Promoting Spatial Inclusion: How Everyday Places Signal Who Is Welcome

Regardless of whether we live in urban, suburban, or rural areas, we all “read” landscapes for indications of whether we fit in and are welcome. Identities relating to race, ethnicity, class, gender and sexuality all contribute to the lenses through which we interpret these signs. This chapter considers how we make sense of public and private places and what elements of the built and social environment we can change to make a wider range of people feel welcome. Specific examples focus on how people navigate food stores and neighborhood parks based on their intersecting identities.