“Reparation is a construction project…. It was never entirely, or even primarily, about money. The demand for reparations was about social justice, reconciliation, reconstructing the internal life of black America, and eliminating institutional racism.”

— Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò, Reconsidering Reparations

CONSTRUCTIVE REPARATIONS

Curriculum: Advanced Architecture Studio, Fall 2025  
Professor: Janette Kim
Studio Partner: EVOAK! (Randolph Belle and Jeremy Liu)
Related Programming and Curriculum: 980 Block Party
Students: Students: Salim Ahmed, Noor Alhashimi, Vicky Cheung, Yicheng Eason Jiang, Finn Ghinn, Amanda Gomez, Lesly Karina Gonzalez-Benitez, Amira Seale, Curran Thompson, and Samuel Avila Vallejo.

This studio worked with Oakland community members to imagine how the I-980 freeway can be reclaimed a form of reparations. We were inspired by philosopher Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò’s vision of constructive reparations, which imagines repair as a blend of direct compensation at an individual scale and systemic change at a collective scale. We studied interviews with legacy residents and archival material of the lives and livelihoods disrupted by freeway construction from the 1960s to 80s. We then designed ownership and investment strategies that could return power, land, and resources to West Oaklanders. Students designed a 2-block stretch along the freeway, between 12th and 14th streets. Projects return land to Afro-Indigenous communities, incubate wealth creation through youth-led initiatives, and still inventive models of housing ownership driven by community governance. We hope community members will see this work as a conversation starter to support and inspire future action led by grassroots action. 

Feeling Like Home 
Finn Ghinn and Noor Alhashimi

What kind of wealth can reparations build? This project Feeling Like Home proposed a new kind of model: a “Mixed Equity Land Trust.” Legacy residents could choose whether to shelter their homes from speculation (limited equity) or build wealth (free market). Together, both kinds of owners would co-govern community spaces on a restored, newly sculpted ground and repair social bonds previously disrupted by the freeway.

Land Back. 
Amira Seale, Amanda Gomez, and Karina Gonzalez-Benitez

Who is reparations for? This project focused on reparations for both Indigenous and Black residents. Amira, Amanda, and Karina imagined blurred property lines where new owners would have to negotiate with each other to define “mine,” “mine-ish,” and ours” spaces.

Reparative Voids 
Curran Thompson and Sam Avila Vallejo

How can reparations prompt grassroots change? Reparative Voids studied the diverse building typologies erased by the freeway. Sam and Curran echo the voids left by urban renewal by carving up their new city block, but repair this loss by restoring a vibrant mix of uses, scales, and household structures. Here, in these new voids, residents can interact and support each other.

Worker Cooperative for the Future 
Vicky Cheung and Yicheng (Eason) Jiang)

How can reparations build a sustainable local economy? In Worker Cooperative for the Future, Vicky Cheung and Yicheng Eason Jiang designed a worker cooperative that can grow existing small businesses into a thriving, sustainable economy. Vicky and Eason’s design focuses on youth as leaders of the coop. Their cellular structure allows coop members to customize and expand their space over time. 

Boulevard Rising 
Salim Ahmed

Boulevard Rising also imagines a worker cooperative. This project connects the east and west sides of the I-980 corridor with a diagonal, public passage that dips down from the downtown edge to a gathering space at the lower level of the existing roadway, before ramping back up to street level in West Oakland. Small businesses can set up shop in a series of individual storefront kiosks along this ramp. Behind the facade, a gridded, flexible space enables cooperative members to customized shared spaces as needed. High density housing is perched above, and plazas and gardens activate public space at both upper and lower levels.