DeafSpace and the city: Theorizing transgression, identity, and the politics of belonging in urban planning

This article presents the first sustained engagement with DeafSpace within urban planning theory. While DeafSpace—a design framework formally developed at Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C., in 2005—has influenced architectural design by centering Deaf cultural practices and visual-tactile communication, its broader urban implications remain unexplored in the literature. We reposition DeafSpace as a radical planning imaginary challenging phonocentric norms and technocratic regimes. Drawing predominantly on disability and Crip theory, we theorize DeafSpace as a transgressive praxis grounded in interdependence, care, and spatial agency. We offer a set of provisional recommendations for planners, not as a comprehensive blueprint, but as an opening toward reimagining the normative foundations of planning which DeafSpace unsettles. Finally, we conclude with thoughts on the future of DeafSpace research in urban planning, emphasizing the necessity to attend to the Global South and its growing Deaf community.