Design/Relief is a participatory design initiative to enable three waterfront neighborhoods imagine a more vibrant future for themselves as they overcome the devastating effects of Superstorm Sandy.
Visible/legible/navigable.
From 2013-2014 I led this special initiative for the New York chapter of AIGA (the leading professional association of graphic designers in America) in collaboration with designers, community associations, small businesses and city organizations. This project demonstrates how communication design practice can have a direct, tangible, positive influence on catalyzing urban communities, following a major natural disaster.
We worked in the neighborhoods of South Street Seaport (Lower Manhattan), Red Hook (South Brooklyn), and the Rockaways (Queens) to engage underserved communities–often plagued with isolation, a challenging transportation access, a high concentration of social housing and dire levels of poverty and lack of opportunity.
Our project built a sense of place and amplified the voice of residents through participatory design sessions, tactical urban interventions, stories made public via wild postings and temporary installations. It also activated a whole new system of local information sharing, at once analog and online.
Design/Relief
Design for creative placemaking and community revitalization.
Learn more about Design/Relief
follow the blog and project reports from Artplace, our project funder
listen to Making Place exhibit and talk with designers, presented at Industry City
read the Print magazine article, by Zachary Petit.
“Catch–&–Release has become a visible symbol of the unity, shared visions and social network of the South Street Seaport community.”
— Yeju Choi, designer, Seaport team
