Housing Justice Futures: Philadelphia Forum on Design, Race, and Climate Change

Thursday, March 16, 2023 — Friday, March 17, 2023

Various locations. Advance registration by March 9 required.

REGISTER HERE

As we contend with our moral and ethical responsibility for the wellbeing of people and the planet, this forum will consider housing design and policy at the intersection of race and climate change. 

The “poorest” large city in the United States and one of the most segregated, Philadelphia has nearly one in four residents living in poverty and residents of color are far more likely than whites to be impoverished.  More than a third of Philadelphia renters are paying over half their income on housing and another 4,400 households are without a place to live.  At the same time, Philadelphia remains at risk to climate change, most notably extreme heat and inland and coastal flooding. As in other US cities, low-income, non-white Philadelphians are disproportionately vulnerable to these effects. Furthermore, the COVID-19 pandemic has compounded decades of policies that continue to perpetuate racial inequities and health disparities in black and brown communities. 

Engaging researchers, and practitioners, and community stakeholders, we will examine the historical inequities that precipitated the housing crisis in Philadelphia and other US cities while considering actionable strategies for housing justice in the future.

Housing Justice Futures: Philadelphia Forum on Design, Race, and Climate Change is presented by the Weitzman School of Design, University of Pennsylvania, and sponsored, in part, by AIA Philadelphia. For more information, click here.

A related exhibition is on view March 13–24 at the Charles Addams Fine Arts Gallery.