In 2021, AIA Pennsylvania put forth three resolutions, approved at the AIA Annual Meeting. The national chapter of the AIA recently provided an update to AIA Pennsylvania’s Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Committee on the progress of one of the three resolutions, “Conduct Research into Investments Made in Underserved Communities” (resolution 21-1).
Resources developed to meet the objectives of an earlier resolution, “Blueprint for Better Communities” (resolution 18-5), align with many of the intended goals of resolution 21-1. Three resources of note are as follows:
- “Design for Equitable Communities” toolkit page, a component of the AIA Framework for Design Excellence.
- “Architect’s Role in Creating Equitable Communities” report (September 2022) in partnership with Gensler and the Neighborhood Design Center, and summary on aia.org.
- “Equitable Development Frameworks: a comparison for architects” report (October 2021) and summary on aia.org.
Resolution 21-1 called for data sets for tracking investments in equitable community work and clients served by architecture firms, most notably through modifications to AIA’s biannual Firm Survey. The 2022 Firm Survey report incorporated this work. New data collected and reported on includes:
- Share of work providing services to underserved communities
- Pro-bono work for community organizations
- Type of work—affordable housing projects