Urban scapes significantly impact communities at large; however, their effects often go unnoticed. For minorities and race-conscious individuals, this begs an important question: how obvious, and how extensive, is the urban designer’s ability to manipulate the racial divide?

As a minority and designer (though not of the urban variety), I was curious to see the breadth and impact of racist design. In particular, I explored how the built environment impacts minority communities in my place of residence: Austin, Texas.

I first consciously experienced race-centric urban design during a University of Texas racial geography tour conducted by Professor Edmund Gordon, chair of the African and African Diaspora studies department.

My class stood in front of the iconic UT Tower, the Texas State Capitol to our backs. Gordon pointed west, “Notice how the West Mall has big planters in the middle of the walkway.” He turned to face the south, staring at the grassy lawn between the tower and the Capitol building. “How does this compare to the Main Mall?”

“The Main Mall is grander,” said one of my classmates.

“Yes, but there’s more to it,” said Gordon. “The Main Mall is supposed to be inviting. It’s easy to walk through, and it’s beautiful.” He paused. “Well, who lived in the south of campus?”

The class stayed silent.

“Rich white people. And who lived in West Campus? The Black community. UT wanted to make it harder for the Black community to access the campus. The planters acted as barriers to make it harder for them to access campus.”

The planters, I came to realize, are an example of hostile design, a phenomenon that exerts social control over activities in public space or publicly-accessible private spaces. Stuart Semple, an English artist, claims on “hostiledesign.org” that hostile designs often “aim to remove a certain section of a community from a public space.”

Unlike interactions with police officers or other authority figures, the physical features of hostile urban design are non-negotiable. “Their permanence is definitive and uncompromising, baked into the built environment in a way that is hard to argue against or reverse,” says Roman Mars, host of the podcast 99% Invisible. And unlike foreboding patrol officers in the West Mall, the effects of urban design often go unnoticed.

“You can’t afford a gym membership, so you may want to go outside. There’s a chance of getting shot when you’re running outside, you’re not going to do that. Or the sidewalk may be half incomplete, so you’d have to run on the street.”

Urban design has many inconspicuous but far-reaching effects on the racial divide. Poorer minority communities have lower tax revenue, limiting “walkable infrastructure” and maintenance of sidewalks and streets. Laura An, an urban planner specializing in the effects of the built environment on health outcomes, mentioned in a Skype interview that minority communities tend to have a lower population density due to high vacancy rates, leading to a lack of transportation options. One lesser-known effect of hostile urban planning is a disparity in healthcare options between richer and poorer communities. “You can’t afford a gym membership, so you may want to go outside. There’s a chance of getting shot when you’re running outside, you’re not going to do that. Or the sidewalk may be half incomplete, so you’d have to run on the street,” said An.

Austin’s urban plan is a particularly egregious example of how urban design affects the racial divide at a macro scale. In the early 1900s, the Austin floodplains were affordable due to their undesirability. Minorities, who tended to be poorer, lived in the floodplains dispersed through the city, which included areas such as West Campus and Wheatsville.

In the 1928, urban planning and consulting firm Koch and Fowler created an urban plan that segregated the Austin cityscape. They forced the Black community into a “Negro District” in East Austin by making it the only area where minorities could access public services.

During the midst of the Great Depression, the federal government provided government-backed mortgages to encourage property ownership and increase household wealth. However, these mortgages were not offered for properties in the “Negro District.”

This discriminatory practice, known as redlining, is a classic example of hostile urban design. According to Investopedia, “The term ‘redlining’ was coined by sociologist James McKnight in the 1960s based on how lenders would literally draw a red line on a map around the neighborhoods they would not invest in based on demographics alone.” Loans in redlined areas were unavailable or extremely expensive, which prevented minorities from buying homes across America.

While some may argue that redlining has been illegal since the passage of the Fair Housing Act in 1968, its effects are still pernicious throughout American society. According to Tracy Jan, a reporter for the Washington Post, “3 out of 4 neighborhoods ‘redlined’ on government maps 80 years ago continuing to struggle economically.” John Taylor, chief executive of the NHRC, told the Washington Post, “Homeownership is the number-one method of accumulating wealth, but the effect of these policies that create more hurdles for the poor is a permanent underclass that’s disproportionately minority.” Essentially, a lack of minority homeownership resulted in the racial wealth gap that persists to this day.

Furthermore, laws do not guarantee social change. White supremacy and racial divisions in wealth and power are deeply embedded into American society, and discrimination laws such as the Fair Housing Act are not always well-enforced. According to Janell Ross of the Washington Post, “The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the Justice Department and outside fair-housing advocacy groups have found persistent evidence of fairly widespread housing discrimination of almost every kind.” As a result, lenders and other housing authorities will continue to redline as long as these discriminatory societal standards prosper. “The law is not as powerful as some of these deeply embedded ideas,” said Robert Jensen, professor of journalism at the University of Texas, in an in-person interview. “It’s been half a century since the civil rights movement. Have we made a half century’s worth of progress?” Jensen does not think so.

An feels that urban designers can combat discriminatory design practices is by including minorities in the planning process; however, planners often leave minority communities out of critical urban planning decisions. Urban planners can mitigate this issue in a variety of ways. As with most civic engagement opportunities today, turnout is often low at community engagement meetings, so planners can partner with pre-existing local community organizations to promote community engagement meetings. Basic accommodations such as translation services and childcare make it easier for community members to engage with urban planners during community meetings. Additionally, if urban planners educate minorities on urban design, they can better understand the impact of design decisions and better communicate their concerns to urban planners and politicians.

…fostering a sustained relationship between urban planners and community members throughout the design process will transfer authority on design plans from urban planners back to communities.

Even if community engagement increases, urban planners still retain ultimate authority on city design. After engagement meetings, urban planners conduct closed-door meetings to decide which community concerns are worth considering. An believes that fostering a sustained relationship between urban planners and community members throughout the design process will transfer authority on design plans from urban planners back to communities.

While urban design is obviously not an end-all for eradicating white supremacy, awareness and reduction of its effects on marginalized groups is a step in the right direction. Many designers are beginning to consider how public spaces invite people of different abilities, races, and income levels. The advanced urban planning certification tests now include a section on cultural design ethics.

An is hopeful that future generations will continue to pioneer ethical design. “A lot of our generation is learning about vulnerable communities, and that will make a big difference.”