining poverty levels for individual bloodlines, and cultivating the American

wealth gap. The power displacement that stems from social classes has allowed wealthy

individuals to control what types of people live in different neighborhoods.

Racial Zoning

The built environment is governed by zoning legislation, created on local, state, and

national levels. This means that no home can be built or construction project can take place

unless approved by the local zoning authority, which sets specific guidelines. Racial

discrimination persists in this concept as “street grid layouts, one-way streets, the absence of

sidewalks and crosswalks, and other design elements can shape the demographics of a city and

isolate a neighborhood from those surrounding it” (Schindler, 1934). Architecture can be a form

of racial exclusion, cultivating segregation in neighborhoods and making decisions which

disadvantage people of color. An example in Schindler’s Architectural Exclusion:

Discrimination and Segregation Through Physical Design of the Built Environment reads as “At

the request of white residents, in 1974 the city of Memphis closed off a street that connected an

all-white neighborhood to a primarily black one. Supporters of this measure argued that it would

ostensibly reduce traffic and noise, in addition to promoting safety” (1938). The history of

building infrastructure according to racist ideology is inherently alarming. This means that the

streets we walk on every day are rooted in hatred of differences.

HGTV Culture and Socioeconomics

Architecture and development are represented in a popular form of visual culture; home

improvement shows. Home improvement culture “normalizes, routinizes, and naturalizes the

facts and practices of investing in domestic property” to be “made accessible, imaginable, and

desirable” which is something many disadvantaged individuals have never even thought of

achieving (Shimpach, 521). This is a direct challenge to the discriminatory ideals regarding what

types of individuals typically own and develop their homes. Additionally, the television shows

on HGTV produce “exceptionally prolific representations of normalized diversity across racial,

sexual, class, and lifestyle identity” which dispute these stereotypes (Shimpach, 524). The

increased visualization of people of all different backgrounds who own homes defies the

historical discriminatory practices in zoning and architecture. The visual culture of homes is

evident in many kinds of magazines, social media, and blogs; all of which serve as artistic

inspiration. Home shows manipulate the narrative and glorify ownership, though never having to

acknowledge the mortgage difficulties for minority participants. As a result, HGTV shows have

created a culture which encourages all different types of people to own and remodel homes

despite underlying systematic oppression.

Conclusion
 The built environment in the United States have principally operated under outdated

racial sciences and discriminatory practices. Modern neighborhoods unfortunately still operate

according to these unnerving tendencies. Architectural studies exist as a form of visual culture

which predisposes society to ideals about people and their neighborhoods, homes, and public

spaces. There are aspects of visual culture which work in some ways to challenge these

predispositions, though racism exists systematically in zoning and building legislation. I as a

future landscape architect am privileged to carry this knowledge in my future designs of public

parks in neighborhoods. I can challenge the discriminatory ideas surrounding American housing

and have an ethical responsibility to beautify neighborhoods without underlying prejudices

towards the people that live there.

 References

Fullilove, Mindy. "Redlining Trauma." Race, Poverty, and the Environment , Vol. 21, No 2.

(2017): 84-86.

Kiroff, Lydia. Visual Language in Architectural Design. Auckland, New Zealand: Unitec

Institute of Technology, 2002.

Schindler, Sarah. "Architectural Exclusion: Discrimination and Segregation Through Physical

Design of the Built Environment." The Yale Law Journal, Vol. 125, No.6 (April 2015):

1934-2024.

Shimpach, Shawn. "Realty Reality: HGTV and the Subprime Crisis." American Quarterly, Vol.

64, No 3. (September 2012): 515-542.

Wilson, Mabel. Race and Modern Architecture: A Critical History from the Enlightenment to the

Present. Porject Muse, 2020.