The UCSD Community Stations: From Hospitality to Infrastructures of Inclusion

Abstract

Ravaged by war, persecution and poverty immigrants have immediate needs of food and water, medicine and shelter. Responding to these needs is the appropriate response of an ethical society. But needs become more complex over time, and hospitality is no longer adequate for building an inclusive society. We need to transform the city into an infrastructure of inclusion and integration, and this demands transformation in the social and spatial arrangements of the host city. We are seeking to advance this agenda through the UCSD Community Stations, a network of field hubs located in immigrant neighborhoods across the San Diego-Tijuana border region, where research, teaching and service are done collaboratively with community-activist partners. We believe that communities and universities can be meaningful partners to co-develop inclusive public spaces, where the construction of citizenship can be mobilized through cultural action.