Building Worlds In-Between

Abstract: The master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house (Audre Lorde). So, with what practices, what education, what imagination, will we build a different city? Alicia Ajayi, Emma Osore, and Sophonie Milande Joseph are members of the BlackSpace Urbanist collective, a national group manifesting radical futures in the built environment and honoring Black presence in public space. As part of our New City Critics fellowship, they have come together as the in-between writing collab: a circle of Black urbanists curious about the world around them and passionate about articulating a more inspired future for Black people. Pointing towards that future, the collab began by looking back, finding inspiration in the histories of Black liberation in Haiti: the homeland of many friends and colleagues. But where urbanists commonly come bearing outside solutions to problems of urban development in Haiti, the collab sought to learn from those already working on the ground in the spaces of the Black diaspora. They listened closely to the experiences of five urbanists in New York City and Port-au-Prince who have been navigating the shifting terrain that the collab has come to call the in-between. Below, they reflect on those conversations, which may resonate with readers who find themselves inhabiting similar spaces — navigating multiple identities, homes, and professional cultures — and searching for authentic and creative practices bringing better futures by and for Black people.

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