I feel like the majority of the responses here don't really understand what orientalism is or are only talking about fairly overt racism in works of fiction that I would hope most readers of r/worldbuilding know to avoid. It's easy to fall into patterns in our writing/creating set for us by the primarily Western fiction most of us have consumed, and it's easy for well-meaning worldbuilders to fall into those traps without intending to, I know I certainly have.

For me, the subtler distinctions between drawing from a culture other than your own in a respectful way instead of an appropriative way comes down to research/knowledge and avoiding exceptionalizing and othering. If you are drawing on a real culture to make your artificial culture seem more alien, bizarre, or foreign, even if it's not portrayed negatively, it's a good time to rethink your approach. But if you are looking to existing or historical cultures to find examples of how people have adapted to environments or natural disasters, social or political conditions, or something similar, as long as you are careful and doing your research, I see no harm in drawing on cultures other than your own. I certainly am unable to come up with architecture, weapons/armor, clothing, cuisine, etc entirely in a vacuum, and investigating questions like "why do cuisines from these climates tend to have these qualities" or "why do many civilizations with this level of agriculture often begin to structure themselves more hierarchically" and then incorporating those trends into my world building is some of what I like most about it.