Architecture operates at the intersection of culture, politics, economics, and technology. As shapers of the environment via designs for buildings, objects, landscapes, and spaces—real and virtual—designers find themselves rethinking all of it. As part of this rethinking many are contemplating ways that people will now interact with space as a result of the pandemic and the social unrest that followed. We believe, as students and teachers preparing for this reality, we should not just look at the ways in which space can be reorganized to promote social change and address today’s dire concerns but also actively propose solutions beyond the accepted notions of spatiality, reorganization, and reaction. We must confront the many questions that this year of crises has raised for our society and consequently the design disciplines. What does it mean to be an architect, planner, and designer moving forward? What has it meant in the past and how can that be unpacked to expose a plethora of opportunities and shortcomings? What are we up against in regards to the finer minutia of society’s inner workings?

More questions. Where have the phenomena of “social-distancing” and “social solidarity” left us? What lessons have these phenomena taught us inside and outside of the discipline that question the notion of space—how it enables (disables) and promotes (demotes) social interactions on a daily basis? What is the role of space as a social equalizer or divider? Does Architecture have the power to shape the built world and fix its underlying inequities, when programmers seem increasingly more relevant? What role does the digital now play in spatiality? Does the virtual world threaten disciplines such as Architecture, or do they offer opportunities? What is obsolete? What world might we live in where physical manifestations of success and accomplished dreams are replaced by virtual ones? Has this year proven something about the necessity of physicality or virtuality in the world? What are the impacts of an economy hampered by crises? By who and where are these crises most felt? How should professions participate as society grapples to re-invent itself? How do race and identity contribute to the economy and consumption of space? How do we strive for a more equitable and racially just future? How can design make good on the promise that, “Black Lives Matter’? What is the future of space, place, economy, social class, social confinement, and social expression? What are we missing? What Else…?