I ♥ Public Space

Accolades: Susan Chin Wins AIANYS Service Award

2012-01-26T15:01:00.004-05:00

Last week, the American Institute of Architects New York State chapter awarded Design Trust executive director Susan Chin the Matthew W. Del Gaudio Service Award in recognition of her leadership and competence in advancing the profession of architecture. Bravo!

AIANYS president David Businelli, AIA, presented the Matthew W. Del Gaudio Service Award to Susan Chin, FAIA last week in Albany.

Fellow Spotlight: Photographer Gail Halaban in today's NYTimes

2012-01-26T12:46:00.001-05:00

Congratulations to Design Trust Photo Urbanism fellow Gail Albert Halaban, whose stunning photo of Penn South created for her Design Trust Photo Urbanism project "Out My Window," accompanies Michael Kimmelman's piece about public housing complexes in today's New York Times, "Towers of Dreams: One Ended in Nightmare."

See more photographs created by Gail for her Photo Urbanism project.
Read the full story about housing complexes in New York.

Public Space Potluck: West Harlem Piers Park

2011-07-08T12:51:00.004-04:00

Feel the summer breeze ripple off the Hudson River as we head uptown for a Public Space Potluck at West Harlem Piers Park on Wednesday, July 20. A former parking lot, this 2-acre site was transformed into a waterfront oasis in 2009, bringing new open space to West Harlem and providing the final link in the Hudson River greenway, a ribbon of recreational and ecological activity that now extends from Battery Park to Dyckman Street.

To learn more about the park's design process, check out CultureNOW's podcast with architect Barbara Wilks of W Architecture, the firm behind the West Harlem Master Plan and Waterfront Park.

We've got plates, cups, and utensils covered. Bring your friends and a dish and/or drinks to share. We'll meet up at Fountain Plaza at 131st Street. (Food bonus: Fairway is only a block away.)

Transit: 1/A/B/C/D to 125th.

Let us know if you're coming via Facebook or rsvp@designtrust.org.

Potluck Recap: Gulick Park

2011-06-09T16:02:00.006-04:00

Trek east on Delancey Street, as tenement buildings give way to a cluster of high-rise housing complexes and trendy eateries fade into auto repair stores, and you'll stumble upon Gulick Park, a half-block open space that, design-wise, is more concrete than green. On June 2, the Design Trust joined Hester Street Collaborative and Friends of Gulick Park to transform this space into an al fresco dining room for our first outdoor public space potluck of the season.

The potluck spread was a nod to the Lower East Side's rich culinary offerings, including treats from Vanessa's Dumping House, Doughnut Plant, and Kalustyan's. Between bites, with the whir of Williamsburg Bridge traffic overhead, we learned about the community-driven efforts to make Gulick Park a safer, greener, and more inviting space for the neighborhood's diverse residents.

To be honest, Gulick Park slid onto our radar because it boasts a handsome Henge T40 table -- Design Trust staff is always game to indulge in some "open-air Ping Pongery." Talking to representatives of Friends of Gulick Park, though, we were also inspired by the earnest efforts of local residents to reclaim their small corner of the city -- and to do so by championing an inclusive, ground-up visioning and planning process. In an era of blockbuster urban parks, this potluck was a gentle reminder that while New York City's public spaces can be powerful tourist attractions or "economic dynamos" they are, first and foremost, community anchors.

Finding Your Loved Ones: The Safety Maps Project

2011-05-18T16:44:00.005-04:00

Nurri Kim is an artist, writer, and one of the design collaborators behind Do Projects. She thinks of her work as an "archaelogy of the moment, with the aim of restoring to awareness the things that we see too often, and then forget to see." We love her newest creation, Safety Maps, and are thrilled to have her speak in her own words about her project!

By Nurri Kim

My hope for Safety Maps grows out of my experiences mapping post-earthquake Gujarat, as well as what I remember about the blackout a few summers ago.

At its simplest, Safety Maps is an online tool based on the open-source Open Street Map project that lets you make a PDF map, print it out to keep in your wallet or hang on the refrigerator, and then share a link to that map with family members and other loved ones. It's a remedy for the anxiety people feel when all the usual communication networks are down and they're unable to get in touch with the people who matter most to them.

It's also intended as a gentle reminder to spend some time thinking about what is most precious to us, and how terribly fragile the infrastructure and technology is that connects all of us. Because we recommend that everyone who makes a Safety Map actually visits the site they've chosen to confirm its suitability as a gathering point, there's also the possibility that people might even discover something new and meaningful about the environment they live in.

We hope the parents of small children, or people responsible for managing schools and offices find it useful. After enough people have used the site, we'll aggregate that data into a collective map of places perceived as safe.

Open Kitchen Meets Open Factory

2011-05-11T17:15:00.009-04:00

We've all been talking about "buying local" for years now, but the focus has really been on food. Is it time to spread the 'localism' to other products, like fashion? Many NYC-based fashion designers and garment factories would argue yes. And here's one shop that is embracing the concept, complete with an open factory in the back of the boutique. So the 'open kitchen' concept meets 'open factory.'

Another local fashion designer has also taken a step in this direction, except her studio is above her new flagship boutique, YEOHLEE, on West 38th Street. Although you can't see-through to the studio like you will be able to at 3x1, she produces all her garments locally. Want to peek inside? Check out this recent feature in Interior Design magazine.

"A nauseating pile-up of nothingness"

2011-05-05T12:30:00.012-04:00

Last night's keynote address to open the Festival of Ideas for a New City was delivered by the master of provocation, Rem Koolhaas, and as to be expected, he elicited curiosity, contemplation & chuckles from the packed, star-studded audience at NYU's Rosenthal Pavilion (both Maya Lin and Marina Abramovic were both in my elevator!). The thrust of his talk? Cronocaos. The same topic of his 2010 Venice Biennale exhibition which is making its New York debut at the New Museum this weekend.

On heritage & preservation: "Heritage has become an intimidating presence to which we can only show respect. We are in a time warp now-- we are too focused on heritage and it's jeopardizing our sense of linear history."

On artificiality: "Architecture has no rear-view mirror, architects are always looking to the future. Everything that we do is highly artificial."

On World Heritage Sites: "We need a system for condemning/demolishing buildings as much as we need one for preserving them."

On Wall Street: "From 1984 to 2008, the rising trajectory of Wall Street's Dow Index aligns perfectly with the increase in international tourism and the increased number of designated world heritage sites."

And my personal favorite was: When you create new architecture to artificially preserve the past, "what you are left with is a nauseating pile-up of nothingness."

Curious? Go see the show.

Guest Blog: Nashville's African Keyhole Garden

2011-02-14T08:00:00.005-05:00

By Patricia Conway and Jill Robinson

Jill and Patricia are passionate urban gardeners living in East Nashville, Tennessee, where they are both studying for their PhD in Community Research and Action at Vanderbilt University. I met them when I travelled to Nashville in August to speak at the Urban Design Forum, and was able to visit their keyhole garden in person while I was in town. Here is a brief history of this type of garden, and a step-by-step tale of building their own version in front of the fabulous restaurant, Holland House (if you find yourself in Nashville, you must visit for their delicious fried green tomatoes and their amazing, artisanal cocktails!).

Keyhole gardens

At the 2009 Applied Anthropology Conference in Santa Fe, NM, we learned about an innovative garden structure that has been used in Sub-Saharan Africa to help families secure access to fresh produce year-round. Created by the non-profit organization “Send a Cow” the keyhole garden design is ingenious in its simplicity (http://www.cowfiles.com/african-gardens/keyhole-gardens). The name ‘keyhole’ comes from the garden’s shape: a circular structure with an opening shaped like a keyhole.

Growing irrespective of soil quality

Built above ground from layers of stone and soil encircling the earth growing beds, the design allows food to be grown on any surface, overcoming the problem of poor soil conditions in many African (and urban) contexts. We wanted to test the design in an urban setting, to see if it could help city gardeners grow.

Soil maintenance

Typically a ‘fuel cell’ is built into the center of the garden in order to enrich the soil directly to the roots. This is essentially an elongated loose weave basket where food scraps and grey water (e.g. dish water) are disposed of, providing a built in compost to continuously enrich the soil.

Gardening for all

As raised gardens, up to 4 feet in height, keyholes eliminate the need to bend or kneel in order to plant, maintain, and harvest vegetables, and therefore reduce the labor needed to grow food. The design calls for the width of the garden to be no more than the arm-span of a child, so that all produce is within easy reach from the center of the garden. This ease of access allows children and elderly adults — often responsible for family food production in the communities Save a Cow work with— to more easily grow food for the family.

Maximizing growing space

The circular design means food can be grown in every inch of the garden with no need for access rows between each crop, enabling people to grow a lot of food in a small space. Crops can be accessed and maintained from any point along the garden wall, or from the center of the formation. This design could be well suited to urban settings where growing space is in short supply.

Extended growing time

As stone retains heat, the structure protects the soil inside from frost, extending the growing season. Also, the stone retains moisture in the soil. During our summer heat wave in Nashville, we noticed that the plants in our keyhole garden did much better than the plants in our raised garden made from wood.

Testing the Keyhole garden design in a U.S. urban setting

This spring, Holland House Bar and Refuge (www.hollandhousenashville.com) agreed to sponsor and host Nashville’s first keyhole garden, with additional sponsorship from Gardens of Babylon (www.gardensofbabylon.com) and Maxwell Heights neighbors, where the restaurant is located in Nashville, TN. The restaurant is committed to using local and regional produce, where excited to grow their own food, and wanted to beautify the front of their property – previously an asphalt parking area, long neglected and in need of a face lift.

Adaptation of the design

We modified our keyhole design to fit the needs and aesthetics of the restaurant, which is situated in a residential community; we built a lower wider structure to complement their landscaping, and left out the fuel cell to avoid composting odor for the customers on the patio, and the next-door neighbors.

Building the keyhole garden

To prepare for the garden, we collected our stones the day before and left it at the site (see above). On the day of the build, we cleared the space, and flattened out the existing soil. We then used an iron rod in the center of the plot with a long string attached to mark out our circumference, placing the first level of stone on the ground as we drew out our circle. We then added a layer of rich topsoil and manure up to the height of the outer stones, and then repeated this process, layer after layer, until we ran out of stone! Using five people and a flatbed truck, we were able to construct the garden in about 6 hours. It was fun, but hard work. Finally, we planted our heirloom tomato and various pepper seedlings, watered them and crossed our fingers.

Cost

Luckily, we were able to salvage stone from local neighbors, and a local landscaping business, and so did not need to purchase it, which would have been very expensive. We recommend urban farmers look to demolition sites as a source of stone or concrete to build the garden. Also, the garden required a flat bed truck full of soil and manure, which could be costly. Ours was generously donated by a local gardening center, Gardens of Babylon, and we recommend contacting your local center to ask for a donation. Jill had lovingly grown our seedlings from seed in her greenhouse, providing us with our starter crops at the cost of some packs of seed.

Reflections

One drawback of the keyhole garden is its initial construction, as a built structure you must bring all the materials needed on to the site, which requires using trucks. Building the garden is also labor and material intensive (muscle, soil and stone). Despite the hard work, we all enjoyed building the garden together and feel great pride each time we see it.

Outcome

The garden has beautified the restaurant front, making dining on the patio a more pleasant experience. The owners are delighted with the garden and easily maintain it. Customers and neighbors alike compliment the restaurant on the design, and are impressed that the restaurant grows some of its own food. The garden provides the chefs with a bounty of heirloom tomatoes and peppers, around which they enjoy creating dishes. With the end of summer almost upon us, we are planning our fall garden, hoping to try our luck at growing a variety of greens.

Feel free to contact us with questions/comments: Patricia Conway (patricia.conway@Vanderbilt.Edu) or Jill Robinson (jill.robinson@vanderbilt.edu)

Five Borough Farm project update

2011-02-02T11:16:00.025-05:00

What happens when you bring together 90 urban farmers, community gardeners, and supporters from all over the city? You get a lot of great discussion about people’s priorities and opportunities for action. And over 400 pages of transcripts.

Last December, the Design Trust hosted Five Borough Farm: The Future of Farming in NYC, a citywide workshop on urban agriculture. We asked everyone to tell us about their goals, the resources they need to sustain their work, and the ways they evaluate the impacts of their work. This summary can’t capture all of the incredible conversations we had, but we wanted to share some key themes that came up again and again. We hope this gives you a sense of what we’re hearing, and we invite you to get in touch with us if you have any comments.

Why do you do what you do?

There are so many answers to this question, and people at the workshop hit just about all of them. As one person said, “The thing about urban agriculture is it’s so multifaceted. There’s so many goals out there.” Peopled talked about providing fresh produce, personal health, educating young people about bugs, soil, and cooking, beauty, creating jobs, reclaiming land, making a safe public space, keeping stormwater and trash out of the sewers, and seeing someone in the neighborhood come to a farmers market to ask for a vegetable that two months ago he’d never tried before. One grower said “part of what’s so fulfilling is it’s about social justice. Food justice and food systems is part of that, under an umbrella.”

Partnerships and shared resources

One of the phrases we heard most often at the workshop was: “let’s not reinvent the wheel.” Especially when they’re starting out, people growing food or running food-related programs often reach out to more experienced people to get advice. One grower said he takes cell-phone pictures of his vegetables and e-mails them to friends for troubleshooting help.

Over and over people said they wish there were some kind of central place where they could share or find information—about growing techniques or dealing with paperwork, or about finding supplies, volunteers, and funding sources. One community gardener had hundreds of irises that were going to go to waste unless he could find someone to take them. Another participant said “I’m in the middle of getting a vendor’s license and I’d love to know someone who’s already been through it. We need something to help everyone have a little less to do.”

Of course, urban farmers and gardeners already partner with and benefit from the services of many different kinds of people and organizations. A number of people said urban farmers should create even more partnerships with rural and upstate farmers. Many people also said their partnerships with the Sanitation Department and local schools were essential to their work, and mentioned potential partnerships with other city agencies such as the Housing Authority.

One grower talked about city programs like Health Bucks or WIC that help his neighbors buy food at his farmers markets:

What makes my farmers markets sustainable is government intervention, being able to put out Health Bucks…the city’s putting 3 or 4 million dollars into the markets to say: we don’t want people to be obese, we don’t want them to die from stroke and heart attack, so we put in this system so maybe they can eat healthier food. Those are little systems but they help hundreds of people, maybe thousands of people.

Metrics and evaluation (or: how do we understand the impact of what we do, and are there ways to do it better?)

The words “metrics” and “evaluation” sometimes can turn people off, but at the workshop everyone had a lot to say about this topic. One person said it very clearly: “I want to know did we make an impact on the 60 kids that came every day this summer?” How can everyone working in urban agriculture figure out the most efficient and effective ways to evaluate their impact and strengthen their programs? How do we track and measure all of urban agriculture’s many benefits, from improving people’s diet and leadership skills, to cleaning the air and engaging seniors, to beautifying the block and providing jobs.

Again, people called for a central place where people could share and access information. There was this exchange at one table:

Community gardener: If there were a place that was already built out where we could put our information...if we could deliver some of our results into a system we could all contribute to. Because my group could never develop it on our own. We’re doing small projects. But if there were a way to contribute that information to something broader, that would be great.

Urban farmer: It seems like we need something like this…to find a way to reach out to each other and say “Could you look into this for us or do you have data on this?” Then we’d be able to get closer to solving those problems as a group, rather than struggling as an individual.

One grower said that we don’t have a good way to measure the value of urban agriculture against real estate market value. But urban agriculture also has a collective impact on the city. What’s the value of not just one, but hundreds—or potentially thousands—of urban farms and gardens on local economies, or stormwater capture, and the garbage that the city ships to other states? These are things that could get people’s attention within city government.

