New Frontiers in Research Fund Supports Anti-Racist Architectural Co-Design Initiative at Carleton University
The Government of Canada has announced new funding through the New Frontiers in Research Fund (NFRF) Exploration program to support transformative, interdisciplinary research projects across the country.
This includes $247,375 for Menna Agha from the Azrieli School of Architecture and Urbanism and Hamza Bashandy from the School of Information Technology.
They are being recognized for their work challenging exclusionary practices in architectural design, along with co-applicant Rilla Khaled from the Department of Design and Computation Arts at Concordia University.
Administered by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, this grant supports high-risk/high-reward research. It is designed for researchers who push boundaries into exciting new areas, undertake work that challenges current paradigms, bring disciplines together in unexpected ways and have the potential to deliver game-changing impacts.
“This investment by the government highlights the value Carleton brings to creating inclusive spaces and the ability of our researchers to come up with bold, innovative ideas,” said Rafik Goubran, Vice-President (Research, Innovation and International). “We are proud to continue strengthening our reputation as leaders in equity, diversity and inclusion.”
Advancing Equitable Architectural Practices
True architectural co-design requires an equitable sharing of digital tools that remain largely inaccessible to racialized communities.
By bringing together scholars in architecture and information technology, in addition to community care workers, Agha and Bashandy are proposing a framework that merges anti-racist architectural practices with gaming methods.
They are working with two predominantly Black communities in Ottawa to develop and test play-based co-design tools, democratizing access to resources, especially for racialized youth.
The project also aims to counter colonial methods in architecture and urban design, as well as build a living repository of architectural innovation that facilitates design for non-architects, disrupting top-down design methods and centring community agency in architecture.
“Our work takes highly commercialized fields into the realm of grassroots activism,” said Agha. “It rethinks architectural tools not as professional monopolies but as shared community resources, a necessary condition for moving beyond performative participation and toward co-production of the city.”
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