I’ve written an article (‘Remote’) for Now You Know, a publication exploring spatial inequality in architecture.

Exclusion and racial bias are built into our cities. In its debut publication, Sound Advice gathered the thoughts and reflections of more than 50 architects and urbanists of colour in an extraordinary compendium of essays, poems, interviews and, yes, advice on how to address the discrimination baked into our built environment.

Crowdfunded to the tune of £19,500 by 418 supporters, the 180-page paperback is designed by Joel Antoine-Wilkinson and edited by Sound Advice’s co-hosts, the urbanists Pooja Agrawal and Joseph Henry. Its contributors range from MBEs to architecture students, artists to urban policymakers – each one accompanying their piece with a concise tip of the kind that has made the Sound Advice Instagram feed a compelling resource, paired with a music recommendation.

My article discusses the remoteness of our civic leaders to the civic architecture built in the post-war period. My music recommendation was the song ‘Bostadsansökan’ (‘Housing application’) by Laleh.

In Swedish, her adopted language, Laleh Pourkarim playfully crafts a letter to the ‘Queen and King’ explaining how ‘really fucking desperate’ she and her friends are for a flat. As the song progresses, she begins to realise the injustice of the situation, and wonders why the palace couldn’t accommodate them, why his majesty couldn’t expend with some of his time and his staff to help out, or why they don’t come to ‘represent… your fully faithful people’. After moving from country to country as a refugee, and settling in Gothenburg aged nine, the vital importance Laleh has placed on controlling her narrative within an exploitative industry is a source of inspiration. Taken from her debut LP in 2005 that combines a mix of pop, folk and jazz over English, Persian and Swedish lyrics, Laleh exerts full control over production and the release process. Eight albums later, with adaptive and eclectic styles, she continues to stand against the odds as one of Scandinavia’s most popular recording artists.

Find out more: dezeen.com/2021/08/03/sound-advice-now-you-know-book

All photography by Timi Akindele-Ajani