Next steps

We're now meeting one-on-one with growers, nonprofits, funders, and city officials to follow-up on what we heard. Our goal in this year-long project is to create a shared framework and tools to help people in the urban agriculture movement learn from each other, demonstrate the value of what they do, strengthen their programs, and reach more people with their work.

Over the next year we’ll continue to report back what we’re learning. We hope you’ll stay involved—please e-mail workshop@designtrust.org with any comments or ideas about what you’d like to see come out of Five Borough Farm.

Finally, many thanks to our project partner Added Value, our project Fellows Nevin Cohen and Rupal Sanghvi, and architecture firm thread collective for helping to make this workshop work. And most of all, thanks again to all of the workshop participants. Your work is inspiring. Stay tuned for the next Five Borough Farm monthly project update.

Five Borough Farm is made possible in part by funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and the David Rockefeller Foundation.

Design Trust/Parks Book Launch Draws Largest Crowd Ever at CFA

2011-01-07T15:23:00.031-05:00

Hundreds of people attended the official launch of our new book, High Performance Landscape Guidelines: 21st Century Parks for NYC at the AIA Center for Architecture. It was the largest crowd ever to attend an event at CFA. Standing room only on all three levels!

Four years in the making and peer reviewed by nearly 100 practicing architects, landscape architects, engineers and others, High Performance Landscape Guidelines is the first document of its kind in the nation: a comprehensive, municipal design primer for sustainable parks and open space. The Guidelines cover every aspect of creating sustainable parks -- from design to construction to maintenance -- and feature hundreds of best practices for managing soil, water, and vegetation resources, as well as dozens of full-color photos and illustrations. Read the official City press release.

The Landscape Guidelines were created in partnership with the NYC Department of Parks & Recreation and are the third in a trilogy of design guidelines produced by the Design Trust in partnership with City agencies. High Performance Building Guidelines and High Performance Infrastructure Guidelines, both written for the NYC Department of Design & Construction, "informed and inspired PlaNYC" said Parks commissioner Adrian Benepe last night. The Guidelines are available as a free download (PDF, 7 MB) or for $35 on Amazon.

From Budget Cuts to a People's Budget?

2010-10-26T15:46:00.004-04:00

Last March, Design Trust hosted a Public Space Potluck at the Atlantic Avenue subway station in Brooklyn to highlight the MTA's ongoing budget woes and service cuts. Seven months later, the national recession drags on, crippling municipal budgets that fund many kinds of public space, from parks to libraries to subways.

New Yorkers aren't alone in feeling the squeeze of tightened budgets, or in the way all of us tend to avoid tough conversations about how to pay for programs and services we value. As we head towards mid-term elections next Tuesday, it's good to remember that politicians aren't the only ones who can decide how public dollars get spent. This guest post was written by Josh Lerner,Co-Director of The Participatory Budgeting Project, an organization that works with elected officials, government agencies, and community groups to open up public budgets to public participation.

Public spaces are not cheap. This is especially obvious in an economic crisis, when funding is being slashed left and right. Advocates for public transportation, parks, libraries, schools, and other services are each fighting to protect their slice of the budget pie, but as the pie shrinks, it gets harder and harder to balance these demands. What can we do to address this long-term problem?

Right now, not much. In New York and elsewhere, we leave these critical budget decisions to a handful of unaccountable public agencies and politicians. Community members have no real power over how the budget pie is sliced, even though we have a wealth of knowledge and are deeply affected by budget decisions. Is this what democracy looks like?

New York might be able to learn some new tricks from Chicago, of all places. Last year, Chicago Alderman Joe Moore became the first elected official in the US to let the public decide how to spend taxpayer dollars on public spaces.

Through a process called “participatory budgeting,” Moore invited all residents of his ward to allocate his $1.3 million discretionary budget. Through over six months of meetings, community members learned how the budget works, researched and developed spending proposals, and put these proposals to a public vote. The top vote-getters are now being implemented, including community gardens, bike lanes, street lighting, street and sidewalk resurfacing, and public art.

Participatory budgeting (PB) may be new to the US, but it is quite common around the world. The first PB was launched in the Brazilian city of Porto Alegre in 1990. Since then, over 1,000 cities have developed similar processes for their municipal budgets, throughout Latin America, Europe, Asia, and Africa. Countries such as the United Kingdom and Dominican Republic have even passed laws requiring that all local governments implement PB. States, counties, public housing authorities, schools, and community organizations have also used PB for their budgets. 

This Friday, October 29th, The Design Trust is co-sponsoring a public forum on participatory budgeting. Alderman Moore will share his experience, and New York City Council Members, Community Board managers, and community activists will discuss whether participatory budgeting might work in New York. The event will take place at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn at 5:00pm, and it is open to the public. For more info, click here.

Food, Design, and Social Change

2010-10-19T17:49:00.003-04:00

Sitting before a large crowd, David Vigil, Farm Manager at East New York Farms in Brooklyn, leaned into his microphone to dispel two myths about urban farming. “The first is that I have to get up at the crack of dawn every day,” he said, drawing laughs from the audience. “The second is that I get to take the winter off.” In fact, Vigil said, he and his staff use the off-season to evaluate their programming, figuring out what’s gone well, what hasn’t, and why.

Vigil was speaking on a panel October 6 entitled “Food, Design, and Social Change,” the first in a series of Wednesday evening discussions hosted by The New School as part of their urban agriculture exhibit “Carrot City/Living Concrete.” The exhibit features Five Borough Farm, the Design Trust’s project to develop a citywide plan for urban agriculture in NYC, is featured in the exhibit, and the curators (including Nevin Cohen, Five Borough Farm’s Policy Fellow) invited me to moderate the panel. Joining Vigil were four other leading urban agriculture practitioners in NYC: Karen Washington, president of the New York City Community Garden Coalition; Dennis Derryck, a New School faculty member working with South Bronx residents to reinvent the Community-Supported Agriculture (CSA) model; and Ian Marvy, executive director of Added Value, the project partner for Five Borough Farm.

We used the word design in a broad sense: a designer is someone who looks closely at an existing condition—a neighborhood, a vacant lot, a set of social problems or opportunities—and develops a strategy to address that condition. The end result might be a building, a park, or a program. (Or a combination of all three. Take, for example, Novak’s 8,000 square foot farm on the roof of a Greenpoint warehouse, which she regularly opens to the public for workshops.)

This broad definition of design is critical to understanding urban agriculture in NYC, which supports myriad education and community organizing programs. Corbin Hills Road Farm, the initiative Dennis Derryck helped launch, organizes South Bronx residents and upstate farmers in Schoharie County to provide fresh produce in one of the country’s poorest Congressional Districts. By questioning assumptions about conventional CSAs, and engaging residents to act as designers themselves, Derryck has helped create a new kind of urban agriculture model. Unlike subscribers in conventional CSAs, who usually don’t have a say in the operations, residents participating in Corbin Hills Road Farm have helped determine how much money residents need to pay up front and what kinds of vegetables are grown and sold.

The iterative process of designing these social programs is part of what keeps urban farmers busy during the winter, as David Vigil pointed out. But how do you measure the impact of urban agriculture on stormwater, on the kids enrolled at schools that incorporate farm-based learning, on the health of people shopping at farmers markets? “You can’t change someone’s diet in nine months,” Vigil said at the panel. But no one in the growing urban agricultural movement can say with certainty how long it does take. Creating this framework for evaluation, and developing the tools to allow New Yorkers to track and measure what urban agriculture does, is one of the main goals of Five Borough Farm.

Vote Now: urbancanvas Design Competition

2010-09-29T17:32:00.010-04:00

www.nyc.gov/urbancanvas

When was the last time you were inspired by scaffolding?

Lauched earlier this year by the Department of Buildings and the Department of Cultural Affairs, the urbancanvas Design Competition seeks to beautify construction sites by challenging professional artists and designers to create artwork that can be installed on construction fences, sidewalk sheds, supported scaffolds and cocoon systems, which are used to protect the public during the construction process.

More than 100 artists from across the country submitted designs. A jury panel selected eight finalists: “Breathing_Wall_UC,” by Monika Bravo; “Bang,” by Jiyoun Lee-Lodge; “Color Mesh,” by Mauricio Lopez with Jesse T. Ross; “My Urban Sky,” by Jen Magathan; “Untitled,” by Jordan Seiler; “…of Special Concern,” by Chris Shelley; “Green Screen,” by Corinne Ulmann; and “JazzLine,” by Philip Michael Wolfson with Chris Ridout and Maxim Nilov.

Visit www.nyc.gov/urbancanvas to view the finalists' submissions and vote for your favorite design. Act fast - voting ends today a 5pm!

Following the announcement of the winning designs later this year, the Department of Buildings will launch the urbancanvas Pilot Program. Under this new initiative, property owners, contractors and businesses will be invited to select one of the winning designs and install it on temporary protective structures located on or over City-owned property.

Design Trust board member Susanna Sirefman, president of Dovetail Design Strategists, serves as the urbancanvas competition advisor. "The urbancanvas Design Competition addresses the city streetscape from a people-oriented perspective," she said. "Using temporary protective structures at construction sites as a medium to bring artwork to the public, the outstanding and diverse designs generated by the competition promise not only to mitigate the visual impact of construction sites but to delight, engage, and inspire the passerby while fostering safety and maintenance throughout the city.”

Living Concrete/Carrot City Exhibit Opens Sept. 30

2010-09-29T16:15:00.002-04:00

Graphic by Manuel Miranda

We're excited that information about our current urban agriculture project Five Borough Farm is included in the Living Concrete/Carrot City exhibit, which opens tomorrow at the Sheila C. Johnson Design Center (SJDC) at Parsons The New School for Design. Co-curated by Nevin Cohen, Chair of Environmental Studies at The New School and Design Trust project fellow, this exhibit explores the role of design and grassroots activism in the development of urban agriculture, and its effect on neighborhoods, health and the environment in cities such as New York.

Featuring maps, installations, interactive websites, videos and models, several created specifically for the show, Living Concrete examines urban food initiatives and their impact on local communities—from backyard community plots, roof gardens, and farmer's markets to urban farms. Highlights include a "field guide" to local food on the Lower East Side; a participatory project to re-design bodegas; sound and video installations that explore urban beekeeping; and a multimedia piece on Corbin Hill Road Farm, an innovative venture where families in the South Bronx own shares of an upstate farm.

"This exhibition is about more than just the ability to grow food in cities; it is about the social interconnections of the people involved in food production," says Nevin. "Urban farming is integral to the sustainability of our cities, and the projects showcased here demonstrate the civic dimensions of this process."

Opening Reception: September 30,
6:30—8:30 pm

Parsons The New School for Design
Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Gallery
Sheila C. Johnson Design Center
66 Fifth Avenue at 13th Street
http://www.newschool.edu/parsons/sjdc

Potluck Recap: BQE BYO

2010-09-28T16:52:00.002-04:00

Traffic cone centerpieces? Fifty-foot long picnic table made from Brooklyn Navy Yard pallets? More than 100 people eating and mingling and hula hooping under the BQE? Believe it.

Our September 17 BQE BYO / Park(ing) Day After-Party was an epic success. Thanks to our partners - Architecture for Humanity New York, Do:Tank Brooklyn, Myrtle Avenue Revitalization Project and Transportation Alternatives - for making it all happen.

Photos from Adam Brodowski's Flickr page.

2011 Park(ing) Day is Friday, September 16. Just sayin'.

The Making of a Table: Behind the Scenes of BQE BYO

2010-09-15T22:54:00.011-04:00

This guest post comes to us from Yen Trinh, whom we first met at our Greeley Square public space potluck back in May. An urbanist and designer from Brisbane, Australia, now living in New York, Yen's work can be found here and here.

According to Fast Company, “of all the trees harvested in the US, 40% are used to make these (shipping) pallets that are largely disposable, making pallets the eight most common object filling up landfills.” The reuse of shipping pallets has become the topic of creative exploration for many designers, architects and artists. The ready supply of these pallets at the Brooklyn Navy Yards has also made them the material of choice for the BQE BYO building team for the September 17 potluck.

BQE BYO is just one part of a larger community dialogue about how we can use urban spaces differently. It helps celebrates the citywide rethinking of car spaces as part of Park(ing) Day and also aims to inspire local community thinking about the long term future for the space under the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway.

In collaboration with DoTank:Brooklyn, some amazing volunteers have been creating Adirondack chairs and a 40-foot long communal dinner table, all using scrap shipping pallets. The concept for the BQE BYO long table was developed to create a place for community sharing and gathering. It was designed to maximize the existing structure and dimensions of pallets, and created with simplicity and easy assembly in mind. The length of the table emphasizes the linear nature of the space underneath the expressway. The designers playfully saw the expressway’s columns as creating a height and scale of grandeur much like a grand dining hall.

DoTank is a public vessel for interdisciplinary exploration, engagement and enhancement of our urban environment, and the pallet Adirondack chairs have been part of their other projects. This includes public space interventions like the "chair bombing" of sidewalks in Williamsburg. The chairs are placed in locations to create public seating where seating is missing. The chair design is by Shelton Davis, an Industrial Designer, and the plans are available for sale on his website, RepurposedGoods.com.

NOTE: We'll be giving away 3 free pallet tables (with a tabletop size of 2 pallets) at the end of BQE BYO. We can help deconstruct (unscrew) them but you'll need to provide your own people and transport to move them. As with all Park(ing) Day spaces, it is important we leave the site empty and this would help us a lot. To reserve your rare, limited edition, lovingly hand crafted, recycled pallet table, please email yengen@gmail.com.

Public Space Potluck: BQE BYO

2010-09-15T16:17:00.004-04:00

Fact: Streets and sidewalk are 80% of New York City's public space.

Park(ing) Day is an international phenomenon in which people around the world reclaim parking spots for a single day, temporarily transforming them into vibrant and functional spaces for people - not cars. This Friday, September 17, Park(ing) Day will be celebrated in over 140 cities in 21 countries.

Here in New York, 50 Park(ing) Spots will be open across the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens and Staten Island. Check out this handy map to find a Park(ing) Spot near you.

The Design Trust is excited to partner with Architecture for Humanity New York, DoTank: Brooklyn, Myrtle Avenue Revitalization Project, and Transportation Alternatives to cap off Park(ing) Day with a public space potluck under the BQE. We'll be reclaiming recycled wooden pallets from the Brooklyn Navy Yard to build a communal picnic table in the parking lot at Washington and Park Avenues in the Fort Greene/Clinton Hill, Brooklyn. There will also be an exhibition of Park(ing) Day NYC installations.

BQE BYO PUBLIC SPACE POTLUCK
Date: Friday, September 17
Time: 6:30 pm - 8:30pm
Location: Washington and Park Avenues (under the BQE). View map.
Transit: A/C or G trains to Clinton-Washington, walk north.

The Design Trust will cover plates, cups and utensils. You bring a dish and/or drinks to share. As always, feel free to invite friends, colleagues and fellow urbanists.

Plan to join us? Please RSVP to RSVP@designtrust.org.

Guest Post: "Pavement to Parks" by Nikki Lowy

2010-09-08T14:35:00.026-04:00

In May I participated in the 2010 Vanguard conference that brought together 30 young and talented people from across the country. Nikki Lowy, the director of the Urban Land Institute in San Francisco, was one of those amazing people. This is her guest post about San Francisco's innovative "Pavement to Parks" program.

What if Park(ing) Day was everyday?

Thanks to a collaborative partnership between the Mayor's Office, the Department of Public Works, the Planning Department and the Municipal Transportation Agency, San Francisco is greening the city's streetscape one tiny parcel at a time, under the year-old "Pavement to Parks" program. Taking inspiration from NYC's own parklets along Broadway and around Times Square, the city has already transformed 5 underutilized roadways into temporary public plazas and parks.

