How to Reclaim Space: Spatial Justice Guide for Racial Equity

In the wake of global post-pandemic activist movements fighting against racial injustice, the Spatial Justice design think tank at The London School of Architecture operates on the ethos of deconstructing colonial legacies and institutional racism, finding social justice using a spatial lens. The think tank looks at organisations and spaces in Hackney that work or have worked to combat racial injustices in the locality, including Account’s report ‘Policing in Hackney’, Sistah Space, and the historic Four Aces Club.

The report suggests a new vision for Hackney with racial justice at its core: “Our vision is to reclaim the streets, spaces and power in Hackney, and place it into the hands of diverse communities of colour. We are offering a new model for a moving, adaptable, multi-layered, iterative network, based on an alternative notion of land ownership, working at different scales and temporalities.”

This video presentation was produced alongside the think tank’s report . The dynamics of film as a media output lends an additive sense of life and community to the report. The video both documents and celebrates Hackney’s diverse and rich communities, using an effective combination of archival footage and vibrant diagrams, animations and drawings.

The think tank’s report, led by DSDHA, works in symbiosis with the practice’s own publication entitled ‘Towards Spatial Justice: A Co-Design Guide’.