Deanna Van Buren, "Designing For Abolition"

Architects and designers play a critical role in addressing whole-systems change, including ending the oppressive and punitive approach of our criminal justice system. Designing Justice + Designing Spaces is an architecture and real estate nonprofit that ignites radical imagination to build an ecosystem of care.

This talk by co-founder and executive director Deanna Van Buren, will feature completed, current, and future projects that illustrate how and what we need to build to address the root causes of mass incarceration, rather than using prisons, jails, or courthouses to implement punishments. “Designing for Abolition” presents real-world examples of how architects can better serve our communities. Following the lecture, Andrea James, Executive Director of The National Council of Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls, will join Deanna on stage for a conversation and Q&A.

Host or Publisher Harvard University Graduate School of Design