Design Trust for Public Space

via designtrust.blogspot.com

Jerome Chou of the Design Trust for Public Space has a noteworthy post on the trust's blog about the link between civic engagement and public space in New York City. It was prompted by a meeting he attended at the New Lots Family Center in Brooklyn last Wednesday as part of Organizing for America (OFA), the Obama administration's grassroots volunteerism initiative. Mr. Obama's health care plan became the focus of the event.

Mr. Chou writes:

What does this have to do with public space?  Ultimately, OFA’s work takes place in canvasses out on the street, or (in meetings like the one I attended) in schools, community centers, and other public institutions.  Which is to say, in small ways one of the most important public policy issues of the day is being enacted in the City’s public spaces.  One woman from a local housing project said that although she’d heard all the news about the health care debate, she’d never understood the basic details of Obama’s plan until that night.  I realized the same was true for me.

When we think of the role of public space in civic life, we usually think of rallies or protests.  But OFA’s work suggests the many ways that the City’s public spaces can be sites where policy is made more accessible and immediate to people.  Imagine, for instance, a public debate on health care reform held outside Harlem Hospital, or a talk on the recession and economic policy that would take place on Wall Street. 

A 2005 study by the New York-based nonprofit United Hospital Fund found that almost 1.2 million New Yorkers were uninsured.  Regardless of where you stand on the various proposals being debated by Congress, the task of insuring those people will be complex and hard to communicate in most mainstream media outlets.  Hopefully, we can activate many civic spaces before that debate is finished.

[via I (Heart) Public Space]