Our Stories

Gina Lee reflects on a recent tour of the Flatbush African Burial Ground and the power of history in public space.

Martha Snow reflects on a recent Learning Community session among Local Center partners.

Julie Chou, partner and co-founder of Purpose by Design Architects, on design as a democratic, justice-oriented process.

Daniel McPhee shares how we approached recruiting design teams and preparing our partners to choose from among them.

Martha Snow, in our first Practice Notes, reflects on how we found our five neighborhood partners earlier this year.

Journalist Henry Grabar talks traffic jams and the road to publishing his new book on parking.

Dr. Earle Chambers talks to us about the impact of neighborhood-level design on health.

For this month's Fellow Spotlight, we spoke with Naama Blonder, Co-Founder of Smart Density in Toronto.

For this month's Fellow Spotlight, we spoke with Alison Von Glinow, Co-Founder of Kwong Von Glinow.

For this month's Fellow Spotlight, we spoke with Sreoshy Banerjea, the Executive Director of the Public Design Commission.

For this month’s Fellow Spotlight, we spoke with Siqi Zhu, an urban planner and technologist.

For this month's Fellow Spotlight, we spoke with Julia Gamolina, founder of Madame Architect.

For this month's Fellow Spotlight, we spoke with Jhordan Channer and Dorraine Duncan, co-founders of Island City Lab.

Ryan Gilliam, Executive Director discusses the organization's history and its partnerships with Marvel, SHoP, and Buro Happold through Neighborhoods Now.

Ian Gray-Stack, Director of Community Organizing at Banana Kelly, discusses their team's plan to reactivate community gardens, allowing for safe outdoor activities and services that address neighborhood needs.

Yin Kong, Director of Think!Chinatown, and Thomas Yu, Co-Executive Director of AAFE discuss their working group's proposal to adapt Forsyth Street Plaza into an open-air market supporting local Chinatown businesses and cultural groups.

Our 2019 Fellows developed original design and policy proposals on creating circular economic and sustainable models in NYC, developing community resiliency within NYCHA housing, factoring design into preventative care, and establishing a climate first approach to housing.

Chloe Arnow explains the mission of the Farragut House’s Food Club and ways to replicate this model to tackle food insecurity in public housing in conversation with Dorraine Duncan.

Tina Johnson discusses her experiences with fostering community action on NYCHA properties and the intricacies of engaging with Tenant Associations in conversation with Rhonda Lee Davis.

Jeffrey Moelis suggests policies that the government should introduce to incentivize low carbon retrofits that are also affordable in conversation with Mallory Taub.

Will Thomas explains his advocacy through Open New York to rezone Soho to benefit the growing population of workers in the neighborhood in conversation with Renée Crowley.

Gretchen West discusses her work with Healthy Homes in Columbus, Ohio and their goal to improve children’s health in conversation with Amritha Mahesh.

Nupur Chaudhury explains the importance of communicating connections between health and housing to state governments in conversation with Catherine Joseph, Eileen Chen, and Amritha Mahesh.

Jennifer McDonnell explains the concept of resource optimization and its relation to her work with biosolids and circular systems in conversation with Rebecca Macklis.