Spatial justice
By Victoria Numbers
At Four Point Design, part of being “on point” with our clients means continually growing, learning, and enriching our understanding through exploration, conversations, and continued education. In this series, we explore a topic that has been top-of-mind for us lately: building trust in healthcare.
As we settle into the new year, many of us have been reflecting on what we’ve learned and experienced and how those insights will inspire our work and lives differently moving forward. One of my key takeaways in 2022 was learning more about the concept of spatial justice and reflecting on how it should drive our interior design work in the healthcare environment.
Last fall, I had the opportunity to attend the Healthcare Facilities Symposium & Expo and hear about spatial justice from keynote speaker Liz Ogbu. Ogbu is founder and principal of multidisciplinary design and innovation practice, Studio O, which operates at the intersection of racial and spatial justice. Spatial justice, as Ogbu shares it in her TEDWomen 2017 talk, “means that we understand that justice has a geography and that the equitable distribution of resources, services, and access is a basic human right.”
As a designer, urbanist, and spatial justice activist, Ogbu is an expert on engaging and transforming unjust urban environments. Through her work, she collaborates within communities in need, leveraging design to be the catalyst for sustained social impact. (Learn more about Ogbu and her expertise on her website as well as her TEDWomen and TEDx and talks).
Our history is full of examples of how the approach and placement of infrastructure and buildings have created or worsened inequities and eroded trust. Ogbu’s presentation challenged me to think about how spatial justice applies to the healthcare environment—an essential component of communities.
Here are just a few ways I’ve been thinking about Ogbu’s presentation and how it is influencing my work moving forward.
1. Empathetic listening. Ask any designer, and we’ll tell you that we listen to our clients. Yet how deeply are we empathetically listening to our clients’ clients—the community at large? Empathetic listening moves beyond asking standard questions and taking in information. It involves truly understanding, acknowledging, and imagining the situation through another’s perspective, so the resulting design can drive positive change.
2. Meaningful and creative engagement. While empathic listening is powerful, true engagement is the goal. With her thought leadership in spatial justice, Ogbu encourages us to invite community members to the table to help co-create the design of facilities. That key word—co-create—is further inspiring my work at Four Point Design, where we use strategies like in person and virtual town halls, visioning boards, mock-up exercises, and more, to involve stakeholders in the design process in ways that work best for them.
3. Honoring the place. From gaining an understanding of a neighborhood’s history by working with anthropologists to inviting longtime residents to share their experiences, uncovering the stories, legacy, and character of the area can help create an authentic space that acknowledges and honors the community.
4. Advancing outcomes. Hospitals are a critical part of an ecosystem that involves patients, families, visitors, caregivers, and the greater community. In addition, the impact and influence of healthcare organizations reach far beyond their walls. Healthcare providers are doing work to address this call. For example, Eskenazi Health is creating clinics that meet patients where they are. At IU Health, the organization is assessing and addressing the overall needs of its community and how food insecurity, housing costs, and income inequality impact health and life expectancy. We appreciate the opportunity to work with organizations like these who are helping to improve access and outcomes in Indiana.
In any relationship, making a connection requires trust. In healthcare environment, that relationship is—quite literally—a critical one. When people trust health and wellness entities and they feel ownership in both the healthcare environments and the process of creating them, it can have a ripple effect on the health of the community and its residents. I’m grateful for the great work Liz Ogbu is doing, and I appreciate the opportunity to have heard her message at the Healthcare Facilities Symposium. We will continue to design inclusive environments, creating better tomorrows for everyone.