{Note: A 'parklet' is defined by the Pavement to Parks program as follows: "...instead of reclaiming a piece of underutilized roadway at an intersection, parklets repurpose 2 to 3 parking stalls along a block as a space for people to relax, drink a cup of coffee, and enjoy the city around them."}

Funded by private donations and grants, the parklets are inexpensive to construct, relying on donated and recycled materials, and incorporate sustainable design elements whenever possible. With 5 projects completed and several more in the pipeline, the city has invited the public to submit ideas for future parklets in their neighborhood. Locations for "Pavement to Parks" are selected based on several criteria including pre-existing support for public space at the location and the potential to improve pedestrian and bicyclist safety via redesign.

While the design and materials are intended to be easily moveable, these trial projects will allow the city to determine whether the temporary closure should be a long-term investment based on traffic flow and public reaction.

On that rare summer day, these parklets are packed with urbanites enjoying a latte outside Divisadero's Mojo Cafe, or taking in some Klesmer music outside the Mission's Revolution Cafe. Unfortunately, I took most of these pictures around 6:00pm on a typical cold and windy San Francisco afternoon, so it's a bit quiet in these parks:

The Divisadero Parklet outside the Mojo Bicycle Cafe is usually packed with people during Sunday brunch.

It also has a nifty bicycle rack as well!

Each project boasts a plaque detailing the funding sources, design team and materials donors. This parklet was constructed with sustainably harvested wood.

Castro Commons was built over unused MUNI tracks in the heart of San Francisco's Castro neighborhood and offers ample opportunities to people watch amidst an inviting landscape of succulents and palms.

Castro Commons is currently being updated with permanent materials.

The Mission District's 22nd Street Parklet is designed by the awesome design studio Rebar Group and provides great overflow seating during concerts at the Revolution Cafe.

All photos by Nikki Lowy.

Guest Post: Urban Movement Design

2010-08-30T10:55:00.008-04:00

Earlier this year, Design Trust friends Robyne Kassen and Sarah Gluck of New York City-based Urban Movement Design, created street furniture for the Winter Olympics and Paralympics in Vancouver. Below, they share their approach to architecture that activates public space by inspiring physical activity. (Part 1 of 3)

Urban Movement Design adds a layer of health to any project utilizing subtle and discreet design solutions for wellness and physical activity integrated into cities and buildings, designing for all abilities and particular to the local population’s needs, designs that inspire active stretching and passive deep relaxation for proper body alignment.

Urban Movement Design’s core philosophy is that of Human Sustainability, which takes into account Accessibility and Mobility into each of its designs. Neither our environment nor our health are static, every moment is an opportunity to program health into our lives and the environment, giving us a chance to live a sustainable and healthy lifestyle. Whether the user is aging, a child, has some sort of mobility-restriction or is a high performance athlete or office worker, each user has distinct abilities that if nurtured and designed for, can provide this added level of sustainability, human sustainability.

It is the foundation and desire of Urban Movement Design to create elements and spaces for all people which make them feel safe, comforted, accounted for and inspired to play and engage with their surroundings. Urban Movement Design seeks out and designs for a Ribbon of Movement throughout one’s day at home, in the workplace or throughout the city's infrastructure. Each design is an opportunity to provide for engagement and awareness for varied active or passive positions to inspire activity as we move throughout our days.

The bus-shelter bench, created by Urban Movement Design for the Olympic Village, is designed to put the body in positions that help correct posture and improve the alignment of bones and joints.

Multitasking bike racks provide a structure for stretching.

Potluck Recap: Living Pavilion on Governors Island

2010-08-25T14:06:00.016-04:00

On Saturday, August 14 the Design Trust hosted a Public Space Potluck on Governors Island. This event was a partnership with the Emerging New York Architects Committee (ENYA) of AIANY, Structural Engineering Association of New York (SEAoNY) and FIGMENT to celebrate Living Pavilion, the winning design from the recent City of Dreams competition. Just steps away from trapeze artists, FIGMENT's stellar mini golf course and artist Matt Jensen's Searching For Something Previously Unknown or Forgotten on Governors Island exhibit, our crew of 30+ joined the more than 275,000 visitors who've explored the city's newest "cultural playground" this summer.

Bees: The Gateway Bug

2010-08-17T17:36:00.028-04:00

This guest blog post was contributed by Steph Elson, former Design Trust Director of Programs. Steph moved to Boston in spring 2009, and has since discovered a new public realm obsession: BUGS. Whether we like to think about it or not, Steph points out that we share ALL of our public spaces with these six-legged wonders...

a honey bee's wings stroke 11,400 times per minute
a honey bee can fly for up to SIX miles, and as fast as 15 miles per hour
the average bee will only make 1/12 (one twelfth!) of a teaspoon of honey in its lifetime
it takes about 556 worker bees to gather 1 pound of honey from about 2 million flowers
each honey bee colony has a unique odor for members’ identification
bees don’t like the color yellow, or the smell of bananas. They do like the smell of lemongrass, citronella, and spearmint.

Hello, my name is Stephanie, and I’m addicted to bugs. But who can blame me?

We started keeping bees in our Boston backyard this past spring. Those facts above? All that, and SO MUCH MORE, we have learned about bees since starting our urban beekeeping adventure.

Becoming a beekeeper is actually quite easy. You buy a hive, which is basically a wooden box that’s kind of like a filing cabinet with ‘frames’ inside like hanging files, that the bees will build the honeycomb on. You set the hive up in your backyard, and then order 10,000 bees in the mail. Visible through the fine wire mesh on both sides of the USPS box is a warm, undulating mass of 10,000 bees all clustered around a single queen; audible is the constant din of noise coming from the flapping of 40,000 wings. Upon delivery they are accompanied by a very prompt call from the post office. Once in your back yard you open up the box and literally shake the bees into the hive. And voila!

When we first got our bees, we were committed to being bee KEEPERS vs. simple bee HAVERS. We wanted to do well by our bees, keep them healthy and happy. Bee keeping is amazing because you really have to learn about the science of the insect – its nature and history, its lifecycle, its breeding and feeding patterns, its diseases, etc. – if you want success in the hobby / craft part of the beekeeping adventure. So, we learned everything we could. We have three bee books, and two bee journals, two bee DVDs. We sat outside the hive for hours, mesmerized by the bees flying in and out, and communicating at the hive entrance. We tried to spot the bee wearing the biggest pollen leg-warmers. We took copious notes in a new, yellow, bee journal where we documented our observations.

We were amazed by what we learned. For instance, there is one queen bee per hive, who must be kept at a constant 96 degrees. When it is cold, the bees huddle around her, providing her with the accumulated warmth from their bodies; when it is warm, they position themselves in rows and begin flapping their wings to create a cooling convection current. The queen’s only purpose is to lay eggs, which she does constantly, laying about 2 million eggs over her 3-5 year life span. When she becomes unhealthy, dies, or leaves the hive for some reason, the worker bees raise another queen by selecting 6-7 eggs. These eggs are no different from any of the eggs that create worker bees, but if they put them in special ‘Queen cells’ that are bigger than the typical cells and feed them a special mixture of honey and pollen (‘Royal Jelly’), it induces the eggs to grow into queens rather than workers: queens that look different than the worker bees and have a whole set of unique genetic behavioral patterns.

For instance, whichever queen hatches out of her cell first immediately goes to the other queen cells and stings them THROUGH THE WALL OF THE CELL, killing them before they can hatch. If two queens hatch at once, they fight to the death. No – this is not the Sci Fi Network: this is the truth, real life, and it’s in our backyard.

As our love affair with our bees gained momentum, we began to wonder more about OUR bees: where did they get their food and water? How did they interact with other critters in the back yard? One day, pretty soon after we got the bees, Emile was spectating at the side of the hive. He noticed a big, hairy spider hanging out suspiciously near the landing pad of the hive, where the bees take off and land, but also groom and communicate.

All of a sudden, as he was watching, the spider made a spectacular leap through the air, pouncing on a bee at the hive entrance. It grabbed the bee and held it in front of its body as a shield, and then slowly inched its way backwards and then off the base of the hive.

Astounded and fascinated, we immediately went out and bought an insect field guide. We were able to identify the spider pretty quickly: the Daring Jumping Spider. But poking around the insect guide created all sorts of new discoveries. Pretty much EVERY INSECT description we looked at seemed just as much science fiction as the bees! We took turns opening the guide up to a random page, putting our finger down in a random spot, and reading what’s there. It’s almost guaranteed to be astounding. This is how we discovered the Rabid Wolf Spider, Flesh Flies, and Hummingbird Moths. There’s the Bombardier Beetle, which produces two harmless chemicals in its body that when mixed react together to form a boiling hot spray of chemicals. The beetle shoots the burning mixture at attackers with an explosive sound, and rarely misses its mark (!!). There’s a whole series of nightmare-inducing bugs that sting and paralyze their prey so that the eggs that they lay inside the creature will have both a warm environment and a ready food source when they hatch. Yikes! Cool!

(Bombardier beetle Image courtesy of preachrr@wordpress)

Bees are remarkable and astonishing creatures – but they cannot claim these adjectives all to themselves. We became fascinated by bees because they are so complex and compelling (and cute), but also, simply because we paid attention. We learned about bees, we observed them; we studied the way the act in the world and we watched the world acting upon them. Now, bees are teaching us to open our eyes in the same way to the rest of the insect world – and we’re just as overwhelmed by every little buzzer, creeper and crawler that we encounter. When we looked at the flowers that our bees were collecting pollen and nectar from, we began to notice the bumble bee, multiple kinds of wasps, bee mimics, the strange little fly with the green abdomen, and we began to wonder – what do their homes look like? Do they have queens? How do they survive the winter?

So it turns out that bees are a gateway bug, and we’re now thoroughly addicted. We’re raising caterpillars in Ball jars, scrutinizing spiders, and befriending beetles.

The other night, in an Insect Science class at the Arnold Arboretum, the teacher opened class with the following image:

The size of each organism pictured correlates to its relative abundance on earth. Represented by the enormous, hovering fly, the picture shows insects to be the largest and most diverse group in the animal kingdom – there are thought to be over 8 million species of insects in the world, only a small fraction of which have been discovered yet.

The moral of this story is: open your eyes – science fiction is all around you.

Governors Island Directions

2010-08-09T17:15:00.004-04:00

Governors Island may feel like a world away from the rest of the city but, travel-wise, it's a lot closer than you'd think. Our friend Ernesto Martinez created this great map highlighting subway access and the Living Pavilion location for next Saturday's Public Space Potluck.

Designed by Ernesto Martinez. Click to enlarge.

Public Space Potluck: Living Pavilion on Governors Island

2010-08-04T16:41:00.016-04:00

It's a rare public space that can accommodate both British royalty and Shaolin's finest. Welcome to Governors Island.

A mere 800 yards from Lower Manhattan, this 172-acre site is a delightful - and delightfully unconventional - addition to our urban landscape. Since opening to the public last year, Governors Island has quickly become a pioneer in the world of "destination recreation," packing its weekend-only hours with everything from art to urban ag, music to mini golf.

Our friends over at Urban Omnibus have posted at great interview with Leslie Koch, the tireless civic visionary and president of Governors Island Preservation and Education Corporation. Leslie's commitment to public outreach - that crazy notion of asking people what they want, making it easy for them to tell you, and then delivering - is the backbone of Governors Island's programming and planning. Forget Twitter; it's all about Post-It notes.

With its refreshingly plucky attitude, Governors Island ranks high on our shortlist of Public Space Potluck locales. Now, the City of Dreams Pavilion competition provides the to perfect reason to hop on the ferry.

Earlier this year, FIGMENT, the Emerging New York Architect committee (ENYA) of AIANY and the Structural Engineers Association of New York (SEAoNY) launched a competition to design and install an architectural pavilion - a central, sustainable, temporary gathering space - for the 2010 summer season on Governors Island.

Living Pavilion, the brainchild of Ann Ha, Assoc. AIA and Behrang Behin, Assoc. AIA, won the competition. A low-tech, low-impact installation, Living Pavilion uses milk crates to form a planted surface. Inverting the traditional green roof, Liriope plants line the inside of the structure, doubling as evapotranspiration-fueled a/c.

Celebrate Living Pavilion - and explore Governors Island - with the Design Trust and ENYA on August 14 a special weekend Public Space Potluck on Governors Island.

DESIGN TRUST/ENYA PUBLIC SPACE POTLUCK
Date: Saturday, August 14
Time: 1pm - 3pm
Location: Parade Ground, near Fort Jay and Nolan Park
Transit: Free ferries depart every 30 minutes from Manhattan and Brooklyn. From Manhattan: Battery Maritime Building, 10 South Street, adjacent to the Staten Island Ferry. Take 1 to South Ferry, 4/5 to Bowling Green or R to Whitehall Street. From Brooklyn: Pier 6 in Brooklyn Bridge Park, at the foot of Atlantic Ave.

The Design Trust will bring plates, cups and utensils. You bring a dish and/or drinks to share. As always, feel free to invite friends, colleagues and fellow urbanists.

Coming? Let us know - RSVP@designtrust.org.

Potluck Recap: Brooklyn Bridge Park

2010-07-30T11:55:00.005-04:00

Reconnecting to the urban shoreline in parks designed by Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates seems to be the theme of our Public Space Potlucks as of late, and with good reason. As paragons of high performance landscape design, these sites not only shape our shared physical space but also enrich our cultural identity as a waterfront city.

Naturally, they provide a stunning backdrop for mingling over a shared meal and, in the case of last night's event in Brooklyn Bridge Park, an al fresco movie theater. Thanks to everyone who joined us for dinner and Rear Window on Pier 1's Harbor View Lawn.

Stay connected with the latest Design Trust activities on Facebook and Twitter.

Made in Midtown Goes Global

2010-07-27T12:34:00.007-04:00

Journalists representing all corners of the globe visited our office last week as part of a U.S. economy and fashion industry reporting tour sponsored by the State Department. Building on Made in Midtown, Design Trust executive director Deborah Marton and program director Jerome Chou presented an inside look at the Garment District, revealing why this neighborhood is an integral park of our city's economy, identity and sense of place. Tour stops to a manufacturer, patternmaker and designer - all clustered within a few square blocks - illustrated how the proximity of design and production enable fashion innovation to thrive in the Garment District.

R&C Apparel president and CEO Ramdat Harihar

Pattermaking at Werkstatt

Yeohlee Teng of YEOHLEE, Inc.

2 days + 30 inspiring urban leaders = Next American Vanguard

2010-07-21T11:07:00.033-04:00

In May I was one of 30 young urban leaders selected from around the country to participate in the Next American Vanguard conference, hosted by the (excellent) quarterly journal Next American City in their hometown of Philadelphia. This was 2 days + 30 inspiring people working for change. There were community organizers from Detroit, Youngstown, and Syracuse; urban planners, sustainability and transportation experts from Iowa, D.C., Chicago, Lansing, and Berkeley; a historic preservationist from St. Louis; a city councilman from Maine and even an urban farm forager from Chicago. And that's just to name a few.

Day 1: Short presentations from everyone to kick-off the conference, city tours of Philadelphia by trolley and by boat, a cocktail hour with Philly's director of sustainability, and then group dinner. Day 2: small workshops (new technologies, entrepreneurship, innovation), a public panel discussion about arts and the city, and then peer-to-peer teaching sessions the rest of the afternoon (I led one about public programming, focusing mainly on our Public Space Potlucks).

Giving my presentation about the Design Trust.

On the trolley tour around Philly, led by the Philadelphia Horticulture Society.

Short break for lunch and networking.

Root cocktails at Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction.

Listening to the new Director of Sustainability talking about the city's sustainability plan that was inspired by PlaNYC.

The "Arts and the City" panel discussion.

One of the peer-to-peer teaching sessions about urban agriculture.

Another peer session,this one focused on strategies for engaging disadvantaged communities.

Final dinner before we headed our separate ways.

