A Different Future: Curbed's Diana Budds on City Design, Speaking Up, and How Things Could Be
By Julia Gamolina
Diana Budds is a New York-based writer, editor, and producer. She's curious about why people build, make, and design what they do and her work explores how that reflects and affects culture. She's currently a senior story producer at Curbed and was formerly on staff at Fast Company and Dwell. She's also contributed to Eye on Design, Kinfolk, and Vox.com. In her conversation with Julia Gamolina, Diana talks about her focus on different, better visions for the future of our built environment, advising those just starting their careers to find and honor different perspectives.
JG: How did your interest in the built environment first develop?
DB: My interest in the built environment comes from my personal experiences and my identity. I grew up in a suburb in the East Bay. My mom is an immigrant from the Philippines and my dad is a retired public school teacher, so everything was a lesson of some sort. My parents always told me about my surroundings, like the history of a place, landmarks, sometimes important buildings, too. Being mixed race in a mostly white suburb also made me more aware of the dynamics surrounding me.
Both of my parents are interested in how things are made and always tried to make things themselves before buying something. We were also always doing little projects around the house and shop, like to fix things. So how things are designed and put together always fascinated me.
Another thing that’s been hugely influential to my point of view is that my dad has low vision, a disability which prevents him from getting a driver’s license. When I was young, we took the bus everywhere and didn’t have a car until I was five or six. Bad bus service and the very real threat of losing service entirely was something that came up a lot at dinnertime. So what does that all have to do with the built environment? I was always super aware of how cities didn’t work for us and that if you wanted to change that, you had to speak up. Eventually I just wanted to learn more about why cities are designed as they are—and maybe even influence them through my work.
What did you study in college?
I studied art history and environmental policy. In art history, I ended up taking a lot of architectural history classes since the professor, Simon Sadler, made the subject really come alive. In environmental policy, my area of emphasis was city and regional planning. I wanted to become an environmental lawyer originally. I always thought, “I want to make the earth a better place and the world a more sustainable place.” I thought you could do that through the law, in the Erin Brockovich sort of way.
In college, I completed a study abroad program called “Sustainable Cities of Northern Europe.” We visited a few countries to learn about their progressive policies because at that time, as is now, American planning was much further behind than Europe. I loved going to these places and dissecting what made them special.
From what sounds like this eye-opening experience with cities and policy, how did you get to design media?
When I graduated, I didn’t know exactly what I wanted to do. I became less interested in the idea of working in environmental policy and law while I was still in college. But I did really like the writing and analysis, so I thought, “What can I do with this?”
My first paying job out of school was actually working in a bakery. I graduated in 2008—no one was getting jobs anywhere. Also, I knew I wanted to write about design, but I had no journalism experience. I was just applying for internships and seeing what was out there and what I could do.
Applying for internships where?
Everywhere—I was honestly just trying to find something that could lead me to something else that could then lead to something else.
Finally, I found a part-time internship at a website called Sustainlane. They hired me for this “city study” project where they would rank the top 50 most populous cities in terms of their sustainability traits. I wrote stories about how cities approached transportation, energy, and land-use policies. I worked with a great reporter there named Jordana Gustafson. She had a radio background and taught me the basics of reporting, how to write a story, and how to make things interesting. I should mention that this was unpaid and I was in a privileged position to be able to take it.
How do you make things interesting?
Thinking about the people and personalities involved, trying to speak in ways that are active, trying to tell a story like you would verbally tell it, instead of getting tripped up in writing things out. Speaking clearly and directly. Also listening for good quotes! One thing she taught me really sticks with me now: Sometimes just keep silent after someone stops answering a question. What they’ll say to fill the void will often be more quotable than their actual answer!
“I was always super aware of how cities didn’t work for us and that if you wanted to change that, you had to speak up.”
Thanks for the tips [laughs]. How did you then make your way to Curbed?
Curbed came about after a few other steps. When the Sustainlane internship concluded, I first wanted to get some design-oriented experience. I applied for museum internships and got one at SFMOMA in their Architecture and Design Department. I worked a lot with curators Jennifer Dunlop-Fletcher and Henry Urbach researching and writing about items they wanted to bring into the permanent collection and also researching the How Wine Became Modern exhibition.
When the 3-month internship concluded [at SFMOMA], there was another internship opening up at Dwell. So I applied for that, got it, and after that ended, I interned at MoMA, also in the Architecture and Design department, in New York.
It’s interesting that you went back and forth from media to museums, and also awesome that you’ve experienced both contexts, on both coasts, one after the other. You seem to be a little bit bashful about changing often and trying different things, but I would own it! It’s all great, cumulative experience, and the perspective that that gives you is invaluable.
Yea [laughs]. Ultimately these experiences are really influential to how I see design and architecture through these different lenses, in different places, and to how I talk about all of that.
After my internship in New York City [at MoMA] ended, there was a full-time position that opened at Dwell, so I started there as a Digital Content Editor. Dwell was an interesting place because it was a small team that was trying to do a lot—you were just thrown into things. It was a lot of work and a lot of pressure, but there were also a lot of opportunities.
When I left, my title was Senior Editor. I had been working on the website, the conferences, social media, market coverage, to house features. Finally, I again wanted to do something different, something that wasn’t interior design or architecture writing. There was a job that opened up at Fast Company’s Co.Design vertical, so applied for that. Going to work there was one of the best career decisions I ever made.
Diana moderating a panel on design and tariffs at Design Week Mexico in 2018.
How was that different from what you were doing before?
