In the Philadelphia Magazine article titled “What If Urbanists Ran the City?” I was featured as part of a discussion on innovative approaches to urban design and public engagement. The article highlighted two of my ideas: rethinking public art and gamifying zoning reform.
I proposed that instead of spending large sums on one-off art installations that may become outdated — like the Rizzo and Columbus statues — we could create an “Urban StoryCorps.” This initiative would involve installing and programming interactive media in neighborhoods, similar to Eastern State Penitentiary’s “Hidden Lives Illuminated” or Michelle Angela Ortiz’s recent projection in the Italian Market. The goal would be to ensure that monuments evolve with demographic diversity and that neighborhoods have a say in how they’re represented.
I also addressed the often inaccessible nature of Planning Commission and Zoning Board of Adjustment meetings, describing them as “forensic focus groups, tokenist therapy sessions, or sideshows for the charismatic naysayers… cloistered and jargon-filled and inhospitable to casual observers and everyday people.” To make these processes more engaging and democratic, I suggested turning to gamification. By transforming these meetings into online workshops that are free and productive, we can engage the everyday people who live with the outcomes of these decisions. I noted that urban planning games like SIM-PHL, currently being developed by Drexel University with support from the Knight Foundation, have the potential to democratize and energize public participation in urban planning.
READ: https://www.phillymag.com/news/philadelphia-urbanists/