One of the many amazing people I met at the conference was Gary Gaston, the design director for the Nashville Civic Design Center. The NCDC is a nonprofit that works to "elevate the quality of the built environment in Nashville through public participation." We instantly bonded over our shared missions to improve public space in our respective cities, and swapped stories about our various projects. Here - watch Gary giving a good little recap of the conference:

Laura Kushnick was another inspiring leader - she's a former New Yorker and fine artist (we bonded over both) now living back in Cleveland and working with the Downtown Cleveland Alliance. There she runs the City Advocates program - an exciting and innovative new program that engages local volunteers to pursue small-scale projects that will improve downtown Cleveland's public realm. Her program appeals to me on multiple levels - primarily how it engenders a sense of stewardship and activates the local community to improve public space. Genius.

Laura talking about her City Advocates program.

And these were just 2 of the 30 participants I met in our jam-packed days together (so many more!). This was the true purpose of the Vanguard conference -- to meet urban leaders from across the country, learn more about what they are doing, and share what you are doing. Then -- newly inspired and empowered -- continue to make your city more livable, more sustainable, more vibrant, more accessible, and better designed.

So to all you urbanites out there who are working to improve our cities, I urge you to reach out to people who inspire you and start a dialogue (and apply for next year's Vanguard if you're under 35!). I know there are a ton of you out there, making all kinds of great things happen for our cities - and the more we can connect with one another and learn about what we are all doing, the more we can accomplish together. Cheesy, but true.

Guest Post | PARK LIFE: 4 Seasons on the High Line

2010-07-08T19:30:00.017-04:00

Design Trust friend David Kimelman, a New York City-based photographer, shares a glimpse of his current project, PARK LIFE: 4 Seasons on the High Line.

In New York City, open public spaces are one of our greatest assets. They give us a chance to get some sun, play, exercise, stroll, take a nap, write in a journal, chat with a friend, or just take a moment and think. They also provide the space and calm required to observe the city and it's inhabitants with some perspective. This makes them an ideal place for me to take photographs that say something about ourselves as a city.

My photography generally explores the complex, tenuous, and often contradictory relationships people have with their environments. People reveal themselves when they can relax, which is why PARK LIFE is my second project set in one of New York's many recreational areas. I discovered this phenomenon on a previous project, By Water, which was shot entirely on a single beach in Jamaica Bay, Queens.

This time, I'm exploring the action up on the elevated High Line park, located on Manhattan's west side. I've been visiting the park every week or two and photographing my observations for my photography blog, PARK LIFE: 4 Seasons On The High Line. I will be spending a year in total shooting the High Line, it's surroundings, and the people who populate it. Through the blog, I hope to reveal something new about the way people behave in a public space, show what an amazing impact the High Line has had on it's surroundings and also demonstrate the importance and incredible value of our city's shared spaces. The blog will be updated through March of 2011 at http://parklife.davidkimelman.com; a selection of images are below.

Kid Running, People Watching

Doves, People Watching

Lovers Kissing, People Watching

IAC Building, Loners, Lovers & Shoppers

Washington & Little West 12th Street, Loners, Lovers & Shoppers

Purple Tights, Art & Performance

Canvas Performance - 1, Art & Performance

Clematis, Night Falls

If you would like to submit an idea for a guest post, contact Kristin at klabuz@designtrust.org.

Potluck Recap | Hudson River Park (Pier 62)

2010-06-28T13:07:00.007-04:00

Last week's Public Space Potluck brought us to Hudson River Park's Pier 62, a brand-new public space designed by Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates. Wedged just west of West 23rd Street, Pier 62 opened Memorial Day weekend. Unlike its uber-popular neighbors the High Line and Christopher Street Pier, this site is an untapped slice of urban serenity -- for now, anyway. Boasting a skate park, carousel, ample seating options and plush expanse of green lawn - the largest in Hudson River Park - Pier 62 won't be empty for long.

Potluckers enjoyed a riverside breeze, lush grass and blueberry pie.

Hudson River Park Trust executive director Connie Fishman explains how activating the waterfront encourages us to embrace Manhattan's island geography.

Emerging filmmaker and freshly-minted NYU grad Nandan Rao films executive director Deborah Marton for an upcoming Design Trust video short.

Guest Post | Priority Seating for Conversations

2010-06-23T12:20:00.006-04:00

Design Trust friend Yen Trinh, an urban designer and new New Yorker by way of Brisbane, Australia, shares her latest project, "I Just Wanted to Say," which will be featured this weekend at Williamsburgh Walks.

The function and friendliness of public transport and public spaces often defines our positive or negative opinions of a city. Public transport is where millions of paths cross, and it potentially makes it a power social space, yet have you ever noticed people don't talk much on public transport?

"I Just Wanted to Say" is an public art project that is exploring these ideas of friendlier cities and public seating. On buses and trains, typically signs designate "priority seating for the disabled" to help create a culture of courtesy. For this art project, "priority seating for people who want conversation" seek to similarly help create a culture of friendliness. Conversations in public spaces amongst strangers and friends present endless possibilities to build connections, learn of each other, create community, and just make someone's day a bit more brighter. Friendliness is often contagious.

The signage concept was primarily developed for a bus stop in Brisbane, Australia, as part of a series called PLATFORM, curated by the Museum of Brisbane and Brisbane City Council.

The project has also been adapted for Williamsburg Walks, an event intended to make attendees rethink their public space. On Saturday, June 26 and Sunday, June 27, Bedford Avenue in Willamsburg between N. 4th and N 9th Streets will be closed to traffic and filled with local artists, craftsmen, kids' activities, walking tours, music, and a giant picnic from 1 to 7 pm. The event is organized by Neighbors Allied for Good Growth and the L Magazine with the support of Project for Public Spaces and and DOT's Weekend Walks Program.

As one of several artworks exploring public spaces during the weekend, priority signage will be featured at N. 7th Street. Through the website priorityseat.wordpress.com, event participants can map conversations, and put up their own signage to shed light on where the community would like to have friendlier spaces. The project can be expanded globally, with signage and conversations encouraged on any public transport system, any public seating in any city.

More of Yen's work can be viewed here. If you would like to submit an idea for a guest post, contact Kristin at klabuz@designtrust.org.

Gyros, Tube Socks, and Public Space: Rethinking NYC Street Fairs

2010-06-22T16:25:00.006-04:00

"New York's street fairs need a makeover. They are bland, repetitive, and don't reflect what's unique about New York," claims New Visions for New York Street Fairs, a report released last week by the Center for an Urban Future.

Like Yankees caps and ice cream trucks, street fairs have become ubiquitous part of summer in New York: in 2009 alone, the city's Street Activity Permit Office approved 321 applications for these events. Controlled largely by corporate special events giants like Mardi Gras Festival Productions, today's street fairs do little to embrace the flavor of New York's diverse neighorhoods. This is a sorely missed opportunity.

In New Visions for New York Street Fairs, Design Trust executive director Deborah Marton joined a roster of 24 leading innovators - including Bronx-bred hip hop legend DJ Kool Herc, Red Hook Food Vendor founder Cesar Fuentes and architect Jonathan Marvel - to share ideas on how these events can better showcase New York's culture, talent and public space.

An excerpt of Deborah's take:

If you're going to bother to close a street down, which to my mind is a huge public space imposition, it should be for a worthwhile reason. It should first improve the quality of life, which means it's actually interesting and worthwhile, and second the city should make some money from it. The city needs to think about what it wants to get from these events. Are they just about the bottom line? Or are they promoting quality of life or local businesses like New York City manufacturing? It seems that the local movement that's growing and already firmly rooted in food is expanding to all sorts of other goods and services. At a time when energy costs are rising and rising, and shipping costs are rising and rising, why not promote local manufacturing businesses through fairs?

Gyros and tube socks aside, CUF's dialogue underscores how valuable streets and sidewalks are to our shared public realm. As fellow New Visions interviewee Hoong Yee Lee Krakauer, executive director of the Queens Council on the Arts, said: "I'm a Jane Jacobs person. Street energy is the pulse of the community."

The full New Visions for Street Fairs report is available here.

Public Space Potluck | Hudson River Park (Pier 62)

2010-06-16T17:25:00.008-04:00

Join us for our next Public Space Potluck on Thursday, June 24 as we usher in summer, Design Trust-style, at Hudson River Park.

We’ll convene at Pier 62, the newest section of the Hudson River Park’s Chelsea Cove, which opened to the public less than a month ago. Stretching from 20th to 23rd just west of the West Side Highway, this brand-new space, designed by Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, features a 15,000 square-foot skate park, waterfront carousel with 33 hand-carved figures (including, in a nod to Hudson River wildlife, a raccoon and a wild turkey), and plenty of green space for al fresco dining.

With an estimated $73 million price tag, this new addition to New York's public space landscape doesn't come cheap (see also: Brooklyn Bridge Park) – no small feat at a time when New York’s budget crunch is shuttering parks across the state. While city and state coffers cover planning and construction, revenue from park vendors will ultimately defray operational expenses. (For an in-depth look at this public/private model, check out “The High Cost of Free Parks,” in this month’s Next American City.)

As New York Times City Critic Ariel Kaminer recently wrote, “Soon the throngs will filter into this huge and beautiful park. But for this one fleeting moment, it is an open canvas for New Yorkers to fill. Go now and stake your claim.”

What: Hudson River Park Public Space Potluck
When: Thursday, June 24th, 6:30 – 8:30 p.m.
Where: Pier 62 (cross at W. 22nd and W. 23rd)
Transit: Subway - 23rd Street [C,E]; Bus - M14, M23

What we bring: Plates, cups, utensils.

What you bring: A dish and/or drinks to share. Your friends, colleagues and fellow urbanists. Frisbees, soccer balls, skates, etc.

Coming? Let us know - RSVP@designtrust.org with "Potluck" in the subject line.

In the event of rain, the event will be rescheduled. We will make an announcement via email to those that have RSVP'd and also post on the blog.

"There's No Substitute for Holding Material in Your Hands"

2010-06-16T15:40:00.004-04:00

Photo courtesy of The New York Times

While the Garment District is perhaps best known as a homebase for high-end designers like Anna Sui and a launching pad for start-ups like Jason Wu, the neighborhood is also critical resource for New York's arts community.

In today's New York Times, Claudia LaRocco describes the struggle costume designers face when trying to secure that one-of-a-kind fabric, trim, or button amid the Garment District's dwindling supply of shops. That said, the piece highlights why proximity and face-to-face interaction - two of the Garment District's key competitive advantages highlighted in our recent Made in Midtown study - are essential to the fashion industry.

From "The Fresh Tutu Brigade":

You might think that the Internet would be a paradise for costume makers and that new technologies would yield ingenious ways to recreate extinct patterns and dyes. Digital printing does allow for the cost-effective replication of old hand-painted patterns on fabric, sites like eBay occasionally yield finds, and authentic specialty items can be found on the Web. But the industry remains a largely local, personal one.

“It’s a very 19th-century art form,” said Jared Aswegan, owner of Barbara Matera, which makes costumes for performing arts groups ranging from circuses to American Ballet Theater. There’s no substitute, he said, for holding material in your hands. “Actually being able to see it and feel it and understand what it is that you’re getting, you really can’t get a sense of that on the Internet.”

Made in Midtown Launch in Pictures

2010-06-11T16:25:00.014-04:00

Miss last week's Made in Midtown launch festivities? Here, a peek at the press conference, cocktail reception and pop-up exhibit, all hosted June 2-3 in the Fashion Center/Times Square storefront space in Port Authority.

Made in Midtown signage outside the Port Authority pop-up space, corner of 8th Avenue & 41st Street.

Activating the storefront, with a reflection of the New York Times building across the street.

Design Trust executive director Deborah Marton delivers key findings at the press conference.

From fashion bloggers to foreign correspondents, media take note.

Garment District stakeholders rally to support Made in Midtown. From left: Joe Ferrara, Ferrara Manufacturing Co.; Anna Sui, designer; Narciso Rodriguez, designer; Deborah Marton, Design Trust; Yeohlee Teng, designer; Joerg Schwartz, architect; Bob Savage, Nanette Lepore; Edgar Romney, Workers United; Patrick Murphy, NYEDC; Steven Kolb, CFDA.

The pop-up exhibit featured local fashion, large-scale video projections, and an interactive map.

Fern Mallis, center, established New York Fashion Week during her tenure at IMG.

Nanette Lepore's Erica Wolf, third from left, with members of the Garment District's fashion industry.

Design Trust board members, from left: Kitty Hawks, Deborah Berke and Marc Heiman.

During Making Made in Midtown, project fellows offered a behind-the-scenes look at the
Design Trust's collaborative, cross-disciplinary process.

Parsons students - and a fashionable NYPD officer - show their support.

Find more photos on Facebook and Flickr.

Panel Recap: Garment District Today & Tomorrow

2010-06-11T14:32:00.005-04:00

Project Runway portrays designers working in a vacuum, but in the real world, fashion is a team effort. From appliqués to zippers, producing a garment requires many skilled specialists.

No one understands this process better than Tim Gunn. On June 8, the Project Runway mentor and Parsons dean turned Chief Creative Officer of Liz Claiborne moderated “Made in Midtown: The Garment District Today & Tomorrow,” a panel discussion co-sponsored by the Municipal Art Society and the Design Trust.

Fresh off the launch of madeinmidtown.org, the event asked a diverse sample of neighborhood stakeholders - Sarah Crean, deputy director, New York Industrial Retention Network; Eric Gural, executive managing director, Newmark Knight Frank; Madelyn Wils, executive vice president of the Planning, Development and Maritime division, NYCEDC; Deborah Marton, executive director, Design Trust for Public Space; Michael Meola, consultant, formerly senior vice president, Real Estate and Special Projects, NYCEDC; and Yeohlee Teng, designer, YEOHLEE Inc. – to consider how the neighborhood works now and what it could look like in the future.

Design Trust's Deborah Marton kicked off the conversation with a presentation of Made in Midtown’s key findings. No longer a center of mass production, the Garment District functions as a hub of research and development – a place where the integration of design and production drive innovation. “To realize ideas, designers need the support they find in the Garment District,” she said. “Today’s start-up is tomorrow’s Marc Jacobs.”

Or, for that matter, Jason Wu, designer of Michelle Obama's inaugural gown. The neighborhood infrastructure that catapulted Wu from a Parsons drop-out to industry darling helps make New York the fashion start-up capital of the world. “In Paris or Milan, you have to come up through one of the major fashion houses. It’s virtually impossible to start the way [Wu] started," Deborah said.

Panelists' collectively agreed that fashion is a critical piece of New York's creative economy. “We offer opportunity to entrepreneurs, start-ups, anyone with a dream,” designer Yeohlee Teng claimed.

The discussion grew more heated as the panelists touched on the challenges facing the Garment District: the real estate pressures that will rebound as the city’s economy climbs out of the recession, the growing reliance on overseas manufacturing, and a dwindling pool of skilled trade workers.

Still, urban neighborhoods, like fashion, are about reinvention. “What we have here are core strengths, not chronic problems,” NYIRN's Sarah Crean said. “The issue here is not how do we save X square feet, but how do we connect people to resources.”

Gunn asked panelists to peer into their crystal ball and imagine the neighborhood’s future. Visions called for more activated storefronts and mixed-use buildings – and less "Chipotles and banks."

"I would hate to see us wipe out all the creative industry and become a city of lawyers and brokers," Yeohlee said.

Ultimately, the Garment District needs a stronger identity – one that balances the needs of its stakeholders and reflects the its role as an incubator for new ideas. “What happens within the buildings should inform and give life to what happens on the street,” Deborah said.

A 27-year veteran of the Garment District, Gunn praised Made in Midtown for debunking myths. “So many people say the fashion industry has nothing to do with the Garment District, and it’s just not true,” he said. "I feel very optimistic about all this. Now get the word out."

