In this issue, ARCHITECT celebrates a dozen inspirational individuals and organizations who, through their practices, projects, and ideas, are changing the world of architecture and design. Many of these game changers are emerging in their fields of expertise, but they all provide innovative solutions to obstacles we face every day. The leaders profiled here are challenging the status quo to lay the groundwork for inclusive, sustainable, and caring environments around the world. If one thing brings them together, it’s that they offer a model for practitioners during our turbulent times–demonstrating the power of architecture and design to forge real change.

Meet these game changers below.

• Next Progressives: Delma Palma

  The New York City Housing Authority deputy director of design wants to do away with the "idea that one person behind a desk can best understand how to design for a community of users."

  

• Laurian Ghinițoiu Offers a Fresh Approach to Photographing the Built Environment

  The photographer focuses on its social, political, and physical contexts.

  

• In Tuskegee and Pennsylvania, Educators Lead the Next Generation of Architectural Preservation

  Leaders from Tuskegee University’s Department of Architecture and University of Pennsylvania’s Weitzman School are spearheading an initiative dubbed “Capacity Building for Sustainable Preservation of Civil Rights Heritage Places.”

  

• Open Design Collective Gets Communities Involved in Planning Their Own Neighborhoods

  The Oklahoma City–based nonprofit's first major project sought to repair damage from urban renewal in the local, largely Black community of South of 8th Street.

  

• Nupur Chaudhury Imagines Public Health as a Matter of the Built Environment

  Working alongside Dark Matter University, the urbanist and health-equity expert helped launch a curriculum that trains communities to lead their own design processes.

  

• Tonika Lewis Johnson Uses Maps to Explore the Effects of Contract Buying on a Chicago Neighborhood

  Called Inequity for Sale, the social justice artist's new project came to life during a 2021 residency with the National Public Housing Museum.

  

• With This Knit-Casting Process, Concrete Leans Sartorial and Minimizes Production Waste

  Tsz Yan Ng, Sean Ahlquist, and Evgueni Filipov are harnessing CNC-manufactured knits to develop a process that results in intricate and efficient glass-fiber-reinforced concrete.

  

• Segregation by Design Examines Systemic Racism in American Cities

  Founded by the New York architectural designer Adam Paul Susaneck, the website presents the stark reality of racist urban planning practices in the built environment.

  

• This Nonprofit Uses Schools to Anchor Mixed-Use, Income-Diverse Community Development

  Helmed by Nora Jendoubi and Derwin Sisnett, Memphis, Tenn.–based Maslow Development aims to create structures for all residents to succeed.

  

• TreesAI Shows Communities How to Maintain and Grow Their Urban Forests

  The startup, founded by the Amsterdam-headquartered, not-for-profit Dark Matter Labs, offers a software aimed to help cities plan and sustain urban foliage.

  

This feature first appeared in the October 2022 issue of ARCHITECT.