WE
co-creating an ecosystem of social change
designing the WE is a for-purpose strategic design and research collaborative.
We work in partnership with our clients and communities to incubate shared value ventures, strategies, technologies & services using collaborative group processes. We understand how to address complex social challenges from a big-picture perspective and provide guidance through tailored methods that grapple with all aspects of a problem. Our work is premised on the fundamental belief that the more we co-operate, co-create, and co-produce, the more equitable, sustainable and meaningful impact we generate.
why
WE
work
There are a range of societal challenges that existing top-down structures and policies have found impossible to crack. Despite wars on poverty and zones of empowerment, the widening gaps in income distribution and labor skills combined with issues of displacement, health, and the multiplier effects of environmental degradation continue to influence a precarious and rapidly changing landscape across local and international borders.
entangled
systemic
deep
Understanding Crises We facilitate a broad understanding of chronic crisis with our clients and communities. Successful ventures, programs and policies of the 21st century must understand the precise ways multiple crises are deep, systemic and entangled.
long-term disinvestment mass incarceration
wage stagnation and economic shocks
deep The depth of the many problems we address leads us into personal and collaborative work: co-operation
housing affordability and displacement
climate, environment and health
systemic Discovering where these core issues fit into larger systems requires strategic design: co-creation
entangled Crises are entangled with each other: connected and compounding. We must be mindful of this when we act in co-production.
Developing Networks, Not Silos We collaborate to transform silos into connections. The need for in-common social, economic and environmental relationships, resources and knowledge is clear when we understand all that it takes to co-create well being: something none of us can do only as individuals.
Embedded Hubs, Not Closed Doors The foundation for productive work are open places where vision planning, education and trainings, venture and project incubation can take place. By bringing key stakeholders into a process of co-operation, co-creation and co-production, we can begin to engage with an ecosystem of social change.
how
WE
work
We expand collaborative capacity through tailored methods of co-operation, cocreation and co-production. Our clients and communities are in the process of grappling with interconnected crises, which they seek to address and navigate through shared value objectives and strategic design. Our clients expand their capacity throughout the DTW project cycle, producing resounding impact.
co-operate healthy collaboration
evolve
co-create strategic design capacity
evaluate
co-produce effective action and implementation
WE co-operate
healthy collaboration
Community outreach Workshop facilitation Stakeholder analysis Conflict transformation Publications and web platforms Assets and needs assessment
Collaboration in Medellin, Columbia
How do we bring diverse stakeholders to the table? How do we understand what is in common and what is in conflict? The art of co-operation is a necessary learned skill for collaborative projects, so DTW specializes in bringing the we together during the all-important phase of outreach and discovery. We all have a piece to share.
hear new voices
understand conflict
value difference
WE co-create
strategic design and planning
Vision planning process Alternative model development Strategic design Participatory action research Workshop Curriculums and Popular education Skill-building and trainings Drafting, plans and spatial design
It is easy to get lost in a collective thought process. DTW facilitates effective co-creation of innovative and equitable outcomes. Through workshops, research, exploration and vision planning, we can design for the future and understand how our pieces fit together.
value difference
learn collaboration
grow equity
WE co-produce effective action and implementation Investment ready ventures Business plans and budgeting Social impact business incubation Project management Policy analysis and implementation
The proof is in the production. We address the conflicts that too often upend projects before they start or reappear years later as ‘zombie conflicts.’ We ensure what is in common forms a strong bond in a collaborative project. Now we have the functional trust and skills necessary to work together successfully, with clear commitments and responsibility for implementation.
grow equity
build trust
expand network
WE evaluate
accountability and transparency
Reports and metrics Ethical audits Participatory process
WE lessons lead to action
evolve
Reports and recommendations Full-process analysis Long-term engagement
WE
are
working
We are transdisciplinary designers, researchers and planners whose work spans diverse settings from Pennsylvania to Lagos, Nigeria. Our 40 years of combined professional experience ranges from small rural towns to cities on five continents. We understand how ventures, campaigns, projects and products all find their way into a greater ecology of social change.
transformation Long-term vision and strategy
incremental Achievable midterm outcomes
mitigation short-term goals
Co-creating an Ecosystem of Social Change Each outcome of our tailored process, whether that is a video platform, research document, or social impact business, is situated in a larger ecosystem. Here, it becomes a means to further wider co-operation, co-creation and co-production: resonating outward. When projects and ventures plug into a larger ecosystem, incremental can add up to transformational.
