Currently, society has huge environmental and social issues. For me, this is why architecture and design are important. It is no secret that infrastructure and systemic oppression are intimately intertwined. Statistics are clear that climate change most affects those with the least resources to mitigate or combat it. Social stratification occurs, not just in communities but also in the fundamental ways we build, plan, and code our environments. To me, these connections are apparent and impossible to ignore. 

What I think makes architecture and design different from other, “finer” arts, is its fundamental relationship with our everyday lives. It is easier to define art when you are looking at a mural, painting, or listening to a symphony than it is to encapsulate the many variables that arise when creating spaces. The fact that most don’t know the thought going into the space around them is in large part what makes architecture and design so powerful. Design shifts perspectives, even if subconsciously, on a fundamental level in ways that the “shock factor” of fine arts often fail to achieve. 

Fine art is a jumpstart, an awakening for a majority of the populus, but it’s the jobs of designers, architects, and policymakers to critically consider what is already institutionalized and create pieces, environments, and cultures that begin to systemically challenge that.