UN DESIGN THE RED LINE WE
Undesign the Redline is an explorative and visioning framework for addressing the historic transformations of place, class and race in America. We are building a robust conversation around the continuing effects of this history, from people often cut out of opportunities for success, to devising multistakeholder strategies to generate transformative models for impact.
1
SUMMARY
Systemic challenges today, like inequalities in housing, education, income, criminal justice and health are far from separate issues. These challenges are rooted in a deep and entangled history of policies, practices and processes that remain unrevealed and misunderstood. As new forces begin to transform cities and towns, decisions about interconnected challenges are therefore often made ‘in the dark.’ Gone unanswered are fundamental questions about our communities: how did we get here, and what does that mean for where we are going? Undesign the Redline explores these reframed opportunities from a shared value perspective, and grounds discussions about race, wealth, opportunity and power in an honest context that is not about guilt and blame. This allows everyone to contribute their value to the design and development of projects, partnerships and decisions that seek to transform communities and move beyond the challenging and often clouded situation of our entangled past.
WHAT IS REDLINING?
Redlining maps were introduced in the 1930s. Originally a federal policy, the maps were meant to show risk areas for federal backing of newly invented home ownership programs that would transform the American middle class. The maps determined areas prime for investment and areas where no money would be lent. The neighborhoods where no investment would go were outlined in red. This shade was based almost entirely on race. They referred to these areas as “infiltrated” by “hazardous populations.” Redlining was how structural racism was designed into cities. It shifted segregation from visible superstructure to ubiquitous infrastructure: further isolating communities even while ‘colored only’ signs came down. Soon without access to banking, insurance or even healthcare, these marginalized groups were forced on a path of “urban decay,” accelerated by programs like Urban Renewal and Slum Clearance. By many means, this American geography became a machine for reproducing a racially and class divided society. Investment drained from concentrated ‘inner city’ zones of poverty, mostly comprised of people of color, while investment poured into the rapidly expanding wealthier, whiter suburbs. This type of structural, geographic design alters what is possible in the decades that follow. We still need to undesign Redlining. Today, even when money flows back into onceRedlined zones, the tide of investment cannot raise all boats. It washes people away. Broad wealth building still does not reach those of us who have been historically devalued. Instead, we are faced with a legacy of lingering bias, living with the scarlet letter of Redlining, and its cross-generational effects on wealth, income, well being and ownership.
TOOL KIT 1 Interactive Exhibit
‘High-touch’ spaces for people to explore and interact with historic and entangled challenges, as well as collective visioning space for alternative models and approaches. Group experiences and tours
Localized Research and Fieldwork
Facilitation of a new Framework
2 3 4 5
In-depth consulting to re-frame new and existing projects, policies and proposals, with co-created visions, metrics and evaluation tools.
Presentation
Two hour interactive presentation and training on why our neighborhoods look the way they do. Themes include how people, systems, intention and impact interact with symptoms and root causes.
Curriculum
Cross Disciplinary secondary school curriculum (in development) with units on Social Studies and Mathematics focused on the American Dream.
Digital Undesign Exhibit Experience
Our digital platform experience and online videos are in development, please ask us about them.
WElab Community Hub and “Undesign” Incubator
What happens next? After building this robust foundational process, our “WeLab” methodology can bring new projects, plans, policies and other initiatives into reality.
3
This in-depth exploration of local history and context, including participatory action research with community members, lays the groundwork for a local exhibit, framework or project.
Living Archive
A high-tech and high-touch open platform for containing and interacting with the co- created knowledge, visions, histories and ideas developed within communities.
INTERACTIVE EXHIBIT Why Bring the Exhibit to Your Space?
With the proliferation of digital formats we notice the potential for collective experiences to be lost amongst the screens. By bringing ‘High-touch’ interactive physical spaces to relevant locations we create more tangible educational opportunities. Instead of an individual experience, groups co-create a shared experience, and engage in interactive collective visioning spaces with the community-at-large. These spaces not only pull apart the tangled web of our systemic crisis but also offer an engaging lens to explore and interact with historic and entangled challenges.
Components
SECTION 1 Introduction to Redlining: How explicit, Jim Crow era racism was designed into structural racism from the New Deal era until today. SECTION 2 Localized Redliining Maps and Area Descriptions from the city or region. The maps were made for 239 different cities and populated areas in the US. SECTION 3 How does this connect to our shared history and today? Timeline of policies, practices, and investments as well as collective responses to their effects from 1800 - today. Customized popouts show local instances of macro themes. SECTION 4 Stories from the Line explores local and national stories about Redlining, or other themes on the timeline. These tailored stories humanize and localize a national narrative. SECTION 5 So what do we do about it? Here we explore alternative models and processes Designing the WE and others are engaged in to drive a different narrative. A collective visioning space allows everyone to add their ideas and plug into a larger ecosystem. Interactive components at each station that allow visitors to contribute knowledge and better understand the content presented. Tours of the exhibit are offered, which create a more robust understanding along with workshops and presentations.
Objectives
Create visually stimulating spaces for visitors to develop a deeper understanding of content surrounding the history of Redlining and its residual effects on neighborhood development. Demonstrate the connections between the many problems we face and visualize how these symptoms can be traced back to deeper root causes. Co-generate ideas for alternative approaches and frameworks to address some of the most pressing issues impacting our communities and connect visitors to actionable opportunities.
