Cultures, Communities and Design

Abstract

The intention is to draw attention to an important point in the analysis of places and their representation, which remain recorded in the subconscious. Hence the need to initiate a reflection that reinstates the history of people who were racialized, and their worldviews denied in a colonial system. What colonial continuities relate to coloniality today? Because when talking about colonialism and post-colonialism, many people are not aware of the magnitude of coloniality today. How are images manifested through the spaces created, what stories are told, how and for what reason? Who are the creators, for whom were they conceived, and what are the archetypes of urban and rural spaces? In a context of power relations that emerged in the colonial period, the particular situation of coloniality becomes a form of invisible articulation embedded in society, in the sense of the beneficiaries’ interest in resources, labour, and real estate, or the simple fact of being in space. The structures of urban and even rural spaces tend to follow an Anglo-Eurocentric view. This vision captures the continuity of coloniality that is reflected in the way societies are instituted, structured, organized, and act in whiteness. Whiteness is understood as a social and political construction. It is a political definition that represents the historical, political, and social privileges of a particular group that has access to the dominant structures and institutions of society. From a decolonial perspective, a participatory co-design of the city, as well as of the rural, implies transforming practices into a transversal approach to life, processes, people, and their experiences that were omitted to aspire to a possible social change. These issues are addressed from experiences in Mexico City (Mexico), Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), Asunción (Paraguay), Frankfurt (Germany), and the surrounding rural areas.