Author(s): Elizabeth Martin-Malikian & Giovanni Loreto
This paper explores the potentials and contradictions of equitable green redevelopment in historically Black neighborhoods that have been fractured by infrastructural systems of segregation. Focusing on a design-research initiative called the Sweet Auburn Green and Equitable (SAGE) District, the project investigates how ecological and community-based frameworks can operate as agents of reconnection rather than displacement. The work was developed through a collaboration between an upper-level undergraduate architecture studio, a regional professional design organization, and a local community development corporation engaged in equitable revitalization efforts. Through site-based research, participatory engagement, and speculative design proposals, students examined how design can function simultaneously as an environmental, social, and cultural connector. The collaborative project situates the SAGE District as a model of collaborative pedagogy that integrates academic inquiry, professional practice, and community knowledge to advance equity-centered design education (Hester, 2006; Bennett, 2019).
Volume Editors
Reed Kroloff & Francisco J. RodrÃguez-Suárez
ISBN
978-1-944214-52-4