Opening the Gates: Restorative Design Justice In Practice

Opening the Gates is an intergenerational gathering of designers, Austin neighborhood residents, community partners, West Side youth, and Deem Symposium guests with the goal of challenging ourselves to co-design a new community asset without gatekeeping or assumptions of insider knowledge. This workshop will center around the real opportunity to develop city-owned land at 557 N Central Avenue, and throughout the Austin community. Territory is working to create a Restorative Design Justice practice based on the free exchange of ideas among a diverse group with a mutual commitment towards acknowledging harm embedded in urban design, and using design to make our community whole again. The experience will include a presentation by members of Territory around the significance of place in this context, restorative justice strategies, and breaking bread.

Territory is a place-based urban design studio where young people are building better futures for themselves and their communities through the hands-on practice of design. Territory is located in the Austin neighborhood on Chicago’s West Side. Doing projects in public spaces, young people use their lived experience, gain civic problem-solving skills, discover transformative career pathways in design, and advocate for including young people in the design and planning of Chicago.

This event is part of “Creating Space” a series of on-site placemaking activations co-hosted by Root2Fruit, Austin Coming Together, Austin Experience, InspireTheNXT, Your Passion 1st, Territory, and Deem.

This spring, Deem presents its second live symposium: Designing for Dignity 02: A Convening of Possibilities. In continuation with last year's inaugural gathering, this hybrid in-person/online event will be co-hosted by the MCA Chicago on May 17, 18, and 19, 2024. Deem will expand on the guiding premise of dignity as the intrinsic lens for liberatory design practices with two days of presentations and conversations, as well as interactive workshops and on-site experiences happening both at the museum and throughout the city of Chicago. This year's program will bring together innovative and acclaimed artists, designers, scholars, and organizers to reflect on a range of design-related topics, disciplines, methodologies, and agendas.

Deem will again organize a three-day Reference Room to provide a public gathering space in which anyone can encounter and experience reading materials that have inspired our five print issues. Literature in the form of books, articles, and essays will reflect thoughtlines in our research, specific mentions from our pages, and recommendations from our contributors. We hope to create context and access to educational tools around Deem's processes and beliefs, as well as a haven for reflection and repose. The Reference Room will be located at the MCA and open to any visitor from 10 am to 6 pm on May 17-19.

Tickets can be purchased on the MCA website.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

557 N Central Ave, 557 North Central Avenue, Chicago, United States