Design: Of the Communities, By the Communities, For the Communities

Across the country, forward-thinking brains combine innovative design with civic participation to create projects that provide solutions for local and statewide issues. From Chinatown to Toronto to Pine Ridge, designs in Cooper Hewitt’s By the People: Designing a Better America show that placing local concerns at the forefront for project planning build communities that nurture its residents.

Through straightforward design and collaborative planning, the Center for Urban Pedagogy (CUP) aims to translate complex urban housing problems for New York City residents, some of whom may face uncertain futures due to rising rents in their neighborhoods. This project is compromised of CUP’s What is Affordable Housing? toolkit and Rent Regulation Rights posters in both the Chinese and English language. In 2010, CUP reached out to grassroots organization Committee Against Anti-Asian Violence and graphic design teams MTWTF and IntraCollaborative to visually illustrate the affordable housing policies and programs of various NYC neighborhoods and show which New Yorkers are eligible for these programs. These graphics included in the toolkit are also accompanied by instructions on how to run a workshop, and so far dozens of organizations in the city have conducted workshops teaching participants the complexities of urban housing.

The Rent Regulation posters currently being distributed throughout Chinatown depict common scenarios between the neighborhood’s tenants and their landlords in easy-to-understand illustrations, suggesting ways to deal with situations that may arise from rising neighborhood property value, prompting landlords to push tenants to vacate. This project helps residents understand their rights as tenants so that they can remain living in their homes safely and affordably, since many people in New York City do not have time to do their own research of the confusing policies of the urban housing system. Moreover, the project assists the considerable number of residents who do not speak or read English fluently and are already disadvantaged by the English-run government programs.

The collaboration of landscape architect firms PFS Studio, The Planning Partnership, and Paul Raff Studio created the Underpass Park in Toronto, Canada. WATERFRONToronto commissioned the project in 2007 as way to reclaim unused space and transform it into a public place of recreation and active urban life. When work was finally finished in 2014, the formerly desolate space below the overpass highways dividing two neighborhoods became a passage reconnecting the communities. Now not only does the park provide a safe space for pedestrians to enjoy the city, but it also brings some nature back into the area with plantings placed throughout the space. The project takes advantage of already existing structures within the city to better the neighborhood through sustainable and community-centered planning and design.

An innovative yet simple idea like the Underpass Park can easily be applied to New York City. There are many unused spaces throughout the city, especially in the boroughs surrounding Manhattan, such as areas like abandoned subway stations, underneath overpasses like those of the Underpass Park, and others. These spaces could be transformed into parks as well, or could be used as venues for art exhibitions or concerts. To make the most of the space, it would be best to make the areas multifunctional and sustainable, while taking advantage of the already-existing infrastructure. For example, a derelict station could be revamped into a space for performance art to be used by neighboring universities and colleges.

Within the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, the Oglala Lakota youth formed the Thunder Valley Community Development Corporation to create a sustainable and resilient community development to overcome systemic poverty in the region. The project, known as Thunder Valley CDC’s Regenerative Community Development, began in 2014 and by collaborating with architect firms BNIM and Pyatt Studio, aims to incorporate traditional Lakota values to build a center of environmentally friendly infrastructure. These buildings are to be used as housing, community centers, and businesses, among other spaces intended for facilities useful for supporting a healthy environment of Lakota youth, elderly, and families. Thunder Valley CDC is designing the Regenerative Community to be self-sufficient and community-centered to promote a self-supporting society of Lakota people. Already work has started in implementing a number of programs and initiatives to mobilize the community and create more opportunities for residents to participate in the Regenerative Community project.