co-operate Networks and Alliances Conferences and Events Trainings and Curriculum Video and web platforms Conflict transformation Strategies
co-create Vision Planning and Innovation Hubs Workshop Series Strategic Design Centers Participatory Research Documents
co-produce Alternative Housing Models Social Impact Businesses Worker and Consumer Cooperatives Programs and Campaigns Project management
WE co-operate to form local narratives Story Bank Project Winner, Theatrum Mundi “Free Speech” Competition
Whole neighborhoods are being silenced by gentrification and displacement. Tenancy does not mean the stories of the people who call these places home should be buried. The STORY BANK Project is catalyzed by a core team of longterm community members, local youth, and local cultural organizations committed to anti-displacement community organizing. The first part of the project, our stories about home, give us reason to plan to stay. The second part, a bank, points toward the pooling of collective narratives and resources. The story assets are collected within an interactive online story bank, where people watch stories, add new ones, and collectively assemble them into narratives of discourse. All stories are located on a map, allowing for spatial analysis. The STORY BANK is not just a database. It is used as a generative pedagogical and organizing tool for widespread co-operation.
“
Everything here is going to change. It’s very difficult now. White people buy everything and the Latino and Black people move. People move to North Carolina, Buffalo, looking for a better life. I’ll be here for one more year... --Francisco in Bushwick Spring, 2013
co-operate: core team development and outreach
co-create: film production and editing skill-building
STORY BANK TENANTSTENANTS RIGHTS RIGHTS
out
in
1.
3. 2. 2.
ANTI-DISPLACEMENT DISCURSO LIBRE RY BANK
5. 3.
out
4.
in
6.
COMMON PRAXIS
“Everything here is going to change. It’s very difficult now. White people buy everything and the Latino and Black people move. People move to North Carolina, Buffalo, looking for a better life. I’ll be here for one more year...” -Francisco in Bushwick
co-create: neighborhood
narratives workshop
In the crisis of displacement, the home must become a space for freeing speech. Our communities have no right to self-preservation if we lack the agency to negotiate rising rents,
The STORY BANK Project will be catalyzed by
a core team of long-term community members, co-produce: online platform
local youth, and local cultural organizations development and on-street event committed to anti-displacement community organizing. The first part of the project, our stories about home, give us reason to plan to stay. The second part, a bank, points toward the pooling of collective narratives and resources. The story assets would be collected within a
WE co-create participatory action research Real Affordability
Affordable housing is a complicated topic in New York. What some may call affordable is often beyond the means of local populations, whose tax dollars goes to subsidize its creation. Through informational workshops, participatory action research and design skill-building, we have worked with community members and partner organizations to produce a co-created understanding of the affordable housing crisis. These organizations have altered their approach, in once instance forming a coalition with local elected officials to comprehensively review new housing developments and press for alternatives. New communities have begun to co-create affordable housing systems.
What is affordable housing? How affordable are the “affordable housing” developments in your neighborhood? When a developer says: “affordable housing”—what do they mean? When you say: “affordable housing”—what do you mean? Often there is a difference between these answers and a mismatch between the units produced by the city and the needs of the residents in the communities they serve. Why? And what is “actually affordable?” The following pages will help you understand—how many “affordable housing” units have been built in New York City under the New Housing Marketplace Plan (NHMP), what neighborhoods they are in and who can actually afford them. Wondering if a proposed “affordable housing” project in your neighborhood is the right fit for your communities needs? Click here for a list of important considerations to help guide you in that determination.
Written and designed by Ron Morrison, Anne Duquenois, Dagny Tucker and Aran Baker MS Design and Urban Ecologies, Parsons the New School for Design 2014
co-operate: informational workshops with participating organizations
co-create: participatory action research on housing affordability
Directory
Brooklyn 5 Out of a total of 1,478 units of NMHP housing, 157 units are affordable to residents of the Brooklyn 5 community.
Brooklyn
Bronx
Manhattan
Queens
Staten Island
Neighborhoods based on Community Board District
1103 107
BK1 Greenpoint / Williamsburg
BK10 Bay Ridge / Dyker Hts. / Ft. Ham
BK2 Brooklyn Heights / Fort Greene
BK11 Bensonhurst / Gravesend
BK3 Bedford Stuyvesant
BK12 Borough Park / Kensington
BK4 Bushwick
BK13 Brighton Beach / Coney Is.