The MAS panel series continues on Tuesday, June 15 with Design Trust executive director Deborah Marton moderating a discussion on urban creative districts. To learn more or purchase tickets, visit http://mas.org/programs/#midtown .

Made in Midtown Goes Live!

2010-06-03T12:37:00.019-04:00

Wednesday morning, June 2, the Design Trust held a press conference inside the Made in Midtown pop-up exhibit on Eighth Avenue and 41st Street to announce the launch of the Made in Midtown website, madeinmidtown.org, and highlight the key findings from the project. Standing alongside the Design Trust executive director Deborah Marton were the fashion designers Anna Sui, Narciso Rodriguez, John Bartlett and Yeohlee Teng, the executive director of the CFDA, a representative from the NYC Economic Development Corporation, and several local garment manufacturers and suppliers.

In front of a throng of fashion bloggers, newspaper journalists, television cameras and international news outlets, Deborah Marton unveiled the Made in Midtown website with the following remarks:

"I want to begin by thanking the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and the Fashion Center BID for lending us this uniquely appropriate space. Thank you also to our partner the Council of Fashion Designers of America. It’s been wonderful to work with president Diane von Furstenberg and executive director Steven Kolb. A special thanks to CFDA general secretary Yeohlee Teng, and to architect Joerg Schwartz who has been assisting CFDA. Their vision and commitment drove this project forward. I also want to thank the many neighborhood and city stakeholders who have supported our work and are here today: Patrick Murphy of the NYC EDC, Barbara Randall of the Fashion Center BID, Joe Ferrara of the Garment Center Supplier Association, Edgar Romney of Workers United, Andy Ward of the Garment Industry Development Corporation. Eric Gural of Newmark Knight Frank, and of course, CFDA.

Six months ago these people wouldn’t have been standing here together as they are today, and the prospect of them conceptually – and financially – supporting a project like ours seemed pretty unlikely. I’m happy to report that in the end, we all want the same thing – a vibrant, mixed-use Midtown and Garment District, and a healthy fashion industry.

To that end, in 2009, the Design Trust for Public Space, a nonprofit devoted to improving New York City’s public realm, partnered with the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) to create Made in Midtown, a study of the fashion industry, how the Garment District works today, and why it’s an integral part of New York City’s economy, identity, and sense of place.

But this story is about much more than fashion. It’s about one of the last neighborhoods in Manhattan that has not yet been remade by recent waves of new development. It’s about jobs and immigrant workers. It’s about the decisions we make as a city to support certain kinds of businesses and land-use development, whether it’s baseball stadiums, high-rise condominiums, or factories. Made in Midtown is about what kind of city we want New York to be.

For more than 100 years, the urban identity of a large swath of midtown and of course the Garment District derived from the fashion industry. Well into the 20th Century, the District manufactured over 90% of the garments sold in this country. In the 1970s, American fashion came into its own right here, and there’s no doubt today that New York City is the fashion capital of the world. The scale of mass production that existed here in the last century is gone now, and it won’t return. But the core network of factories, suppliers, and highly skilled workers remains.

The key finding of Made in Midtown is this: today the Garment District is a fashion research and development hub. Today designers work closely with manufacturers and suppliers to produce new ideas, new styles, new trends that the rest of the country – and the world – follow. This vision of the District as an R&D hub opens the door to a new kind of economic development: in this vision, design and manufacturing are inextricably linked and what they produce is innovation. Firmly rooted in the physical reality of the Garment District, this R & D community also stands as something very exciting from an urban perspective – it’s a unique example of how a creative industry can be woven into through the fabric of a city. Urban neighborhoods, like fashion, are about reinvention.

This R&D hub makes New York City the fashion startup capital of the world. And today’s startup is tomorrow’s Ralph Lauren or Marc Jacobs. According to preliminary results of a 2010 survey conducted by the Economic Development Corporation, nearly 80% of emerging designers and 70% of established designers who responded said the Garment District is "very" or "extremely" important to their production. The presence today of these established designers is a testament to that fact.

But this District has particular importance for young entrepreneurs. I’m sure most of you don’t picture this neighborhood in connection with the idea of a “business incubator,” but that’s exactly how it works: it provides the resources that allows startups to learn and grow. Take, for instance, a young designer like Jason Wu, whom we interviewed for this project. At the ripe age of 27, he has already designed the inaugural gown worn by Michelle Obama, and had this dress placed in the Smithsonian. He was a student at Parsons over on 40^th Street, he started a business using friends as fit models, and was able to find skilled craftspeople to help him produce pieces overnight all within 10 blocks of where we’re standing right now. When it came time to expand, he moved “deeper into the heart of the District,” as he put it. No other fashion capital supports this kind of outsourced infrastructure; if you’re a young designer in Milan or Paris, you have to come up through one of the major fashion houses. New York City is not only the fashion capital of the world, it’s also the startup capital.

I’m sure you’ve all seen Project Runway. I love Project Runway; it’s great entertainment. But the fact is creative industries like fashion don’t work like Project Runway. In the real world, fashion is a team effort. To realize their ideas, designers need the research and development support they find here in the Garment District, with its hundreds of small businesses: everything from pattern makers to pleaters to finishers to button and fabric suppliers. Because these resources can be found within a few blocks of each other, designers can work quickly with more control over quality. Most importantly, they can go back-and-forth exchanging ideas, working collaboratively with highly skilled craftspeople, often with decades of experience—as one designer we interviewed said, it’s like a lab for creativity. This close physical proximity may also enable growth in the future. Our study found that at certain retail prices and quantities, designers choose to produce in the Garment District and elsewhere in New York City rather than producing overseas. If shipping and energy costs rise, this trend could increase.

The fashion industry is already an economic engine for New York City, contributing $10 billion annually to the local economy – $733 million yearly from Fashion Week and related activities alone. 846 fashion companies are headquartered here – that’s more than Paris, London, and Milan combined. Apparel manufacturing – not including retail, wholesale, etc. – provides roughly 24,000 working- and middle-class jobs -- 28% of NYC’s manufacturing jobs. Beyond jobs and revenue, the industry’s presence is inseparable from our cultural identity, and it exerts a powerful influence on tourism, print and web media, education, film, and television. This urban cross-pollination isn’t surprising – cities have more things and people to be inspired by, more idea sharing, and most important, more ways to bring ideas to reality.

So now that you know what’s happening in the Garment District right now, you may be wondering what’s next. In the project’s second phase, the Design Trust for Public Space will facilitate public forums around the findings of our study, and the role of creative industries in New York City in general. In fact, on June 8 and 15 are two upcoming panel discussions on the project and the subject of urban creative districts that the Design Trust is sponsoring with the Municipal Art Society. For more information about those panels, please go to designtrust.org/events. Building on the project findings and these discussions, we’ll work with all stakeholders present today to generate strategies for zoning and land-use, to build city support for the fashion industry and other creative industries, and to develop programming or urban design initiatives that increase the industry’s presence in the public realm.

To experience the full Made in Midtown study, please go to madeinmidtown.org. The Design Trust isn’t the first organization to study the Garment District; we are, however, the first to assess and portray the fashion industry's intricate inner workings in their urban context. After extensive research that included interviews with more than 70 industry and neighborhood stakeholders, we’ve crafted a balanced, human portrait that looks at the Garment District urbanistically, that is, from a design perspective, an economic perspective, a sociological and policy perspective. You can understand the Garment District by looking at the value of goods produced, the rents per square foot, etc., but it has important value that’s more intangible. On the website, you’ll find both quantitative and qualitative assessments – from infographics describing employment data to a dozen video interviews of designers, patternmakers, graders, retailers, and others, to maps of land use patterns and zoning history. I invite you to take some time, have a look, and let us know what you think as we move into the project’s second phase. And again, it’s madeinmidtown.org. Thank you."

Photo by Chris Kannen. For more photos of the press conference, visit our Flickr page.

Made in Midtown Launch + Pop-Up Exhibit

2010-05-20T12:44:00.010-04:00

Over the past six months, the Design Trust has partnered with the Council of Fashion Designers of America to produce Made in Midtown, a study of the intersection between New York City's fashion industry and the Garment District.

Join us as we celebrate the launch of the project website, madeinmidtown.org, with a one-day exhibit in the Fashion Center/Times Square Pop-Up Space in the Port Authority Bus Terminal.

MADE IN MIDTOWN LAUNCH + POP-UP EXHIBIT
Date: Thursday, June 3
Location: 8th Avenue at 41st Street
Time: 8am - 8:30pm
Free and open to the public

Installation
8am - 8:30pm
Showcasing project highlights, this exhibit will include large-scale video projections, computer kiosks, a display of locally-produced fashion and an interactive map illustrating the garment production process.

Brown Bag Presentation
12:30pm, 1:30pm
Design Trust executive director Deborah Marton and program director Jerome Chou reveal the workings of the industry and the neighborhood today, and how these findings can help create a vision for Midtown's future.

Making Made in Midtown
6:30pm - 8:30pm
Ever wonder how a Design Trust project unfolds? In this informal conversation, Made in Midtown project fellows join Design Trust staff to explain the collaborative, cross-disciplinary process behind Made in Midtown.

Have some free time? We're looking for extra hands to help out with the exhibit. Volunteers score an invite to the private Made in Midtown cocktail reception. Email klabuz@designtrust.org for details.

Potluck Recap: Greeley Square

2010-04-30T14:06:00.008-04:00

Slowly emerging from a cold, cold winter, we had high hopes for our first outdoor Public Space Potluck of the season, held Wednesday in midtown's Greeley Square. Though the tulips were blooming, the temperature was more fleece than flip flop. Still, those who attended were treated to a behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to operate, program and maintain such a high-traffic public space. Staff from the 34th Street Partnership, the midtown business improvement district responsible for the site, discussed their role in the revitalization efforts and fielded questions on future planning projects, including Mayor Bloomberg's latest proposal to transform parts of 34th Street into a pedestrian plaza.

The design of Greeley Square's design is a nod to the work of renowned American urbanist William Holly Whyte, whose keen observations about the social functions of urban space paved the way for a new era of people-centric city design. As Whyte once said,"It's hard to design a space that will not attract people. What is remarkable is how often this has been accomplished." Suffice to say, Greeley Park, even on a chilly mid-week evening, attracts people.

Here's to a warmer Public Space Potluck in May!

NYT: Needle and Thread Still Have a Home

2010-04-29T12:39:00.004-04:00

We are delighted that findings from our Made in Midtown study are featured in the Style section of today's New York Times. Guy Trebay writes about the Garment District's ecosystem, detailing the interconnected network of designers, wholesalers, buttonmakers, trimmings houses, patternmakers, pieceworkers, laborers, carters, shippers, consumers and retailers that drive fashion innovation and entrepreneurship.

Read the article, and then watch Yeohlee Teng and Diane von Furstenberg expand on coral reefs and beehives in our intro video:

Made in Midtown from Design Trust for Public Space on Vimeo.

The full project website, http://madeinmidtown.org, will launch June 2 with a pop-up installation in Port Authority's storefront space. Stay tuned for details.

Public Space Potluck: Greeley Square

2010-04-19T17:51:00.011-04:00

Join the Design Trust at 6:30 PM next Wednesday in Greeley Square for our first outdoor Public Space Potluck of the season.

Greeley Square is a triangular pocket park that forms the southern half of a Broadway bowtie, where 33rd Street and Sixth Avenue cross. The park takes its name from Horace Greeley, the influential nineteenth century publisher of the New York Tribune. (The New York Herald, the Tribune's rival newspaper, is commemorated in the uptown portion of the bowtie, Herald Square.)

Earlier this year, Greeley and Herald Squares earned a nomination for the ULI Amanda Burden Open Space award, which recognizes public destinations that have "enriched and revitalized the surrounded community."

Indeed, with its artful design, moveable chairs and, thanks to DOT, new pedestrian zones flanking Broadway, Herald and Greeley Squares provide an urban respite in the midst of the Midtown bustle.

Despite its prime location, Herald and Greeley Squares weren't always an award-winning public spaces. A 2000 New York Times article references parks' past as "symbols of blighted New York," describing the site design as "cracked slabs set in the midst of cacophonous traffic ... scraggly bushes along the edges and some benches, where homeless people dozed and drug dealers rested between sales."

In 1996, the parks came under the control of the 34th Street Partnership, a business improvement district that covers 31 midtown blocks. The BID launched a $2.25 million revitalization to transform Herald and Greeley Square from hardscaped concrete island to a green, inviting public space. This redesign incorporated amenities that were both functional (public restrooms) and visually appealing (raised flower beds). Representatives from 34th Street Partnership will be on hand at the Potluck to the revitalization efforts.

As always, the Design Trust will provide the essentials: plates, utensils, cups, etc. We ask that guests bring a dish or drink to share. Feel free to invite your friends and fellow urbanists. Don’t forget to RSVP at rsvp@designtrust.org.

What: Greeley Square Public Space Potluck
When: Wednesday, April 28th, 6:30 – 8:30 p.m.
Where: Between 33rd and 32nd Streets, where Broadway and Sixth Avenue cross, Manhattan
Transit: 34th Street Herald Square Station [B, D. F, N, Q, R, V, W]

In the event of rain, the event will be rescheduled. We will make an announcement via email to those that have RSVP'd and also post on the blog.

Guest Post | Observing the City by Hand, Foot, and Ear

2010-04-13T17:09:00.008-04:00

When it comes to understanding the public realm, New York-based architect and planner Jack Conviser, a friend of the Design Trust, goes old school.

From the ersatz ‘beach’ of Times Square to the ball fields of Prospect Park, our city has many opportunities to understand what makes for a great public realm. Whether we are seeing families on the boardwalk of Coney Island, retirees playing cards under the Trees in Columbus Park, or the crush of strollers on a spring day at the Bronx Zoo, the city is full of learning experiences that we simply cannot find in our laptops.

How should we observe these places and learn from them? Can walking, taking a few snapshots, or shooting a little video teach us what we really need to know? Or can we adequately satisfy our curiosities through Google searches and Facebook pages?

Digital media and the internet have their uses but they also have their limitations. On our laptops we see the world through other people’s filters, and it is so easy to gather information that we often forget to be critical. When one Googles “Union Square”, it is hard to find a single photo of the farmer’s market or the statue of Ghandi, two important moments. Or, we could go there ourselves and take 100 digital photos in a ½ hour, but will 100 images tell us why so many people love Union Square? Might it be easier to answer that question by talking with a few vendors, shopkeepers, and park patrons? Or would a 10 minute plan sketch help us to understand what works so well about the place?

The danger of digital media is that it lets us be lazy about what we are seeing and it excuses us from actual engagement and participation. Walking around, sketching and live conversation force us to plug back into the city and learn from it.

While drawing by hand is laborious and live conversation with strangers can be intimidating, these challenges are good things. We have to be thoughtful, picking what to focus on and choosing how to represent it. We could see New York through the lens of the City Beautiful movement with the romance of grand perspectives and the theatre of the streets, or as the Modernist, scientifically describing vast urban systems laid out in objectified plans. Or we could employ the sociology of William Whyte and the fine grained approach of Alan Jacobs, sketching the human scaled elements of sidewalks, street trees, and benches, meanwhile chatting with those inhabit them. And we can also tap into the ironic aspects of urbanism, like Rem Koolhaus using mixed media and pop-cultural inferences.

Whatever we decide, the blank pages of our notebooks offer us latitude, and the opportunity to observe, interpret, and reinvent. We cannot Wiki a chess game on a spring afternoon at Brooklyn’s Sunset Park, but we can go there, talk to the players, study the spaces they inhabit, and find ways to apply those lessons elsewhere. There is still a lot power in this methodology.

