September 7

Schindler Part 1 & 2 Summary

Architectural exclusion is utilized as a protected form of intolerance toward a specific class and race of people. One definition that Schindler’s article holds for this term is a “built environment…used to keep certain segments of the population…separate from others” (Schindler Part I). This involves the deliberate construction of physical barriers and infrastructure meant to discourage access from one area to another. Involving this matter, the correlation between rights and regulations are unable to coexist without issue. The topic is also inadvertently viewed as coincidental by many who do not know of the actual existence of such a concept. One specific example that Schindler gives is “a simple aesthetic design decision to create a park bench that is divided into three individual seats with armrests separating those seats” (Schindler Part I). This particular design would be created for the purpose of sitting only, preventing homeless people from laying down. Several similar impediments are created with the same common goal of structuring human behavior. Dictating where people can go and what they can do has become normal because it is concealed through the establishment of a discretely arranged environment. Part II of Schindler’s article conveys that architectural exclusion is a prominent issue that many citizens, lawmakers, and legislators either do not recognize or blatantly choose to ignore. The built environment is a function that can be operated through access, equality, and care. Instead, infrastructure is utilized negatively and the effects produce segregation, discrimination, and undesirable results for many minorities. These minorities include many poor, non-white communities that are unable to ambiguously channel all avenues of the environment. The author brings up a point quoted by a fellow writer by the name of Lior Jacob in which he examines “exclusionary amenities” which appeal to a certain demographic of people. A scholar by the name of Lessig provided a great example of this when he expressed “that a highway divides two neighborhoods limits the extent to which the neighborhoods integrate”. The outcome of these issues involve difficulty accessing certain jobs, property, and communities.


Posted September 7, 2016 by imiersjohnson1 in category Reading Summaries

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