Lifelong.City is a participatory project exploring how aging in New York City has evolved — and how we can shape what comes next.
By tracing over six decades of local history, the project highlights pivotal events that have transformed the city, from landmark civil rights legislation to public health crises and neighborhood organizing. Older New Yorkers have been at the center of these moments—not just as witnesses, but as activists, caregivers, artists, and community leaders.
Through interviews and workshops with older adults, artwork and speculative stories, the project pairs historical events (the causes) with personal stories that reveal their long-term impacts (the effects). Drawing on a process called futuring, we invite you to envision what aging could look like in the next 35 years, reflecting on current trends while imagining a more just, inclusive, and age-friendly city.
This project is both a living archive and a space for possibility.
We invite you to ask: What kind of future do we want for older adults? How can we learn from the past to shape that future? Aging affects us all, and the future of aging in New York is something we can build together, starting now.
Meet the Project Team
Collyn Chan
Senior Planner, Transit-Oriented Development, Metropolitan Transportation Authority
Collyn Chan is an urban planner with a decade of experience in climate infrastructure, renewable energy, and transportation decarbonization. Her work at the MTA focuses on increasing access to low emissions mobility options and realizing transit-oriented communities. Elsewhere, Collyn can be found writing about Asian America, snapping photos, or desperately learning how to sew pants.
Yvette Chen
Program Manager, The Center for NYC Neighborhoods
Yvette Chen’s passion for housing policy is grounded in racial and economic justice. She has worked on a multitude of housing issues including ensuring fair housing compliance, creating more equitable disaster housing recovery policies, and advocating for more affordable homeownership development in NYC.
Nicole Cheng
Public Realm Planner, NYC Department of Transportation
Nicole Cheng is a landscape architect and interdisciplinary artist living in Bed Stuy. They currently work as a Public Realm Planner at the NYC DOT, exploring how transforming our streets can bolster collective public life. As a fellow, they are interested in focusing on what it looks like to foster multigenerational community amongst queer and trans folks.
Kavyashri Cherala
Project Architect, Dattner Architects
Kavya Cherala is an architect, researcher, and writer based in New York City. As Project Architect at Dattner Architects, she focuses on energy-efficient, resilient social housing. Her design experience includes urban planning, institutional, commercial, and coastal resiliency projects in India and the United States.
Joan Encarnacion
Senior Communication Designer, IDEO.org
Joan Encarnacion is a New York-based graphic designer from the Dominican Republic. At IDEO.org, he designs tools, brands, and campaigns for health and financial services aimed at underserved communities. He holds a BFA in Electronic Design and Multimedia from The City College of New York.
Rachel Neches
Data Researcher, Center for an Urban Future
Rachel Neches is the Data Researcher at the Center for an Urban Future. Her work has focused on topics such as supporting older New Yorkers, increasing economic mobility, and addressing the digital divide. She holds a BA in Urban Studies (Economics) from Barnard College and previously managed research and advocacy at the Times Square Alliance.
Rebecca Noble
Director, Strategy & Innovation, NYC Emergency Management
Rebecca Noble is the Director of Strategy & Innovation at NYC Emergency Management, working at the intersection of strategic planning and disaster preparedness. Her emergency management experience includes responding to COVID-19, Tropical Storm Isaias, Post-Tropical Cyclone Ida, and NYC’s asylum seeker operations. She holds an M.S. in Urban Planning.
Bethania Viana
Community Organizer, Caregiver, Mil Mundos
Bethania Viana is a community organizer and caregiver based in New York. As co-director of Mil Mundos in Bushwick, Brooklyn, Bethania collaborates with other community members to develop and maintain sustainable systems of mutual care in response to community needs.