ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an overview of Part II that focuses on: 1) synthesizing the concepts from diverse and disparate cases into a theoretical framing; 2) decoding the process, politics, and ethics of signaling; and 3) offering a series of actionable and transferable propositions to advance inclusion. To grasp how inclusion might be experienced or perceived through the signals of inclusion, it is imperative to revisit how it has been defined, operationalized, and mobilized. Vale, Hatuka, Galster, and Silver distill how inclusion is lived, signaled, and negotiated in everyday urban life. They highlight that inclusion is an ongoing and creative process and thus is both a noun and a verb. Regardless of complexities, signals of inclusion are legible as visible and tangible expressions of an inclusive culture. Samper, Chiu-Shee, and Ignaccolo propose an eight-component model and a repertoire for signaling processes that reflect the complexity and diversity of how inclusion is signaled, amplified, and interpreted. This reveals that signals arise from a complex interplay of diverse actors who infuse these signals with layered economic, cultural, and social significance. Employing both overt and covert signals, the dynamics of inclusion become even more palpable at the scale of the neighborhood with visible and visceral outcomes. Aurigi, Lamb, and Mehta propose that signals of inclusion are actionable through definitive strategies along three dimensions: space, communication, and governance. The signals, as definitive actions, provide affordances that can lead to five meaningful civic outcomes of building trust, evincing respect, providing care, expanding agency, and shifting power.
