Method Guide: Activating

ACTIVATING ANALYZING INFORMING MAKING MAPPING STORYTELLING

METHOD GUIDE

WHAT IS ACTIVATING? Activating brings people together to share food, stories, art, experience, and histories; it enables neighbors to share, to learn, and to organize. By activating a public place, a platform is created for cultural, physical, and political changes that can revitalize neighborhoods, improve infrastructure and bring economic benefits to residents. Residents, alongside artists and designers can investigate, strengthen, and share the community’s unique history; engage in the development of a physical and social framework for cultural activities; and plan for the renewal and growth of the neighborhood.

ACTIVATING WORKS AT MANY SCALES EVENT ART POTENTIAL SPACE

Activating Vacancy is an ongoing initiative that works with artists to draw out the latent potential of underused spaces by activating them with events, performances, and installations.

CELEBRATE DISCOVER IMAGINE STORIES

Neighborhood Stories culminating events brought together neighbors to discover and imagine the past, present, and future of their community by activating spaces in their neighborhoods

GATHER LEARN CONNECT EAT

Hot Dog Cookouts at The Cottages at Hickory Crossing activated the project site of the permanent supportive housing project, engaging the community surrounding the site.

PARK BUILD MOBILE TEMPORARY

The Parklet is a small, mobile structure that can turn any vacant lot, parking space, or underused park into an inviting public space, complete with seating and shade.

BUILD PLAY LEARN FLOAT

Rafting the Resaca temporarily activated an underutilized natural resources by building a floating platform where visitors could engage with and learn about resacas.

ACTIVATING

ACTIVATING PRINCIPLES • Intentionally activates underused spaces within neighborhoods

• Reveals the potential of vacant spaces and within the public

realm for community use • Celebrates and shares the history and identity of overlooked places Activating uses a variety of strategies to demonstrate the potential of underused spaces. Each event engages residents and users in different ways, they can be focused on learning about a place or just having fun and getting to know one another. Activating relies on people gathering or engaging a place in a meaningful way to discover something new or further a specific goal.

The Parklet at TED x SMU

ANALYZING

INFORMING

MAKING

MAPPING

STORYTELLING

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HOW IS ACTIVATING DONE? PUBLIC INFORMATION ACTS Public Information Acts foster neighborliness and inspire civic engagement by revealing the histories of people and place in public. Each installation is custom designed and site specific installations that empower people to influence the future of the places they inhabit.

INTERPRETIVE INSTALLATIONS • Presents research on a historic place or important topic through a designed intervention.

• Installed so that the public can interact with the PIA and learn about the topic.

• Creates a platform for feedback and interaction with the public.

PIA installed at the Knights of Pythias Temple in Dallas

LFL BUILD DAY AND CELEBRATION LFL/Libros Libres activate places in unique ways - from providing a place for the exchange of books, to a meeting place, and as a focal point for a neighborhood. As they are constructed and installed a neighborhood can become more involved. In adddition, opening celebrations can activate the site of the library and create excitement for the project.

COMMUNAL ACTIVITIES • Creates a new neighborhood focal point and amenity • Can establishes a series of recurring events to celebrate the library and neighborhood • Provides an opportunity for communal construction and learning new skills.

LFL building at the Lakewest YMCA

RAFTING THE RESACA Rafting the Resaca was a pop-up event set-up to re-engage Brownsville residents with the resaca adjacent to the Belden Trail. The resaca raft encouraged people to do one simple thing: get their feet wet. For many it was their first time boating or touching a resaca. Accompanying the raft were a series of educational signs, explaining the resaca’s natural ecology and history.

