Van Alen Institute

Neighborhoods Now is growing in 2021! Together with Urban Design Forum, we're delighted to welcome Asian Americans for Equality, ThinkChinatown, Banana Kelly Community Improvement Association Inc. as new community partners and expand our work with FABnyc. Our 2021 teams are driven by how the pandemic has permanently changed our use of public space. Each aims to convert underutilized outdoor spaces into sites for local services & cultural programming. Learn more: https://www.vanalen.org/projects/neighborhoods-now

New York City Department of Parks & Recreation took a tour of Point of Action with designer Nina Cooke John! Take a look:

Together with the Flatiron District, NYC, we’re thrilled to present this year’s Flatiron Public Plaza Design Installation: Point of Action by Studio Cooke John. On view through January 1, Point of Action invites you to contemplate the experience of seeing one anotherand being seen. Nine illuminated metal frames make room for you to take the spotlight and connect with other viewers across the Plazas. Learn more: https://www.vanalen.org//flatiron-design-installation-2020/

Thrilled to share that our Executive Director Deborah Marton has joined NYC's Public Design Commission after an overwhelming approval from City Council. As NYC’s design review agency, the PDC's mission is to advocate for innovative, sustainable, and equitable design of public spaces and civic structures. Deborah is also joined by celebrated artist Kenseth Armstead. Congratulations Deborah and Kenseth! Learn more here: https://www.vanalen.org//deborah-marton-public-design-com/

Together with Flatiron District, NYC, we're thrilled to share that Studio Cooke John will create this year's Flatiron Public Plaza Design Installation! This annual installation is an important part of our Public Realm R&D program to surface the work of emerging designers and test new strategies to bring people together in public space. On view Nov 23Jan 1, Studio Cooke John's installation #PointOfAction invites you to contemplate the experience of seeing one anotherand being seen. Nine illuminated metal frames make room for you to take the spotlight and connect with other viewers across the Plazas and beyond.

Oct 6-7: Join our Neighborhoods Now Summit to hear from our coalitions of NYC community organizations + designers, currently working across 4 boroughs. They'll reflect on the work & discuss how collaborative design can inform pandemic recovery strategies: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/neighborhoods-now-summit-strat

In collaboration with our Neighborhoods Now community partners, Partner & Partners, Pentagram, and Two Twelve created these bold, colorful, and simple posters to convey COVID-19 safety protocols. Free to download, these posters encourage mask usage, social distancing, and hand-washing. We've got 50+ posters available in Arabic, Bengali, English, and Spanish see more and download here: https://www.vanalen.org/projects/neighborhoods-now/ Displayed any of these posters at your place of work? DM us a photo! We’d love to see and share.

Launched in collaboration with the Urban Design Forum, Neighborhoods Now connects neighborhoods hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic with design firms to develop community-based recovery strategies. Over the summer, five community organizations in Bed-Stuy, Jackson Heights, Kingsbridge, and Washington Heights collaborated with 65 design firms. Together, they've developed neighborhood-specific recommendations and prototypes for COVID-19 awareness campaigns, open air dining, and outdoor education and wellness activities. See the full reports from each neighborhood working group:

"We’re talking about creating equity around the city. It’s not only the big commercial districts that can come backit is also the neighborhood areas that can come back," says Leslie Ramos of the 82nd Street Partnership in Jackson Heights, Queens, one of our Neighborhoods Now community partners. In collaboration with the Urban Design Forum, Neighborhoods Now channels pro-bono resources from NYC design firms into community-driven recovery strategies. Learn more in Fast Company today:

Public voting for #ReimaginingBrooklynBridge ends tonight at 11:59 pm ET! You still have time to choose your favorite proposals to redesign this NYC icon for a safe and sustainable future. Vote now: https://t.co/vSuqDyzqwf?amp=1

We're excited to share our six Reimagining Brooklyn Bridge competition finalists! Click the link to learn about the finalists and get a sneak peek of their design proposals. As made even more clear by the pandemic, the design of our streets and shared spaces must be responsive to the present moment. The Brooklyn Bridge has the potential to serve as a testing ground for designs that serve our communities in need not just in an imagined, idealistic future but now. With thes...e considerations at heart, the six finalist proposals are a compelling and optimistic set of ideas for responsive short-term interventions and longer-term, large-scale reconfigurations of the Brooklyn Bridge. Each team is now working with Van Alen, the New York City Council, local stakeholders, and civic institutions to refine their proposals before the competition's public Design Showdown on July 23.

We're excited to announce a new collaboration with the Urban Design Forum: Neighborhoods Now. The COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately affected communities of color, and threatens to expand the racial wealth gap in neighborhoods that already lack access to resources as a result of long-term structural inequities. Neighborhoods Now connects four neighborhoods hard-hit by the pandemic represented by leading local organizations with more than twenty design firms in our... collective network. In Bed-Stuy, Jackson Heights, Kingsbridge, and Washington Heights, these working groups will collaborate through August 2020 to develop safe and effective reopening strategies. As the city reopens on a broader scale, Neighborhoods Now is an opportunity for experimentation and innovation at the local level. See all our community and design partners here: https://www.vanalen.org/projects/neighborhoods-now/ See more

Our hearts are heavy. Van Alen Institute stands in solidarity with protestors demanding an end to anti-Black police violence and structural racism. We also recognize that words are not enough. We will be making a contribution to The Bail Project in support of arrested protestors and have linked to other anti-racist resources in our bio, and we encourage our peers to do the same. While good design is rooted in idealism and empathy, the design field can reflect and perpetuate o...ur country’s deep inequities. We lift up this statement from NOMA (National Organization of Minority Architects): As architects, how can we protect the health, safety and welfare of the public if our country is not properly including Black Americans as full members of our society? As an architecture-centric organization, we commit to asking ourselves this every day and pursuing work grounded in radical listening and in service of healing solutions. Read more here: https://www.vanalen.org/stories/black-lives-matter/

Tomorrow 5/27, 5 pm ET Kriss Roebling, descendant of the Brooklyn Bridge's chief engineers, leads an Instagram Live tour of the bridge. It'll be a fun one, especially for everyone missing those views right now! Follow us on IG (@van_alen) to join in.

Our executive director Deborah Marton is on the jury for the 2020 NYCxDESIGN Awards! Tune in at 1 pm today to watch the ceremony live.

Pre-pandemic, more than 10,000 pedestrians and 2,600 bicyclists traversed the Brooklyn Bridge daily, using a pathway as narrow as 10 feet in some places. In normal times, these conditions can be uncomfortable. In the context of a pandemic, they are dangerous. As sheltering orders ease, the Brooklyn Bridge and NYC at large can't return to business as usual. On May 28 at 6:30 pm, join us for a discussion on how cities can redesign existing bridges, parks, plazas, and streets to better serve our needs into the future. Photo: Cameron Blaylock (2019)