In 2015, the American Institute of Architects passed Resolution 15-1: Equity in Architecture, a call to action for the profession to realize the goal of equitable practice. In 2016, the AIA Board of Directors approved 11 recommendations to aggressively steer architects and their firms toward acknowledging, supporting, and pursuing equity, diversity, and inclusion in everything from hiring practices to pedagogies that will reshape architecture’s professional pipeline. Here are just a few recommendations that will have an immediate impact on the profession:
Collect equity data of project teams, firms, and clients on work submitted for AIA awards.
Purpose: Create a data set that illustrates a probable connection between better architecture and equity, diversity, and inclusion.
Engage and expose children to architecture through K–12 programs.
Purpose: Facilitate the discovery of architecture as a career among members of underrepresented groups.
Advocate for equity in higher education.
Purpose: Bolster two- and four-year NAAB-accredited programs and raise funds for the Institute’s Diversity Advancement Scholarship program.
Develop a firm self-assessment tool.
Purpose: Make it easier for architecture-firm principals to reinforce or institute family-friendly benefits, compensation fairness, and accurate data on internal diversity progress.