PLATFORM FOR EXPLORATION • Provides a new way to activate and engage a public space • Informs residents about the history and importance of a place • Gives residents the chance to imagine the future of a place Experiencing the Resaca Raft in Brownsville

ACTIVATING

ANALYZING

INFORMING

MAKING

MAPPING

STORYTELLING

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The 1st Ark on Noah Street Festival

Neighbors checking out the Ark under construction

THE ARK ON NOAH STREET

THE ARK ON NOAH STREET PROCESS

An annual event, the Ark on Noah Street, conceived by artist Christopher Blay, is a festival which began as a part of a larger public art program called Activating Vacancy in the 10th Street Historic District. The Ark repurposes a 20’ long shipping container, surrounded by a superstructure of reclaimed and salvaged materials from the 10th Street Historic District into a monument to the district’s history. The Ark activates an empty parking lot into a space for art, a neighborhood meeting point and gathering space, and the focal point for the annual festival.

The Ark festival brings neighbors, artists, critics and art consumers together to meet each other, rediscover an often forgotten part of Dallas, and imagine a city where any neighborhood can be recognized as a source of valuable cultural producers. During the festival the Ark opens up to become a gallery of artworks created by the community that share family and neighborhood narratives. In addition, original plays, community art,tag sales, and communal meals all take place at and around the Ark.

COMMUNITY ACTIVITIES

16 artists engaged with neighborhood residents to talk & hear stories, & participated in tours given by community members of neighborhood sites artists shared their ideas with community members during a project launch event

PROJECT PROPOSALS CREATED

artists analyzied the outcomes of community activities & made project proposals

MAKING THE ARK

the ark was built with recycled objects from the neighborhood around a 20’ shipping container that was transformed into a gallery neighborhood members worked on 2’x 2’ art panels to tell family narratives a processions through the neighborhood of story panels, were hung in the gallery to kick off the Ark festival

CELEBRATION THROUGH FESTIVAL

the Ark festival brought the neighborhood out to enjoy music bands, a choir, arts activities, the Dallas Zoo, & a community meal making the Ark an annual event, it has become a springboard for larger conversations & neighborhood advocacy efforts Neighbors parading to the Ark to hang their art

ACTIVATING

ANALYZING

INFORMING

MAKING

MAPPING

STORYTELLING

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WHY IS ACTIVATING IMPORTANT? Activating creates spaces for neighbors to make connections with each other in often underused yet important places in their communities. Activating can be a cost effective way to raise awareness about an issue, build support for a project, test an idea for future development/festival/business, or simply gather and connect as a neighborhood. These activations can lead to cultural, physical, and political changes that can revitalize neighborhoods, improve infrastructure and bring economic benefits to residents.

WHAT ARE THE OUTCOMES?

WHY SHOULD YOU ACTIVATE? Large or small, the process of activating a place can lead to meaningful change. Because activating can be as simple as setting up a BBQ, it can be taken on by a wide range of groups and individuals with a variety of skills. Finding the right location and activity to meet your community’s goals is an important first step and as you grow your group you can take increasingly complex and impactful projects to activate neighborhood spaces.

Activating ignites the imagination and uses design to physically illustrate future possibilities. Activating a space can be a temporary installation, a permanent solution, or an ongoing series of events. It is often part of a strategy to address a community need. A gathering can turn into a monthly meeting and become a formal community group that can take on long term neighborhood based projects. Activating is a constant throughout all stages of a project from initial ideation through completion, celebration, and use; it is always a part of successful projects.

Vacant Histories Walk and Bike Tour for AVAI in Brownsville

The buildingcommunityWORKSHOP is a nonprofit community design center seeking to improve the livability and viability of communities through the practice of thoughtful design and making. We enrich the lives of citizens by bringing design thinking to areas of our cities where resources are most scarce. To do so, [bc] recognizes that it must first understand the social, economic, and environmental issues facing a community before beginning work.

Sledding down the levee at the LA Bajada Neighborhood Stories Event

Thank you to all of our partners and the funders of the projects detailed in this guide. Most importantly, to all of our neighborhood partners, community members, and volunteers who make this work possible, we could not have done any of it without you.

ACTIVATING ANALYZING INFORMING MAKING MAPPING STORYTELLING

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