BK5 Cypress Hills/ENY / Starrett
BK14 Ditmas Park / Flatbush
BK6 Carroll Gardens / Gowanus / PS
BK15 Sheepshead Bay / Gravesend
BK7 Sunset Park / Windsor Terrace
BK16 Brownsville / Ocean Hill
BK8 Crown Hts / Prospect Hts
BK17 East Flatbush
BK 9 Crown Hts So. / Pros Lef Garden
BK18 Flatlands/Canarsie
Average Household Size: 2.73 Median Household Income: $34,519 (based on household size of 4 in 2010)
HUD Defined Area Median Income District’s Median Household Income Affordable units
$32,998
Not affordable units
$79,180
130
50 $0K – $23.8K 0 – 30 % AMI
12 $23.8K – $47.5K 31 – 60 % AMI
$47.5K – $63.4K
co-create: popular education
sessions on key findings
Directory Intro Pages
Bronx
Brooklyn
61 – 80 % AMI
$63.4K – $79.2K 81 – 100% AMI
50
26 $79.2K – $95K 101 – 120% AMI
$95K – $142.5K 121 – 180% AMI
co-produce: final documents, diagrams and reports
Manhattan
Queens
Staten Island
WE co-produce social impact businesses
72 3500
full and part-time employees, interns, and apprentices
Urban Starzz
people in our impact network
From 2007 to 2010, Urban Starzz was a hybrid fashion and style boutique that successfully redefined the expectation of consumers seeking convenience, quality, and community impact. In addition to our innovative business, Urban Starzz created the “Changing Faces...Changing Lives� Program which served to support people and communities achieve greater independence and stability. Urban Starzz emerged as a conduit that encouraged economic revitalization, humanity and youth development, and community awareness. As more employees went through the program, they learned valuable skills many took to start their own businesses and contribute back to help others: co-producing a network of mutual aid.
co-operate:
--partnerships and impact investors --local outreach --needs assessment
co-create:
--barber apprenticeship initiative --“Changing Faces... Changing Lives� program development --Ongoing events and workshops
co-create:
--vision planning workshop --designing a multifunctional space --branding Urban Starzz
co-produce:
--social impact business plan --program and operations management --Supporters network
Braden Crooks Braden is a gardener turned landscape architect who entered into the fray of community organizing and advocacy. He founded Groundswell PA: an organization that passed the first popular vote to ban fracking using an Environmental Bill of Rights. Braden earned his Master of Science with departmental honors from Parsons in New York, where he hones his praxis developing forms of horizontal organizing within solidarity economies. Braden has recently worked with organizations such as the Center for Urban Pedagogy and the Right to the City Alliance, and in his spare time produces a webseries about New York.
April De Simone April De Simone has over 15 years of experience in strategically designing, developing and launching for-profit, non-profit and government projects. Continuing to advocate for social innovation, Ms. De Simone is co-creator of various for-purpose ventures and initiatives that promote market based solutions to address complex social challenges. A Dean Merit Scholar, she recently completed her Master of Science in Design and Urban Ecologies from Parsons the New School for Design. Ms. De Simone continues to be recognized for her leadership and dedication in supporting frameworks that promote a just and equitable society. In 2010, Ms. De Simone was nominated as a candidate for New York State’s Economic Council Initiative and remains actively involved in various other boards and activities that employ innovative capacities that scale social impact
Ron Morrison Ron is a curious amalgam: both designer and social practitioner, June Jordan devotee and lover of lab coats. For the past five years he has been working to create popular education pedagogies using art and design to demystify processes of attaining and preserving housing. He has been a collaborator with design teams that implemented projects in New Orleans, Ghana, Colombia, New York, and Venice and has had work featured at AIA New York, UN World Urban Forum, and in The Atlantic. He is currently a graduate student in the Design and Urban Ecologies program at Parsons the New School for Design.
Dagny A. Tucker Dagny brings a breadth and depth of experience as an ideator and actionist. Her various professional capacities range from strategist and advisor, conflict specialist and mediator to academic and speaker. As an engaged global citizen her work has traversed five continents and spans cross-sector appointments with non-profit, business and government players. With a foundation in international peace, conflict and development Dagny’s focus, across sectors, is on navigating the complexity of systems thinking in order to forge new (and encourage reemerging) concepts of sustainability in both physical and social constructs..
info@designingthewe.com 601 W. 26th Street, Ste. 325 NY, New York 10001 designingthewe.com