The about-to-be-released Business of Architecture: 2003 AIA Firm Survey promises to convey some uplifting news about growing numbers of women and minorities in principals’ roles and in the architecture profession at large. Nonetheless, trends show that many future clients will be primarily from groups now significantly underrepresented in the design professions. According to the 2000 U.S. Census, by 2025, current minority populations will account for 40 percent of the U.S. population. By 2050, current minority groups are projected to make up more than half of the American population.

“We need to take a hard look at ourselves and ask whether our profession is really better off for the lack of diversity within it,” notes AIA Diversity Committee Chair and Boston Architectural Center President Ted Landsmark, Assoc. AIA. “Because we believe that architecture is an intrinsically competitive profession, we too often overlook the experiences of those individuals who could now be making significant contributions to the field but who felt that a broad lack of mentorship for many minorities and women has kept this profession one of the least diverse in America.”

To these ends, the AIA Diversity Committee and the Boston Society of Architects/AIA are proud to present “2020 Vision—A Diversity Conference for Design Professionals,” November 19–20, in conjunction with BSA’s annual Build Boston conference. National and international researchers and practitioners will share research, discuss practice-based solutions, and create a stronger future for increasing diverse participation in shaping the built environment.

The conference format will enable attendees to participate in two full days of comprehensive study and dialogue or engage in individual sessions. Conference programs focus on a mix of topics, including “universal” hiring practices, pathways to leadership, integrating practice and education, public-agency practices, why women leave architecture, students’ aspirations, firm identity, success stories, global practices, consumer myths, diversity in lower Manhattan, and NAAB and diversity.

Tapestry of topics
Titles of the 18 scheduled sessions speak of the richness of topics the conference will address:

• B01 Breakfast of Champions—diversity in design
• B20 2020 Vision forum
• B36 Everything you always wanted to know but were afraid to ask about hiring, firing, and all that stuff in between!
• B38 Creative integration of practice and education in the academy
• B39 Designers, diversity, and DCAM
• B55 Why do women leave architecture?
• B56 The design career threshold
• B57 Branding today to create your firm's identity tomorrow
• B58 Obstacles and opportunities: three success stories
• C12 The global architect: the future of the profession in the free-market economy
• C13 Do you hear what I hear? or, What I learned from “The Brady Bunch”
• C14 Debunking the typical consumer myth: expanding the definition of the user
• C15 Divine secrets of the architecture sisterhood
• C32 Designing diverse firms—the business, legal, and ethical imperatives
• C33 Seeking diversity: the civic role in Lower Manhattan planning
• C34 The ACE Mentor Program—providing opportunities in architecture, construction, and engineering for high-school students
• C35 NAAB—where and how does diversity fit?
• C67 2020 Vision—the closing assembly.

You may register for the entire conference for $395 or individual sessions at $80 each. Please note that some sessions are concurrent. If you register for any session, you will automatically be registered to visit the exhibit hall at Build Boston. For more information or to register, call 800-544-1898 or visit the AIA Web site or the Build Boston Web site.

“The world has changed dramatically, and the client base we need to serve as architects and designers is a much more diverse one than was generally the case half a century ago,” Landsmark concludes. “If we are going to be perceived as providing the kind of value to improve the quality of the built environment that we believe we should, we must increase our diversity. We must bring a broader range of voices into the design and management process as a way of sending a message to our clients that we truly understand their more diverse needs and perceptions.”

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