In closing, this is not to dismiss the enormous visioning capabilities of digital media. However, new technology does not need to replace older means and methods. Patient, firsthand observations through sketching and listening can only enhance the work that we produce digitally. To realize this potential I hope that all of us do a little more sketching and listen a little more to our fellow New Yorkers. Our incredible city merits this study and our hearts will thank us for it.

Amanda Burden: "Great public space is why you stay in the city"

2010-03-30T14:11:00.006-04:00

The Urban Land Institute recently announced the six finalists for its ULI Amanda Burden Open Space Award, which include New York's own Herald and Greeley Square Parks. The ULI press release, found on Planetizen, includes this gem of a quote from New York City Department of City Planning Commissioner Amanda Burden, which reinforces our mission here at the Design Trust:

All great planning comes down to the granular approach of how a building meets the street, how a street feels, how you feel walking in the city, and how it feels to be in public spaces and use public spaces that are inviting. Great public space is why you stay in the city.

We couldn't agree more.

Urban Fabric: Creation in the City

2010-03-25T10:25:00.009-04:00

Last week the Design Trust Council convened in the heart of the Garment District for its fourth annual event, Urban Fabric: Creation in the City. In connection with our current Made in Midtown, the event asked: what does it take for creative industry to survive – and thrive – in New York?

Yeohlee Teng, a New York-based fashion designer renowned for her “urban nomad” style, graciously hosted a crowd of 70 in her studio on West 35th Street. The evening kicked off with a cocktail reception, allowing Design Trust Council members to mingle with fashion industry leaders and preview pieces from YEOHLEE’s fall 2010 collection.

Throughout the evening, guests toured the YEOHLEE production space – a small room packed with mannequins, sketches, fabric swatches, sewing machines and overflowing racks of clothing samples. YEOHLEE staff demonstrated the design process, drawing a link between the in-house artistry and the surrounding cluster of vendors and manufacturers in the Garment District.

Urban Fabric culminated in panel discussion, featuring Vogue contributing editor and landscape architect Miranda Brooks, Parsons Dean of Fashion Simon Collins, urban designer Ken Greenberg and real estate developer Eric Gural of Newmark Knight Frank. Design Trust executive director Deborah Marton moderated the conversation, anchoring the Garment District debate within the context of a larger question: What kind of city do we want to live in?

Panelists exchanged frank and thoughtful commentary on the future of the Garment District, touching on the role of government intervention, the unique physical assets of the neighborhood and the power of design to reflect and reinforce the neighborhood’s creative industries.

Referring to the processes of intervention and reinvention in the Garment District, Simon Collins said, “We believe in change. But we believe we should be designing that change.”

Want to learn more? We’ll post a podcast and full transcript of the panel discussion in the coming weeks.

Potluck Recap: Moving Platform

2010-03-23T11:26:00.008-04:00

Last night, against the backdrop of evening rush hour in Brooklyn’s largest subway station, the Design Trust hosted Moving Platform, our first Public Space Potluck of 2010. The topic of discussion was, fittingly, the MTA. The largest transit agency in the United States, the MTA handles 10.3 million passenger trips on an average weekday. Speakers Gene Russianoff of the NYPIRG Straphanger Campaign, Neysa Pranger of the Regional Plan Association and Veronica Vanterpool of the Tri-State Transportation Campaign discussed MTA’s nearly $800 million gap and the proposed service cuts facing New York City’s transit-riding population.
Competing with the rumble of trains and the percussive beats of a subway drummer, the speakers described the cuts in the context of MTA’s ongoing finanical challenges and political hurdles. The proposed cuts include the elimination of discounted and free student fares in New York City, reduced paratransit, dropped service on dozens of bus routes and ending all or part of the G, M, and W lines.

Gene, Neysa and Veronica stronger urged the audience to voice their concerns to local representatives – and to act fast. MTA’s Board is slated to meet March 24 to vote on the changes. For more advocacy resources and information on how to take action, check out the Tri-State Transportation Campaign and NYPIRG’s Straphangers Campaign.

Behind the Seams

2010-03-18T14:14:00.019-04:00

With six weeks to go until we unveil the full Made in Midtown website, our Project Fellows have been working at an accelerated pace to investigate the Garment District and its relationship to New York’s fashion industry. Exploring this ecosystem had brought the Design Trust team deep inside the world of apparel manufacturing. The photos below, from urban design project fellow Interboro’s mid-review presentation, reveal a side of the fashion industry that is largely invisible to the general public.

Check out our brand new Made in Midtown Facebook page for additional photographs and project updates.

Inspiration for ReNEWable Times Square Proposals

2010-03-10T07:44:00.005-05:00

Always moving forward, DOT Commissioner Sadik-Khan launched a design competition last week in partnership with the Times Square Alliance called ReNEWable Times Square: Designing Temporary Surface Treatments, asking New York City artists, designers, and organizations to:

propose temporary design solutions to renew the surface treatments at all five plazas and smaller ancillary spaces located on Broadway from 47th to 42nd streets. These temporary surface treatments will enhance the plazas while a long-term capital project is initiated for the Bowtie beginning in 2012 in partnership with the Department of Design and Construction.

This comes in the wake of last year's Greenlight for Midtown project, which created acres of pedestrian space by closing Broadway to vehicular traffic through Times Square (see below video). Based on the strength of the Greenlight for Midtown Evaluation Report (PDF), Mayor Bloomberg recently declared these changes permanent.

Courtesy of NYC Department of Transportation

Yet long before Commissioner Sadik-Khan was giving back the streets, the Design Trust worked with the Times Square Alliance to address the pedestrian nightmare of Times Square, circa 2003. Julie Iovine described the project in recent Wall Street Journal article:

Over the past ten years, the Times Square Alliance presided over the rebirth of Times Square as a revived cultural and tourist center and a prominent address for corporate headquarters. However, its streets and sidewalks are congested, poorly designed, and visually unappealing. . . . the Alliance has turned its attention to upgrading the streetscape and improving the pedestrian environment. This process began with a series of workshops organized in partnership with the Design Trust, which explored the range of possible streetscape improvements. . . . Subsequently, the Design Trust awarded a fellowship to Michael Fishman, the Vice President of Urban Design at Sam Schwartz Company, to work with the Alliance. Mr. Fishman helped to interpret the workshop findings and facilitate contact with the NYC DOT, resulting in a pedestrian-mobility plan, Problems and Possibilities: Re-Imagining the Pedestrian Environment in Times Square. The Times Square Alliance will work with the City to implement this comprehensive plan, and transform Times Square into an international model for pedestrian mobility.

Courtesy of Barkow Photo

If you are submitting a proposal for ReNEWable Times Square, consider first taking a look at the ideas generated in these workshops by downloading a free PDF of Times Square: Problems and Possibilities.

The seriously great list of workshop participants who contributed content include Kinshasha Holman Conwill of the Smithsonian, Stephen Doyle, Giuseppe Lignano of LOT-EK, Design Trust fellow Michael Fishman, Robert Hammond, partners at Cooper, Robertson, FXFowle, Gluckman Mayner, Rogers Marvel, Natalie Rozot, Ken Smith, WXY Studio, members of the Urban Bush Women, DOT and City Planning, Deans at Columbia Business School and Syracuse University School of Architecture, artist Mary Miss and even playwright Robert Wilson!

Courtesy of Barkow Photo

Below are quotes from the workshops and few images from Flickr for your inspiration:

"Take the Times Square area and look at it as a giant, always-changing theater set - something that is sort of an armature in which to change things. The vehicular traffic, the people, everything is a player. I love the idea of the glowing curbs. . . . it is all of these things, it's not just architecture, it's not just public space, it's entertainment, it's everything."

Courtesy of asterix611 on Flickr

"I really like the idea of providing some sort of stage or some sort of place for the visitor or tourist to perform on, because they do it anyway, they are attracted to the center islands and they photograph each other and they really use that space, but because of the spectacle it seems like there is a yearning to become part of the spectacle."

"There is an opportunity to capitalize on this as a district of amusement."

Courtesy of changpp on Flickr

"It would be a big mistake if the streetscape had a sort of dulling effect of uniformity that so much streetscape has. I think we need to be careful to maintain the interstitial, ad-hoc spaces - it would be great if we had just totally fantastic curbs."

"I like the idea of emphasizing the horizontal and making chaser lights all along every street everywhere."

Courtesy of Ken Smith Landscape Architect from the Times Square workshop

"One of the great things about Times Square is the fact that everything is sort of malleable and changeable. . . . like a theater set. . . . I like the idea that everything is sort of advertising, and an opportunity to make a statement. And you have all these layers of statements, and things being said. They are commercial, they are artistic, they're all sorts of things. "

Courtesy of jpellgen on Flickr

"How can you engage people in some kind of activity that might have them having more contact than just that brief bumping into each other?"

Courtesy of zokuga on Flickr

"I have one burning issue and that's because we were talking about tourists and residents, like they are separate things. . . . I would hope that what we would do here would sort of break us out of normal roles of trying to rush past the dumb tourists who don't know how to walk, and kind of slow us down and be tourists ourselves, and block the sidewalk, and look up, and be stupid. I think the role reversal is an interesting thought."

Courtesy of _gee_ on Flickr

"I left the last meeting with four words haunting me - chaos and choreography, delight and desire."

"So we thought, well maybe there is an opportunity to actually eliminate all traffic on Broadway, for certain times, I mean literally on Broadway."

Courtesy of John Niedermayer on Flickr

"I also would not be so quick to throw nature out."

"What do you do with nature in Times Square? You could also make these containers for natural things, like ant farms, snakes, for all kinds of wild life in these containers."

Courtesy of Zach Klein on Flickr

The other thing I really loved is the idea of these small discoveries that amongst these big kinds of visual ideas, that there are small subtleties that you discover, whether it's in the sidewalk [or elsewhere.]"

"Use type on the ground as a way of making an enchanted path through the space."

"Maybe we can actually make the street into a sign."

Moving Platform: A Public Space Potluck on NYC Transit

2010-03-09T14:24:00.031-05:00

In light of planned service changes to the MTA system, we are convening Moving Platform, a Public Space Potluck "Plus" next Monday, March 22nd, at 6:30 PM in the Atlantic/Pacific subway station in Brooklyn. We'll begin the discussion in the station itself and continue above ground at the Brooklyn Tavern.

The evening will focus on the challenges and demands facing the transit system and the subway's unique combination of historic infrastructure and contemporary design experienced by millions of riders every day. The conversation will be led by:

Gene Russianoff, staff attorney and chief spokesperson for the NYPIRG Straphangers Campaign, an advocacy group that focuses on New York City Transit bus and subway service;

Neysa Pranger, director of public affairs at the Regional Plan Association; Neysa executes media strategies, plans advocacy projects and oversees communications at RPA;

Veronica Vanterpool, associate director for the Tri-State Transportation Campaign, advocates for more balanced and equitable transportation at the local, state, and federal level; increased investment in public transportation; improved bike and pedestrian infrastructure; and truck and vehicular traffic mitigation.

For perspective, take a few minutes to watch Where Do We Go From Here? Part 1 (1970), a very strange film "about the challenges facing the newly-formed MTA and its role in the region's well-being" from the New York City Transit Museum archives. It is currently the featured video on the MTA News page, where you can also watch Part 2.

Moving Platform will convene at 6:30 PM in Brooklyn's largest subway station, Atlantic/Pacific, on the concourse level between the stairwells to the 2/3 and 4/5 trains. Afterwards we'll move on to the Brooklyn Tavern, 31 Third Avenue near State Street. You're welcome to bring something to eat and share, or have food delivered to the Brooklyn Tavern. The Design Trust staff will bring napkins, plates, utensils, etc. Please RSVP to rsvp@designtrust.org if you plan to attend and we look forward to seeing you there!

Manhatta and The Sandpit

2010-03-09T12:17:00.031-05:00

The Sandpit from Sam O'Hare on Vimeo.

I found The Sandpit posted on DOT's Facebook page today. It shows numerous public spaces throughout Manhattan and Brooklyn. You see a view from the penthouse of One Brooklyn, the luxury condo building overlooking the future Brooklyn Bridge Park. This dusty construction site could be what inspired the movie's title. Bird's eye view shots of vehicular traffic are interspersed with boat and helicopter traffic, as well as pedestrians, handball players, people doing Tai Chi under the FDR, and someone throwing a bucket of water into the street.

The Sandpit falls into a lineage of urban montage that perhaps started with one of my favorite works of art about New York - Manhatta (1920), a film collaboration between artist Charles Sheeler and photographer Paul Strand now found in the collection of the Met.

Manhatta, a film by Paul Strand from Metropolitan Museum of Art on Vimeo.

Manhatta is based on parts of Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass. The Met writes:

The six-minute film spans an imaginary day in the life of New York City, beginning with footage of Staten Island ferry commuters and culminating with the sun setting over the Hudson River. It has been described as the first avant-garde film made in America. Its many brief shots and dramatic camera angles emphasize New York's photographic nature.

What's interesting (and perhaps totally intentional) is how closely The Sandpit parallels Manhatta - the daily commute, the watery boundaries of the island, people working at a construction site, views from roofs - following a day in the life of the city. Despite its slower pace, Manhatta holds up well, especially with the use of Whitman quotes as titles. They are so appropriately over the top and seem to speak to the New York City of every era.

On Press for Reinventing Grand Army Plaza

2010-02-16T15:03:00.012-05:00

In November 2009 the Design Trust went on press for the printing of Reinventing Grand Army Plaza: Visionary Design for the Heart of Brooklyn at Print Craft, Inc. in Minneapolis, MN. Print Craft has printed two previous Design Trust publications: Long Island City: Connecting the Arts, and The Taxi 07 Exhibit, as well as our Annual Report. During the visit Mr. Larry Lewis introduced Print Craft's workflow, from job ticket to plate to press.

Call for Fellows: Five Borough Farm

2010-01-26T13:22:00.005-05:00

Design Trust seeks two Project Fellows (Policy/Sustainability and Metrics/Evaluation) for Five Borough Farm, a pioneering project to create New York's first citywide plan for urban agriculture.

Complete fellowship descriptions can be found here. The deadline to apply is Wednesday, February 3 by 5 PM. Questions? Email fellowship@designtrust.org.

Behind-the-Fence Tour of Brooklyn Bridge Park

2010-01-14T14:01:00.045-05:00

Brooklyn Bridge Park will open in phases beginning this winter.

Last week we were excited to visit the future Brooklyn Bridge Park, an 85-acre site designed by Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates for the Brooklyn Bridge Park Development Corporation. The park will form a contiguous public space from Main Street Park in Dumbo (what is now commonly known as "Brooklyn Bridge Park") southwest to Atlantic Avenue, replacing 1.3 miles of storage sheds, parking lots and unused piers on the Brooklyn waterfront.

Before and after renderings courtesy of MVVA

According to Van Valkenburgh:

"The park consists of the massive expanse of the piers, the water in between the piers, and a continuous upland that is partially bound on the east by the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway. The park will be experienced as a highly dynamic edge where two different but codependent ecosystems - river and city - merge.The goal of the community members, state and city officials, and designers involved in the creation of the park has been ambitious but fairly straightforward: to transform this industrial site into a more noble version of itself, preserving the dramatic experience and character that give it emotional power and identity, while investing it with new social functions and accessibility and renewing the site ecology."

Furman Street, the infrequented lane at the bottom of the BQE/Brooklyn Promenade rampart, will eventually provide secondary entrances to Brooklyn Bridge Park. (The park will be on the left, BQE is on the right.)

We found our way to the security gate via Furman Street and were met by Regina Myer and Ellen Ryan, President and Vice President of the Brooklyn Bridge Park Development Corporation, a partnership between the City and State of New York responsible for the planning and construction of Brooklyn Bridge Park.

Ellen Ryan, Vice President of the Brooklyn Bridge Development Corporation, showing us the site plan.