The way that Co.Design approached coverage was through all of these other angles of design—not just architecture, or not just urbanism, but UX, graphics, branding, art, and all this experimental stuff. Of course all of these things bleed into each other and they also reflect a lot of these broader things that are happening culturally.
I worked closely with Suzanne LaBarre, who is the editor there, and she’s really amazing. We published a lot of stories and I became a better and faster writer. I became interested in trying new mediums, so I joined Curbed about two years ago.
Now at Curbed, you are a Senior Story Producer. What does this mean, and what new mediums have you tried?
I originally started to work on video but restructuring happened at Vox Media [Curbed’s parent company], so I’ve been writing and reporting, and going from special project to special project. I’ve done some video, some writing, and helped develop a podcast.
I loved Nice Try!
Yeah, that’s one of the projects I’m most proud of at Curbed. Nice Try! launched in 2019. The premise was learning from failure and learning from people trying to create an idealized place. An idealized place is super subjective, and it was super interesting to try and understand how values, politics, and identity played into that.
There are people who are already going to care about Levittown, about Chandigarh, but most people just want to hear an interesting story and learn something in the process. When we were approaching the podcast, [the goal] was trying to tell a story about communities and how they failed, and having a design story in there, but also to tell these human and personal stories about the people who tried to make a better place. Curbed’s mission has been about helping people better understand the places and spaces in which they live. The podcast was a great example of how we approach that.
“The industry is very often idealistic and high-minded in what it’s trying to achieve through the work, but there are still these very messy problems in professional practice that people don’t want to admit are there.”
Tell me about your other recent projects at Curbed.
I spend a lot of time writing and reporting now, and I love working in that way because one of the best parts of my job is talking to people.
I can completely relate.
Around this time last year, I published a story about the #MeToo movement in architecture. I looked at how the industry is responding to this problem—a problem not unique to architecture, but is experienced in particularly harmful ways because it’s a male-dominated field and because there’s a lot of hierarchy and a lot of tradition ingrained in the profession.
People who work in architecture are vulnerable to exploitation because architecture is an aspirational profession. It’s also an unstable profession. This presents challenges in terms of organizing and understanding that it’s an industry that has an issue, not just the bad actors who are called out. The industry is very often idealistic and high-minded in what it’s trying to achieve through the work, but there are still these very messy problems in professional practice that people don’t want to admit are there.
Our story showed how people who are very active in advancing gender equity are approaching the challenge. We were also being critical about the gatekeepers’ responses to the problem. In the end, fighting harassment is really about dismantling the power structures and that’s very hard to do. I was hoping that story would say, “Hey, we see you and what you’re doing.” We want to hear about other people working on this, how they’re feeling, and amplify their voices.
I loved that story, and what a way to ring in the new decade. Speaking of which, what’s interesting to me about your career in design media is that it has been largely in the 2010’s. What have been the topics of the 2010’s? What are we going to look back on and say defined the decade in architecture?
The recession fundamentally changed everything. People our age were graduating from school and looking for jobs in the late aughts and early 2010s. Now they’re advancing and growing into leadership positions. There are generational changes about what people care about, the projects they want to be working on, and the problems they want to solve.
There is a greater focus on designing things to fix the problems that building has caused, whether that’s environmental degradation or social inequality. The technological shifts that were starting in the 2000’s are coming to bear on the industry now, in terms of automation. In terms of planning, it’s about representation at the decision-making table. So I think there are changes in culture, changes in technology, changes in the environment.
Back to you - given all the changes you’ve gone through, where are you in your career today?
I’m at an interesting point because I have been in media for a few years now and it does feel different, with having a few years under my belt. I’m coming more into-my-own as a writer and understanding what I want my work as a whole to say.
What do you want your work as a whole to say?
Even before I was a writer and thinking about what I wanted to do, there was always an impulse to make the world work better for more people. Right now that’s still my mission.
Through my work, I want to get people excited about and interested in a different future, and to show what a different future could be. That’s where stories come into play: finding people who are doing that work and sharing it with our readers, saying, “It doesn’t have to be the way it is—here’s another way it could be.” That is how I want my work as a whole to be: reflecting different ways that we can make the world more equitable, inclusive, and sustainable.
“Self-doubt isn’t great, but skepticism is.”
Looking back at everything, what have been the biggest challenges in your career?
Starting out during the recession and getting a foot in the door was really challenging. Some of the biggest challenges though are on the personal level—self-doubt and questioning, “Is this idea good enough? Is this story good enough?” In the end though, that can make stories stronger because you have to be aware and question everything. Self-doubt isn’t great, but skepticism is [laughs] and there’s a weird interplay between those two things.
Who are you admiring right now?
I really admire my colleagues. Alexandra Lange and Alissa Walker are doing incredible work in architectural criticism. Alexandra talks about stories in such an accessible and interesting way. For example, what can we learn about cities from teens? Alissa is great at being an advocate for improving Los Angeles and talking about her view of a future that’s more walkable. And of course, Kelsey Keith, Curbed’s editor in chief, makes the space for all of these stories and has been a huge supporter of my work.
Finally, I admire Avery Trufelman—she was our host on Nice Try!. She’s able to approach design in a really entertaining and accessible way, through her own podcast, Articles of Interest and on 99% Invisible.
Last question. For those starting their careers in the industry, what advice do you have for them?
Meet as many people as you can and talk to people who are different from you. Everyone sees and experiences the world so differently. That is really important for gaining perspective and you need to have perspective if you’re someone who’s going to be analyzing and writing about the world, or designing it. It’s also looking at different things outside of whatever your field is - think about what’s going on in fashion, or in politics, or in music. The more things you are paying attention to and exposed to, the richer any synthesis can be.