Urban Design Forum

We are pleased to release our latest digital publication, Turning the Heat: A Collection of Proposals from the 2019 Forefront Fellows. During the yearlong fellowship, this cohort 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, along with conducting interviews with leadi...ng experts including Nadine Galle, Jennifer McDonnell, Will Sibia, Nupur Chaudhury, Gretchen West, Chloe Arnow, Tina Johnson, Jeffrey Moelis, and Will Thomas. We hope that presenting these ideas ignites debate about how to build a more resilient and equitable city for New Yorkers facing the urgent impacts of climate change. Explore the entire publication below. #turningtheheat

This week, in partnership with Van Alen Institute, we hosted our Neighborhoods Now Summit: Strategies for Reopening and Recovery, convening our 8 teams of community organizations + designers to talk about their collaborative process in rebuilding communities due to COVID. In conjunction with the program, we are pleased to announce the launch of www.neighborhoodsnow.nyc! Here you’ll find 40+ tools developed by our teams, organized into specific categories like restaurants, pub...lic space, and outreach, and completely searchable. There are resources for community organizations, public agencies, and practitioners. Special thank you to the Partner & Partners team for their brilliant work helping to organize these resources and beautifully designing it with us. To listen back to the Summit recordings, click the link below: https://www.youtube.com/playlist

This historic moment of social unrest calls for transformational ideas that collapse systems of oppression to build a new path moving forward. In response, Urban Design Forum and ANHD have joined forces to present Power After the Pandemic: Rebuilding our Post-Covid Cities. Over the coming months, we will convene civic leaders across the nation to reimagine a path toward a just recovery in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Join us this Friday at 2PM for our keynote event with... ANHD Executive Director Barika Williams in conversation with UCI Law Professor and Author Mehrsa Baradaran. #powerafterthepandemic RSVP and learn more here:

In partnership with Van Alen Institute, Neighborhoods Now connects four communities hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic with leading design firms in our collective network. In a six-week sprint over the summer, community organizations collaborated with interdisciplinary civic leaders to create design recommendations and prototypes addressing immediate needs for COVID-19 awareness campaigns, open air dining, and outdoor education and wellness activities. We are excited to rele...ase today the recommendations and supplementary materials working groups created, including multilingual signage, informational pamphlets, and legal templates, now available for free download by the public. Although the initial six-week sprint has concluded, they’re continuing to collaborate to bring several ideas from their proposals to fruition. For more information and to read the full reports, click here: bit.ly/31zwGaF

The Forum is looking for a full-time Program Associate to plan and execute our programs and publications! We’re searching for an early-career professional excited to join a small, fast-paced team. Applications are due by August 28 at 5:00pm. Learn more here: bit.ly/39J5PLy

In 2018-19, the Urban Design Forum’s Forefront Fellows investigated the homelessness crisis in New York City. Fellows partnered with the NYC Department of Homeless Services and Center for Architecture (AIANY) to visit shelters, interview stakeholders, and draft design recommendations to improve existing shelters across New York City. Then, our Fellows developed independent projects exploring the root causes of homelessness and housing precarity in New York City. Our latest di...gital publication, Shelter for All: Homelessness in New York City, presents the original design and policy proposals developed by the Urban Design Forum's Forefront Fellows on the prison-to-shelter pipeline, public bathrooms, public realm management, supportive housing, and racist housing policies. Interviews with leaders in the homelessness and housing worldsincluding Rob Robinson, Judy Whiting, Marcus Moore, Jonathan Marvel, Jessica Katz, Gia Biagi, and moreaccompany each proposal. Our aim in presenting these ideas is to ignite debate about how to build a more just and equitable city for people experiencing homelessness and housing precarity. Read more here: https://urbandesignforum.org//shelter-for-all-homelessnes/

Applications for Cooperative Works end today! Apply here: https://urbandesignforum.org//forefront-2020-cooperative-/ In light of the global pandemic, this year’s Forefront Fellowship is focused on finding solutions to the health and economic issues impacting marginalized communities across New York City. In conjunction with this program, we are excited to publish Part I of a series of interviews with leaders in sustainability in the built environment, inclusive economic dev...elopment, and racial justice. Part I features conversations with Mark Chambers, Director of the Mayor’s Office of Sustainability, Sandra Lobo, Executive Director of the Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition, and Maru Bautista, Director of the Cooperative Development Program at the Center for Family Life. To read the interviews and to learn more about Forefront, click here: https://urbandesignforum.org//cooperative-works-interview/