Site plan courtesy of MVVA

After Ellen gave us an overview of the project, we climbed in an ATV and avoided numerous backhoes, semis and contractors on our way to Pier 1, the northernmost pier accessible from Fulton Ferry Landing. Pier 1 will open to the public this winter. It features open lawns with wide waterfront views not unlike Gantry Plaza State Park in Long Island City. The angle of the Brooklyn waterfront at this point affords long views of both New York Harbor and the East River, which are enhanced by the addition of gentle hills.

The Pier 1 lawns are divided by a path lined with benches and shade trees. The benches were made with wood reclaimed from a Civil War-era warehouse being dismantled onsite.

As you walk toward the water, the path approaches a stone platform that drops away like an infinity pool against the view of the water and Lower Manhattan. Steep steps connect to a promenade along the water's edge, which felt wider than the BQE. It was easy to imagine people hanging out on the steps like the 16th Street viewing platform on the High Line.

A small playground is located right on the water with swingsets facing Lower Manhattan.

As we took in the view, Regina and Ellen described how sustainable features and practices are an essential part of the park design, and include how freshwater wetlands will manage stormwater and irrigate the park onsite, and reclaimed wood from a Civil War-era warehouse was used to build park benches and clad two entrance kiosk buildings. Van Valkenburgh writes "The park ... explores a number of ecological initiatives grouped under the term of "post-industrial nature" that were aimed at reestablishing some kind of functioning ecosystem on the currently lifeless site."

Boating Basin with Pier 4 Nature Island and Beach courtesy of MVVA

We climbed back into the ATV and headed south past Piers 3, 4 and 5, which will be completed in later phases and include some of the most visible of the post-industrial nature initiatives and support a range of activities: a salt marsh, tidal pool and beach, a pier-turned-nature island, a marina and even acres of sports fields. Our destination was Pier 6, the southernmost pier accessible from Atlantic Avenue. Like Pier 1, Pier 6 will open to the public in 2010. It features a giant playground and already felt like an adventure park, with swingsets and slides installed over swales of springy foam-like material.

Pier 6, Aerial View, courtesy of MVVA

The entrance to Pier 6 lines up directly with Atlantic Avenue, one of two main entrances to the park. (Fulton Ferry Landing is the other.) Secondary entrances will be located along Furman Street and over a proposed pedestrian bridge from Squibb Park, a little-known patch of green that butts up against the BQE at the end of Middaugh Street in Brooklyn Heights.

Besides the wildly diverse activity and programming that will be possible in Brooklyn Bridge Park and the state of the art ecological design, what strikes me the most is the simple fact that this much previously underutilized land is actually becoming a public park. The recession ended the building boom, but are we maybe in a park-building boom? In various phases, the enormously popular Gantry Plaza, Hudson River, Concrete Plant and High Line Parks opened or grew in the past few years, but these are only the beginning. The City lists eight "destination" parks in that are currently undergoing development, none of which are listed above, while the Parks Department's Parks of the Future page lists six more major projects. Like Brooklyn Bridge Park, many of these projects have been over a decade in the making, involving multiple public and private stakeholders. Lucky for us, the New Yorkers of the 20-teens, we'll be the first to experience their hard work and investment.

Bringing Co-Working to the Streets: An Interview with Antonina Simeti

2010-01-11T09:55:00.035-05:00

Recently I met up with designer Antonina Simeti for coffee and a conversation about Breakout!*, a festival of co-working sessions in public spaces. Not only is their project very timely, but it challenges our definitions of both "work" and "public space." Since you all couldn't join us for coffee too, we thought you might want to listen in on our conversation...

What first got you interested in co-working in public spaces?

Over the past couple of years, coworking has been gaining momentum and attention. It is bringing a new and more flexible way of working to cities by helping people to take advantage of the benefits of interaction and collaboration. This is important to the work I do at DEGW, where we help organizations to develop strategies and design concepts that support mobile and collaborative work. Breakout! is taking coworking a step further - pushing people to think entirely outside of the office “box”, and using all of the spaces a city has to offer to do work. By using the city as the office, Breakout! brings work back to the streets – to the places where work, play and leisure have happened for centuries.

Photo by Peter Chislett

Where did the idea for "Breakout" come from?

Breakout! came from the desire for mobile workers to be better supported in the city. Our project leader - a mobile worker himself - was interested in bringing attention to the community of mobile workers in New York City, and exploring ways to enable their work. We have come together as a team of people studying, supporting and doing mobile work, and we each bring our own interests and expertise to the project - social science research, architectural and urban design, technology and software design. As a result, Breakout! is not only a way to explore how cities can support mobile work, but is a test of collaboration methods, an ethnographic research project, a challenge to traditional office architecture and exploration of mobile infrastructure, and a new way to invigorate underutilized public spaces.

What has the response been so far to the Breakout sessions? Who do you think is your biggest audience for co-working in public spaces?

Over the course of the month-long festival, we've hosted over 20 Breakout! sessions. Sessions have ranged from 2 to 20 people, and have ranged in format from informal brainstorming to targeted collaborative design and research activities. The team has put a lot of effort into event planning, and has been testing various locations and session formats in order to create a replicable model for current and potential mobile workers - so that they can ultimately plan and host sessions themselves.

Photo by Laura Forlano

Breakout! sessions have been attended by people from a range of sectors, but mostly by people that have already been working in mobile ways. We want the Breakout! audience to be as broad as possible, and appeal to current coworkers / mobile workers from the freelance community as well as potential coworkers that are tied to corporate organizations. Coworking in public spaces has appeal for many people - and while we are not suggesting that people work outside all the time, we are encouraging workers of all types to be thoughtful about the way in which they work, and consider how collaborating with a particular community of workers in a particular urban environment can be stimulating and inspirational.

What do you see as the biggest challenge for your project, and the biggest reward?

The biggest challenge has been clearly communicating the concept and its benefits. Most people ask, "why would I work outside? I like my office." Breakout! is not suggesting that we scrap the idea of the traditional workplace. Instead, we are encouraging everyone to think more critically about the work, how they would like to work, and to explore the many spaces and communities around the city that could help them do their work in a better and more interesting way. There is a sustainability message here – we should be taking advantage of all of the spaces we have rather than continue building in a way that no longer reflects the way we work. In addition, we want people to rethink the relationship between technology and work. Through Breakout!, we want digital technologies to support face-to-face collaboration and interactions, not replace them.

The biggest reward would be that Breakout! becomes the accepted term for collaborative work that takes advantage of technology, and the spaces and places cities already offer - all over the world.

Are there any precedents for a public space co-working program?

Formal programs? I don't think so. But we see coworking happening informally in public spaces all the time. Through Breakout! we are giving the concept a name, creating a technology platform to support it, and making this way of working more visible so that a broader audience can be empowered to take part.

How could public space design facilitate and encourage co-working? What are the advantages from the city's perspective to doing so?

We held a Breakout! session in Madison Square Park that brought together coworkers and furniture, interior, and urban designers and architects. We brought a kit of simple tools that we used to draw, pin-up and share. We sat together, thinking about and designing for mobile work while actually engaging in mobile work.

Photo by Laura Forlano

A range of creative design solutions for portable infrastructure emerged from the session (for which we are seeking opportunities to prototype). But the overall realization was that a lot of the infrastructure we needed to do our work was already in place - writing / laptop surfaces (tables), seating, vertical presentation / projection surfaces (trees), and wireless access (provided by the park and via portable router). The group determined that to support coworking in public spaces, it is most important that the City provide: free and unfettered access to public spaces, furniture that is movable and comfortable, access to amenities (eg. restrooms, food), the ability to reconfigure the space to fit different activities and group sizes, and allow coworkers to define the space and communicate that "something is happening here".

Are there other ways you think public spaces can be activated in addition to co-working? How do you think a city determine those needs?

Right now there are a number of movements to re-appropriate and improve public spaces (eg. PARKing Day, temporary plazas, art in vacant lots). Breakout! is just another way to rethink how we can use public spaces to improve work, life and community in the city. The best thing cities can do is be open to letting residents determine for themselves how public spaces can fill the gaps - for gathering space, leisure, work, or exhibition - and enable them adapt these spaces to meet those needs.

*The Breakout! Festival was commissioned by the Architectural League as part of the exhibition Toward the Sentient City, presented from September 17 to November 7, 2009.

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Hungry for more? Visit the project's website.

"One of the most beloved public spaces in New York"

2009-12-21T01:51:00.014-05:00

Before the High Line was the High Line - back when it was merely a narrow, elevated strip of rusty railway - the Design Trust partnered with the then-nascent Friends of the High Line to publish Reclaiming the High Line, an investigation into the reuse of the neglected landmark as public space.

Eight years and tens of millions of dollars later, the High Line is now hailed as “one of the most beloved public spaces in New York.” Times architecture critic Nicolai Ouroussoff writes:

Despite the fears and anxieties of many (including me) that rapacious developers would transform the High Line into a glorified mall, it has already become — just five months after the completion of its first phase — one of the most beloved public spaces in New York. Its colorful gardens, which cover a stretch of abandoned elevated tracks that run from the meatpacking district to Chelsea, prove that an alliance of government officials, activists, architects and landscape designers can sometimes influence a city as much as big-money developers.

We couldn’t agree more. Interested in a hard copy of Reclaiming the High Line? Email orders@designtrust.org.

Pop Up Lunch: Coolest Thesis Ever

2009-12-15T10:34:00.003-05:00

It goes without saying that New Yorkers spend a lot of time eating on the fly.

Ali Pulver, an industrial design graduate student at Pratt Institute, saw this as an opportunity to explore how public spaces might be easily transformed into lively places for dining and socializing. As part of her Master's thesis, she is developing a prototypical line of "streetware": mobile eating tools designed with New York City's unique streetscape in mind.

She hopes that her efforts "might inspire even a handful of my fellow urbanites to reconsider the potential for lunch - to be a joyful daily event - and for the sidewalks of NYC to serve as more than just pathways." Amen.

Watch Ali's ideas take to the streets at popuplunch.com.

Always a fan of clever urban design interventions, the Design Trust hopes to debut Ali's streetware at a future Public Space Potluck.

Cue the Small-Scale Design Interventions

2009-12-09T17:16:00.002-05:00

This recent article, "A Place is Better than a Plan," published in the Manhattan Institute's City Journal articulates the power of small-scale urban design interventions. While there is certainly value in big-picture planning, it's important to recognize how slight tweaks to our urban landscape - movable chairs, trash cans - can spark big changes in how we interact with public space.

From Andrew M. Manshel, the Executive Vice President of the Greater Jamaica Development Corporation:

Above all, small ideas for revitalizing urban areas work ... Why? Because, as [William H.] Whyte (and Jane Jacobs as well) understood, people in public spaces respond to thousands of subtle visual and aural cues, and successful places manipulate these cues (often without premeditation) to provide familiar assurances of comfort and well-being. The cues prompt a person who encounters a new place to predict a positive experience there—above all, that he will be safe. The most important cues transmit a sense of order and social control. And the best new or restored spaces, like Bryant Park, Campus Martius, Discovery Green in Houston, and most recently the High Line park on Manhattan’s West Side, provide their patrons with the premonition of an enjoyable experience.

Highbrow + Brilliant

2009-12-01T11:52:00.001-05:00

This week's New York Magazine approval matrix ranks Intersections: Grand Concourse Beyond 100 - an international ideas competition co-sponsored by the Design Trust for Public Space and The Bronx Museum of the Arts - in the highbrow/brilliant quadrant. Nice.

The exhibit will be on display at The Bronx Museum of the Arts until January 3, 2010.

Guest Post: A Peek at POPS

2009-11-25T13:59:00.001-05:00

Last month’s Potluck contest generated a slew of public space ideas, from Jackson Heights’ Landing Lights Park (a reportedly romantic spot in the shadow of the La Guardia runway) to high-end hotel lobbies.

Yes, hotel lobbies.

Our friend Brian Nesin guest blogs about his experience at Le Parker Meridien, a privately-owned public space (POPS) located at 118 57th Street between 6th and 7th Avenues.

I became interested in Le Parker Meridien space after the hotel began renovating the north section of the lobby, a 20-foot wide passage to 57th Street. They added a coffee bar and decorated it with furniture that looks like it was stolen from The Cloisters. One day I sat down with my lunch in this area and was told that it was for the coffee bar customers only.

I did not appreciate this, and suspected that this space was a POPS, so I did a little bit of research. Specifically, I got a hold of the book Privately-Owned Public Spaces: the New York City Experience by Jerold Kayden, the Dept. of City Planning, and the MAS. I learned that the entire lobby is a POPS, and is categorized as a "through-block arcade."

I also recently visited City Planning where I reviewed both the special permit that set up the POPS as well as plans of the space. The hotel's renovation has violated their original agreement in a number of ways, including: not posting the required public space signage, changing the seating configuration from the original plan, installing a gate which sometimes restricts access between 56th and 57th Streets, misstating the hours the space is open to the public, etc.

More important than any specific violation is the overall impression they have created, which is that the north portion of the lobby is a sort of private hotel lounge that most people would feel uncomfortable passing through trying to get between 57th to 56th Streets.

So I went back to the hotel, and when asked to leave I explained that this is a public space and that I had the right to sit there without buying their $7 coffee. They called the person in charge of security, who was very pleasant. I explained to her about POPS, and what a "through block arcade" is. The next time I went there to brown bag it, they brought me a plate, figuring that they could not kick me out, but did not want to let anyone know that I was not a paying customer.

This situation does not seem very fair to the less-informed public. Although I could simply register a complaint with either the City Planning or Buildings, this experience has made me think that what the POPS need is a group, analogous to Friends of Hudson River Park, or the Prospect Park Alliance, that would represent the "public."

Brian’s experience sparked a deeper interest POPS, and lead him to form Friends of Privately-Owned Public Spaces (F-POPS), a new organization that aims to raise public awareness of the existence and location of POPS; educate property owners of their obligations under the City’s zoning laws; advocate for the public’s rights within POPS; and serve as a liaison between property owners and city agencies. For more information, contact fpopsnyc@gmail.com.

Check out last winter's POPS Potluck at the Winter Garden in the World Financial Center and look for another POPS Potluck coming your way in Winter 2010.

Holiday Party + Potluck + Ping Pong

2009-11-23T12:27:00.001-05:00

Join the Design Trust for our second annual Holiday Party + Potluck + Ping Pong Tournament! Celebrate a stellar year of working to make New York City more beautiful, functional, sustainable and available to all - including the launch of our new projects, Made in Midtown and Five Borough Farm - as you pit your ping pong skills against our in-house pros and mingle with fellow urban adventurers and aficionados.

What: Holiday Party + Potluck + Ping Pong Tournament
When: Wednesday, December 2, 6:30 - 9:30 PM
Where: Design Trust office (338 West 39th Street, 10th Fl)

In true potluck style, we ask that guests bring a dish or drink (byo) to share. As always, the Design Trust will provide plates, napkins and utensils. Please let us know if you can make it: rsvp@designtrust.org

Snapshots: Annual Benefit 2009

2009-11-16T12:36:00.001-05:00

More shots are posted on Facebook. All images taken by the talented David Malosh.

Annual Benefit 2009

2009-11-16T10:29:00.001-05:00

The Design Trust Annual Benefit, hosted November 5 at Ogilvy & Mather, was a smashing success! The Annual Benefit is our largest fundraising event and a critical source of support for our operations and programming.

