Our Story.
Building Utopia was created in the fall of 2020 and was inspired by the need for design to respond to the changing political and cultural landscape while exercising community input in the co-design of these solutions.
As designers, educators, and community organizers, we wanted to create a tool anyone could use to imagine a future centered on the voices of the most marginalized. Drawing on Healing Justice princciples learned from Black Womxn Flourish and motivated by the work of groups such as Creative Reaction Lab, Design as Protest, and ChiByDesign, we developed a resource that blends liberatory design with future planning.
After a year of testing, we’re proud to introduce an Afrofuturism-inspired toolkit that will help shape our worldview of education, community development, housing, sustainability, and more; as well as strengthen our connections.
Our Mission.
Building Utopia’s mission is to help communities take the lead in shaping the future. Through card decks and a guidebook, the toolkit offers exercises and methods for imagining new, more liberated futures for the Black diaspora and marginalized communities.
TEAM
CHRISTINA N. HARRINGTON
DESIGNER, RESEARCHER, FACILITATOR
Christina N. Harrington, Ph.D., is a designer, qualitative researcher, and Assistant Professor at Carnegie Mellon University's HCI Institute with a courtesy appointment in the School of Design. She is also the Director of the Equity and Health Innovations Design Research Lab.
Christina’s research blends design, health equity, and technology, exploring how design-based interventions can address health and racial equity gaps in technology experiences. She employs inclusive design methods and community-based participatory design (CBPR) to create technology solutions that are both culturally relevant and empowering. In her most recent projects, Christina explores the societal implications of emerging technologies like AI and has developed tools such as the Building Utopia Deck to support the visioning of equitable futures.
Christina serves as founder and CEO of Building Utopia.
Learn more about Christina at christinaharrington.me/
JENN S. ROBERTS
EQUITY STRATEGIST, SOCIAL DESIGNER
Jenn S. Roberts is an equity strategist, facilitator, and social designer who works to create fairer, more just systems in education, health, technology, and the arts. She is the CEO of Versed Education Group, a consultancy that helps organizations turn their good ideas into real, anti-racist actions through fun, interactive learning and coaching.
In 2021, Jenn was chosen as a USC Annenberg Innovation Lab Civic Media Fellow, which is a program funded by the MacArthur Foundation to support creators and organizers. Previously, Jenn has worked as an elementary school teacher and has experience in systems design and adult learning. In 2021, Jenn and her team organized Feminist Future(s), a fully virtual event focused on creating new ideas for the future.
Jenn serves as co-founder and became Building Utopia‘s COO in 2022.
Learn more about Jenn at https://www.jennsroberts.com/links