On July 24, join us for a discussion with the Mayor of Kochi and local design leaders from Delhi and Bangalore on tailoring containment strategies and recovery initiatives to India’s urban challenges. In partnership with National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA), we will welcome Soumini Jain, Mayor of Kochi, whose Kerala model for tacking the outbreak has been praised across the country for its proactive approach. This event is open to Forum Fellows and the General Public. RSVP here: https://urbandesignforum.org//city-life-after-coronavirus/

One week until deadline! Apply to our 2020 Forefront Fellowship, Cooperative Works, to investigate how to create economic opportunity for MWBEs and employee-owned businesses through climate investment. https://urbandesignforum.org//forefront-2020-cooperative-/

In a new City Limits Op-ed, Forefront Fellows Mike Harrington (Tishman Environment and Design Center) and Mallory Taub (Gensler) outline design and policy recommendations for managing extreme heat in New York during COVID-19. https://citylimits.org//opinion-extreme-heats-risk-swells/

On July 8, join us for a lunchtime discussion on Amsterdam’s sustainable ‘Doughnut Model’ for recovery from the Covid-19 crisis. Amsterdam has embraced an innovative approach to economic recovery that integrates long-term considerations about climate impacts and human rights. The Amsterdam City Doughnut model unveiled this spring is a practical application of Oxford economist Kate Raworth’s model to live within social and planetary bounds. For our seventh City Life After Co...ronavirus global dialogue, we welcome Eveline Jonkhoff (Senior Advisor on Sustainable Strategy for the City of Amsterdam), Ilektra Kouloumpi (Senior Cities Strategist at Circle Economy), Salomé Galjaard (Deputy Program Manager for Circular Economy at the City of Amsterdam) to discuss: How can New York City ensure its response to the pandemic reflects our critical climate goals? RSVP for Zoom link here: https://urbandesignforum.org//city-life-after-coronavirus/

Our friend's at American Planning Association NY Metro Chapter Diversity Committee just released a Request for Session Proposals for Hindsight 2020! COVID-19 has amplified our nation’s structural inequities as evident in racial disparities in deaths, access to care, income distribution, and police brutality against Black lives. This year's Hindsight Conference calls on planners and policy makers to center racial justice in our understanding of health and the environment. Joi...n us and take action towards centering the Black and Brown existence in health, joy, creativity, and healing. Submit your ideas for a session under this year's themeOur Health, Our Future. Visit www.hindsightcon.com for more information. #Hindsight2020nyc #hindsight2020 #divcomm #racialjustice #COVID2020 #plannersofcolor

On June 26, join Urban Design Forum and Van Alen Institute for the Neighborhoods Now Kickoff event, with Alison Mears (Healthy Materials Lab), Andrea Batista Schlesinger (HR&A), Barika Williams (Association for Neighborhood & Housing Development), Luisa Borrell (CUNY Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy), and Melissa Fleischut (New York State Restaurant Association). To kickoff Neighborhoods Now, we are hosting a public forum with our participating designers an...d invited experts where we have invited our community partners in Bed-Stuy, Washington Heights, Kingsbridge and Jackson Heights to preview some of the economic and health challenges facing their neighborhoods. To build foundational knowledge, we are welcoming an exciting panel of experts in epidemiology, materials science, economic development, land-use policy and hospitality to inspire the collaborative design process and inform our neighborhood recovery strategies. RSVP here: https://urbandesignforum.org/ev/neighborhoods-now-kick-off/

Our latest report, Turning the Heat: Resiliency in New York City’s Heat-Vulnerable Neighborhoods, compiles recommendations for addressing the threat of extreme heat through the built environment. To accompany the report, we are pleased to release a series of six posters illustrating some of the most creative strategies our Fellows have proposed. From installing temporary shading on public housing to naming heat waves, these proposals explore the role buildings can play in adv...ancing heat resiliency and aim to prioritize low-income communities and communities of color that are disproportionately at risk from the threat of extreme heat. Design by: Partner & Partners Download the posters here: https://urbandesignforum.org//turning-the-heat-six-creati/

The Urban Design Forum is proud to release Turning the Heat: Resiliency in New York City’s Heat-Vulnerable Neighborhoods, a compilation of recommendations for addressing the threat of extreme heat through the built environment. Download the report here: https://urbandesignforum.org//turning-the-heat-resiliency/