The 2009 Annual Benefit would not have been possible without the generosity, talent and commitment of:

Event Chairs: Cindy Allen, Kitty Hawks

Event Committee: Cindy Allen; Kitty Hawks; Stephen Maharam; Zack McKown; and Andrea Woodner

Event Sponsors: Blue Marlin; Interior Design; Kitty Hawks; Maharam; Zack McKown & Calvin Tsao; OgilvyEarth; and Richter + Ratner

Benefactors: Lawrence Lederman; Peter & Simona Stevens; and Andrea Woodner

Patrons: Council of Fashion Designers of America; The New York Design Center; and Annabelle Selldorf

Benefit Committee: Kenneth & Diana Adams; Steven & Ann Ames; Thomas Balsley, FASLA; Doug & Alison Bauer; Jeffrey Beers; James & Anne Bodnar; Deborah Berke & Partners, Architects; Todd DeGarmo; Jennifer Egan & David Herskovits; Forest City Ratner; FX FOWLE;
Michael & Valerie Greenberg; Agnes Gund; Janine James, The Moderns; Laura Bohn Design Associates; Laura Starr, Starr Whitehouse Landscape Architects and Planners; Agnes Marton; Sherri Marton & Robert Anderson; Raymond & Carol Merritt, Cygnet Foundation; Paula Mueller; Nancy Owens; David Rockwell; Robert M. Rogers & Jonathan J. Marvel, Rogers Marvel Architects; Jonathan & Diana Rose; Claudia Slacik; Stephan Jaklitsch Architects; Susan Grant Lewin Associates; Times Square Alliance; Beth Tractenberg; Helen Tucker, Gramercy Park Foundation; and WXY Architecture

Artists: Jonathan Adler & Simon Doonan; Cao Perrot Studio; Christo & Jeanne-Claude; David Ling Architect; Eve Ashcraft Studio; Harry Allen Design; Gensler; HARIRI & HARIRI-ARCHITECTURE; Harry Allen Design; Amy Helfand; Malcolm Hill & Shamir Shah; J. Kara Hamilton; Maira Kalman & Isaac Mizrahi; Ken Smith Landscape Architect; Lawrence Lederman; Lewis.Tsurumaki.Lewis Architects; Richard Lang Chandler, Ogilvy New York; Sarah Nguyen, Ogilvy New York; Michele Oka Doner; David Rockwell; Suzanne Shaker; Slade Architecture with Bronze Hill; Courtney Smith & Ivan Navarro; Kiki Smith; Syvia Smith & Nick Garrison, FXFOWLE; Snohetta; SPaN; Specht Harpman (Austin); Specht Harpman (New York); STUDIOS Architecture with Island Millwork; Ali Tayar; Yeohlee Teng & Joerg Schwartz; Suzanne Tick with Skyline Glass; Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects; Marcus Tremonto; Tsao & McKown; Ulla Warchol; Andrea Woodner; WXY Architecture; and Amy Yoes

Special Thanks: Annie Block, Interior Design; City Bakery; Michael Fichman, DJ Apt One; Mish Fletcher, OgilvyOne Worldwide; Kenneth Hutter, Tepper Galleries; June Lee, Ogilvy New York; Stefan Mreckzo, OgilvyOne Worldwide; Helene Oberman, Interior Design; Prototope; Suzanne Shaker; and SwaySpace

Quotable: City Planning Commissioner Amanda Burden

2009-11-10T12:34:00.001-05:00

Making open spaces in streets, parks and public plazas “is the essence of city life and the measure of its success. They’re important mixing chambers of all social classes.” (NYC Department of City Planning Commissioner Amanda Burden via The New York Times)

Bringing Uptown Downtown

2009-11-10T10:09:00.001-05:00

Join the Design Trust for Public Space at the Center for Architecture for an opening reception of Intersections: Grand Concourse Beyond 100 tonight from 6-8 PM.

Section and rendering from The Grand Resource proposal

Created as a companion exhibit to the works currently on display at the Bronx Museum of the Arts (see Nicolai Ouroussoff's recent Times article), the Center for Architecture exhibit will feature the works of 12 teams (listed below) organized in four thematic categories: Insertions, Micro-urbanism, Greening and Preservation.

A Concourse of People - Mingshu Chi, Alex Thibadoux
CURB Play! - Jill Leckner, Jeffrey Johnson, Magda Wala, Aimee Duquette, Jessica Dobkin (SLAB Architecture)
Inner Space - Jason Kentner, Karen Lewis (influx studio)
Percussive Lampposts - Mike Glaser (Spank Design)
POWERline - Luc Vrolijks and Lee Altman (Urban Progress Design), Javier Rojas-Rodriguez (Vestibule Projects)
Reflecting the Urban Spectrum - Ricardo Zurita, Til Globig, Guglielmo Carra, Enrico Tognoni, Scott Kunstadt, Jordi Safont-Tira (Zurita Architects)
Servicing the Public - Dylan Sauer, Moises Berrun, Quang Truong
The Four Mile Farm - Kees Lokman (Terry Guen Design Associates)
The State of the Bronx - Richard Garey
Grandmaster Flash Parkway - Andrew Torres, Nancy Nowacek, Leah Davis (The Austin Annex)
The City of Butterfly - Charles Chiang, Daehwan Chung, I-Chun Tsai

What: Opening Reception
Date: November 10, 2009
Time: 6-8 PM
Location: Center for Architecture, 536 LaGuardia Place, Manhattan
Transit: A, B, C, D, E, F, V to West 4th

Excitement in the Bronx!

2009-10-27T15:14:00.001-04:00

The excitement is growing about our "Grand Concourse at 100--Future" exhibition at The Bronx Museum of the Arts, which officially opens to the public on Sunday, November 1st. The exhibition features models, renderings, animations, plans, videos and interactive multi-media presentations created by the 7 competition finalists exclusively for The Bronx Museum.

Here are a few behind-the-scenes shots of the exhibit as it is being installed. Tonight the competition jury is meeting to choose the grand-prize winner, so stay tuned!

In the meantime, you can read more about this project or visit the competition website to see the online gallery of the top submissions.

NEST: Creative Constructions for Any Living Creature

2009-10-26T19:48:00.000-04:00

For the 2009 Annual Benefit we commissioned our favorite creatives to craft one-of-a-kind "nests" - objects that could shelter any living creature (and fit into the back of a NYC cab). Here is a sneak preview of some of "shelters" we will auction off at the Benefit on November 5th!

Maira Kalman & Isaac Mizrahi
Jonathan Adler & Simon Doonan
Ali Tayar
Additional photos are available on our Flickr page.

Artists, architects and designers contributing "nests" include:
Jonathan Adler & Simon Doonan; Cao | Perrot Studio; Christo & Jeanne-Claude; David Ling Architect; Stephen Doyle; Eve Ashcraft Studio; Gensler; Kara Hamilton; Hariri & Hariri Architecture; Harry Allen Design; Amy Helfand; Malcolm Hill & Shamir Shah; Maira Kalman & Isaac Mizrahi; Ken Smith Landscape Architect; Lewis.Tsurumaki.Lewis Architects; Ogilvy New York; Michele Oka Doner; Piet Oudolf; David Rockwell; Slade Architecture; Courtney Smith & Ivan Navarro; Kiki Smith; Sylvia Smith & Nick Garrison, FXFOWLE; Snohetta; SPaN; Specht Harpman - Austin; Specht Harpman - New York; STUDIOS Architecture; Yeohlee Teng & Joerg Schwartz; Ali Tayar, Suzanne Tick, Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects, Marcus Tremonto, Tsao & McKown; Ulla Warchol; Andrea Woodner; WXY Architecture; and Amy Yoes

The Fun Theory

2009-10-26T14:13:00.000-04:00

Here's one way to make public space fun and engaging, and also encourage people to use the stairs instead of the escalator -- turn the stairs into keys of a working piano. Go Sweden go! We think this is brilliant - thanks to our board member, Hugo Barreca, for sharing it with us!

On Location: Public Space Potluck Contest

2009-10-19T10:28:00.000-04:00

If you're reading this blog, you're probably familiar with our Public Space Potluck series. Perhaps you've even trammed to Roosevelt Island, sailed the Staten Island Ferry or strolled along the Grand Concourse with us.

Now it's your turn.

The Design Trust is launching a contest to solicit YOUR ideas for future Public Space Potluck locations. Eligible Public Space Potluck locations include streets, plazas, parks, public buildings (or public space in privately-owned buildings), bridges, and public transit -- sorry, no restaurants, bars or residences. Proposed sites must be located within New York City, accessible via public transit and able to easily accommodate 30+ people.

One lucky winner will receive two tickets to our Nov. 5 Annual Benefit and enjoy a night of cocktails, hors d'ouevres and mingling with New York's top architects, artists and designers. (Sound fun? $75 tickets are also available online.)

Please e-mail entries to Kristin at klabuz@designtrust.org (subject line: Public Space Potluck Contest) by Friday, October 23. Design Trust staff will select a contest winner on Monday, October 26.

Go channel your inner William Whyte - and good luck!

Call for Fellows: Made in Midtown

2009-10-15T18:05:00.000-04:00

Design Trust seeks three Project Fellows (Journalist, Filmmaker and Urban Designer/Planner) for Made in Midtown, a study of New York's fashion industry and the Garment District, created in partnership with the Council of Fashion Designers of America.

Phase I of this project will culminate in an interactive website and booklet which will illustrate the complex and interdependent connections between the physical spaces of Midtown, its businesses and its workers. The anticipated timeframe for Phase I is three months, beginning December 1.

Complete fellowship descriptions can be found here. The deadline to apply is Friday, October 30 by 5 PM. Questions? fellows@designtrust.org

SAVE THE DATE

2009-09-28T16:05:00.000-04:00

Join us for community and cocktails at our 2009 Annual Benefit. Held in Ogilvy & Mather's new rooftop garden and theatre space, this event will showcase nearly 40 original, custom-designed "nests" - creative constructions for any living creature - built by some of New York City's top architects and artists.

Tickets now available online.

$300 Rooftop cocktails + Benefit
$150 Benefit
$75 Benefit (Under-35)

Volunteer opportunities abound! Email klabuz@designtrust.org for details.

Potluck Recap: Conflux Kickoff

2009-09-21T12:53:00.000-04:00

After relocating our Potluck from Battery Park to NYU's Barney Building, Mother Nature bucked the forecast, delivering a beautiful, crisp day that set the stage for gorgeous autumn weather for the duration of the Conflux Festival weekend. Despite the last-minute venue change, we had a great turnout of intrepid Potluckers and Conflux supporters and a spread of food featuring everything from parsnips to sliced coconut to a whole pizza.

Conflux founders Christina Ray and Debra Keneally, of Glowlab, and David Darts, an Assistant Professor at NYU's Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development.

Stay tuned for information on our next Public Space Potluck, tentatively scheduled for Wednesday, October 21st. In the meantime, check out the full range of shots from Conflux 2009: http://www.flickr.com/photos/confluxfestival/tags/conflux2009/

GET YOUR CONFLUX ON

2009-09-18T17:15:00.000-04:00

After celebrating the start of Conflux with a Public Space Potluck last night (pictures to come), the festival kicks into high gear September 18-20 with a full lineup of public space awesomeness.

Featured as a "Best of the Fests" in Time Out New York and as a Digital Playground the New York Times, 2009 Confluxers will transform the city's urban fabric into a massive canvas for experimentation, exploration and knowledge generation.

Be sure to check out the full schedule: http://confluxfestival.org/2009/schedule/.

Public Space Potluck: UPDATE

2009-09-16T16:25:00.000-04:00

Due to inclement weather, our Public Space Potluck scheduled for Thursday, September 17 in Battery Park has been moved indoors to Conflux Festival headquarters: the East Village's historic Barney Building located at 34 Stuyvesant Street on the NYU campus.

We'll still be sharing food and drink (BYOB) and celebrating public space-arts with the Conflux team and artists. As always, the Design Trust will provide plates, napkins and utensils. We ask that guests bring a dish to share. RSVP@designtrust.org.

What: Design Trust Public Space Potluck: Conflux Kick-Off in the Barney Building
When: Thursday, September 17th, 6:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.
Where: 34 Stuyvesant Street (between 2nd and 3rd avenues and 9th and 10th streets - first floor)
Who: Everyone is welcome!
Transit: 6 to Astor Place or R/W to 8th Street

Public Space Potluck: Conflux Festival Kick-Off in Battery Park

2009-09-10T16:01:00.000-04:00

Join the Design Trust as we kick off the 2009 Conflux Festival with a Public Space Potluck on Thursday, September 17. Produced by Glowlab, a Brooklyn-based organization supporting emerging art and technology inspired by the everyday life of cities, the Conflux Festival celebrates contemporary psychogeography with four jam-packed days of events, workshops and, yes, a human-scale chess game.

As the city gears up to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson’s epic voyage, it’s only natural that we host this Potluck in Battery Park, where the history of New York began. A Dutch colony turned military fort turned landfill turned popular promenade, this 25-acre site today provides a welcome slice of green space amidst the steel and glass skyscrapers of Lower Manhattan - and a delightful spot for urban adventurers and aficionados to convene.

We are also thrilled to announce that Picnick, a sustainable food kiosk, will stay open late and offer some Potluck specials. As a mini model of consumer & eco conscious food service, Picnick sources most ingredients from small farms and local businesses - and also serves beer and wine.

As always, the Design Trust will provide the essentials: plates, utensils, cups, etc. We ask that guests bring a dish or drink to share (or pick up some goodies from Picnick). Feel free to invite your friends and fellow urbanists. Contact us if you have any questions and don’t forget to RSVP.

What: Design Trust Public Space Potluck: Conflux Kick-Off in Battery Park
When: Thursday, September 17th, 6:30 p.m. - 9:30 p.m.
Where: Meet at the Picnick kiosk located east of Castle Clinton in the Battery Bosque
Who: Everyone is welcome!
Transit: R, W or 1 to South Ferry or the 4, 5 to Bowling Green

In the event of rain, the event will be rescheduled. We will make an announcement via email to those that have RSVP'd and also post on the blog.

Branch community library

2009-09-09T16:49:00.000-04:00

During the week, the parking lot at the corner of Myrtle and Clinton Avenues in Clinton Hill/Fort Greene serves an adjacent Citibank branch. But every Sunday for the next two months, a group of residents and volunteers is transforming the lot into a temporary community library project called Branch. (I'm one of the organizers.)

This past Sunday, the group launched the project, creating a temporary “Reading Room” complete with lawn chairs, free Sunday newspapers, and earplugs. Over 150 people signed up as library members, and recommended over 100 of their favorite books and authors for the library’s collection. Councilmember Letitia James stopped by to suggest Simple Justice: A History of Brown v. Board of Education.

Last winter, the Brooklyn Public Library was forced to cut all of its Sunday hours throughout the borough; Sunday service at four branches is finally being restored this coming weekend. During the recession, we’re all asked to accept budget cuts that affect public space (libraries, parks, subways, etc.). Branch is about pooling existing resources to reclaim those spaces, in partnership with the people using them.

The project is part of Move About Myrtle, a street fair sponsored by the Myrtle Avenue Brooklyn Partnership that is closing 7 blocks of Myrtle Avenue to car traffic every Sunday in September, as part of Department of Transportation’s Weekend Walks initiative. Every Sunday, Branch will add components to the parking lot. This Sunday, Sept. 16, there will be workshops to allow people to plan and design the future space. Eventually, Branch will offer books and computer use, classes and performances—all free and open to the public.

If you’re interested in volunteering, donating books, or finding out more about the project, you can visit Branch every Sunday from 1-5pm until the end of October.

Summer of Public Space Love

2009-08-28T11:43:00.002-04:00

“If the summer of ’69 was the summer of love,” Transportation Alternatives executive director Paul Steely White recently told the LA Times, “the summer of ’09 might be the summer of the pedestrian.”

Indeed, over the past few months New York City has witnessed the regeneration of its public spaces, ranging from the lovely (the High Line) to the lively (Summer Streets) to the downright quirky (Times Square’s lawn chairs).

In reclaiming public spaces for pedestrians, these design interventions reflect the most fundamental Jane Jacobsian principle of urban planning: “Downtown is for people.”

Let’s hope this trend continues into fall. And, of course, beyond.