The Difficult Unity of Inclusion

There’s a Robert Venturi quote I heard recently that goes:

But an architecture of complexity and contradiction has a special obligation toward the whole: its truth must be in its totality or its implications of totality. It must embody the difficult unity of inclusion rather than the easy unity of exclusion. More is not less.

“The easy unity of exclusion” put me in mind of the ‘diversity’ initiatives prevalent in public service and probably in private companies. They trumpet diversity but what they really seem to be after is this:

that everyone, regardless of race, gender, sexuality, religion, ability, age, etc., must want the same things and aspire to live the same way. When someone comes along who is really diverse (usually non-neurotypical), see them close ranks right away. Allowing for people who actually have different lives is far more tricky for them to deal with. How does a business relate to someone who doesn't want to make money? How does our social structure relate to people who don't want sex, or whose perception of the family is negative?

(Venturi quoted in “Architect”, https://www.architectmagazine.com/design/learning-from-robert-venturi_o )

(originally published 14/02/22)