WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO LIVE IN A NEIGHBORHOOD?
What would it take to re-imagine and co-create a more just and vibrant Boston?
Join us this semester as we explore that thought through a transformative 3-part conversation series that aims to stimulate our imaginations and creativity around what our neighborhoods and cities could be, as well as how we can collectively contribute to the shaping of our shared places. Each event invites residents, practitioners, scholars, students, organizers, and curious minds to muse with our guests about how we might delve into this work at both the scale of the neighborhood and the city.
RNRC (Re-arranging the Neighborhood to Reimagine the City) is a part of DS4SI’s Design Gym programming, and we are excited to have it moderated by Darien Alexander Williams, Assistant Professor of Environmental & Climate Justice at Boston University.
RE-LIVE & REPLAY THE RNRC SERIES…
Pablo Sendra and Richard Sennett discuss their text, "Designing Disorder: Experiments and Disruptions in the City." They propose "infrastructures of disorder," and the reimagining of the social fabric of cities by combining architecture, politics, and community organizing to create open, adaptable, and nurturing environments. Come engage their innovative perspective on revitalizing public spaces besieged by order and surveillance. This discussion challenges urban planning conventions and propose a new approach that fosters unruly transformation.
Explore the dynamic world of "Dark Agoras: Insurgent Black Social Life and the Politics of Place" and beyond with J.T. Roane. Roane’s book engages realms of working-class Black life, which nurtures intricate connection across the city's underground spaces and its set-apart locales. From spiritual spaces, to those of play, pleasure, work, and informality, Roane shows us how these seemingly divergent environments incubate a Black queer urbanism that produces a vibrant landscape of struggle and worldmaking. This conversation underscores the centrality of place in Black collective creation.
Engage with Mindy Thompson Fullilove and Molly Rose Kaufman, visionaries from the University of Orange, a “free school of restoration urbanism in Orange, New Jersey.”. U of O was founded on decades of progressive advocacy, and gathers residents and activists through empowering processes of healing and learning. Through free courses, coalition building, and advocacy, U of O reimagines cities as sites of equity and vitality. In this video, Mindy and Molly discuss how their transformative approach harnesses existing neighborhood resources and collective learning to craft a just and equitable urban landscape.
CLICK ON THE IMAGE TO SIGN UP FOR CLASSES
We would like to deeply thank our friends and sponsors for making the Design Gym free and open to all: Barr Foundation, Kresge Foundation, Luce Foundation, Surdna Foundation, and Radical Imagination for Racial Justice (via the partnership with MassArt Foundation and the Mayor’s Office of Arts and Culture) and the City of Boston Cultural Investment Grant.