“This exhibit has been a breakthrough for Enterprise. The workshop... generated incredible discussion internally, and it was wonderful to again bring our partners to the conversation.” — Elizabeth Strojan, Enterprise Community Partners
The exhibit leads participants into a design conversation about what we can create together that both addresses our entangled past and drives us into a better future. This brings each other to a point where broad engagement is possible, because it poses not just the limited question, “what shall this space be used for or project do,” but the fundamental question “how can we use this space or project as a tool to affect a larger ecosystem?”
SECTION 1 : Introduction 1
~12’
SECTION 2: Local Maps 2
~15’
3
SECTION 3: Timeline
~18’
SECTION 4: Stories 4
Design Varies ~10’
SECTION 5: “Undesign” 5
Design Varies ~up to 20’
EXHIBIT SPECS Installation
The full exhibit includes five sections: introduction, maps, timeline, stories and ‘undesign’ sections. Additional or fewer sections or elements may be decided in the scope of work. Light-weight materials include paper, tape, pins, vinyl laminate, cardboard, and tables. The exhibit is roughly 50-70 linear feet, depending on customization. We work in tight spaces and can hang on most surfaces, including glass, using either small nails or removable non-damaging tape and velcro.
Customization
There are three main areas where the content of the exhibit can be customized: the HOLC Maps and Area Descriptions (Section 2) to show maps from the area, The pop-outs on the Timeline (Section 3) to show local instances of macro themes, and the Stories from the Line (Section 4) to tell the local stories that humanize the issues. We have also customized elements of Undesign (Section 5) to show particular projects or interest areas, such as affordable housing.
PRESENTATION Tailor a Presentation for your Audience
This presentation covers the basic themes found in the exhibit, and explores its relevance with each audience. The presentation is modeled off of a tour of the exhibit, or can be molded to fit a particular format.
CURRICULUM Bringing Students Into the Picture
The WEcurriculum expanded learning and after school program engages High School students and Undergratuates in co-generating knowledge, critical insights and service learning projects. The curriculum first explores social, historical, environmental and economic challenges through the lens of Undesign the Redline. We then dive into how these outcomes were the result of designs, learning about the built, planned and human systems that shape daily life. Students generate participatory research, maps and stories about their neighborhood. We culminate with a design-based curriculum that turns students into the co-creators and leaders of their own group and community-based projects. The information the students learn, gather and find most important is collected in a community-accessible Living Archive that students code and design. WEcurriculum combines three things we know about transformative education: learning while doing, getting out of the classroom, and building community around the school.
Deep, Systemic, Entangled
Critical Histories Deep in hearts and minds Designed Systems Entangled Together Participatory Action Research Story Bank Project > Living Archive
WElab Project Based Learning Alternative Models From housing to entrepreneurs Ecology and Economy Diagram What’s Here > Living Archive
DIGITAL In Production
We are currently gathering the partners, resources and talent to bring the Undesign the Redline exhbit to life as an interactive digital experience. If you are interested in participating, please let us know.
“This presentation helped me put together all the pieces of history into a narrative that really flows… Thank you for transforming the way I see our borough.” - Alexis Francisco, program director at the Bronx History Makers Program
“This really clearly illustrated how the crises in the Bronx are a product of multiple actors, policies, and systems interacting and responding to push and pull forces on multiple levels… in a really tangible and humanizing way.... it transformed the way I talk about the history of the Bronx.” - Allison Manuel, organizer at Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition
WELAB
WHY? Facing uneven investment, displacement and growing inequality, communities need inclusive places to innovate and grow applied models for more than jobs and housing, but shared livelihoods that are also measured through wealth-building, ownership, social impact and community well-being. From the history of Redlining to the future of work, spaces of social and economic invention and education are needed more than ever to drive broad, boundary-crossing prosperity. WHAT? WElabs are the places people go to connect, learn, build, and incubate a shared future. Each lab is a nexus where the legacies of Redlining can be “Undesigned.� With local partners, we are establishing an ecosystem of hubs where localized knowledge and projects connect neighbors, institutions and professionals. These places generate communitydriven social, cultural and economic development. HOW? By connecting communities, students, social impact resources and professional partners with shared-value generating projects and enterprises, WElabs unleash tremendous value for social and economic development. Between these different stakeholders, there is an opportunity for ecosystem building infrastructure that connects their needs to shared opportunities. There is a growing sense of urgency, whether this is the need to innovate locally in the face of the future of work, develop responsibly by undoing legacies like Redlining, accessing investment-ready models for social impact, or connecting students to higher education opportunities.
Each permanent Local WElab is One Part “Co-Created Public Library” One Part “Incubation and Innovation Platform.” These places generate community-driven social, cultural and economic development. They are where communities get to work undesigning the redline. WElab’s current ecosystem includes multiple Higher Ed institutions, social impact connectors, shared value projects and WElab locations. ~Ask us to learn more.
PORTFOLIO
THE MARY MITCHELL FAMILY AND YOUTH CENTER, BRONX NY
The Crotona section of the Bronx witnessed mass devastation and displacement beginning with Robert Moses’s “one mile” stretch of the Cross Bronx Expressway, and continuing through decades of disinvestment, fires and abandonment. Designing the WE implemented our 10 session ‘Undesign’ Curriculum with a group of a dozen young people and staff from the Center, using the history to ground a conversation for envisioning the redevelopment of a nearby vacant building the Center owns. Participants researched and learned the local history of redlining, urban renewal, disinvestment and community organizing and revitalization to understand how systemic inequality and structural racism were designed into their neighborhood. They also explored alternative economic development models and began to envision how the redeveloped vacant building could undesign these structural inequalities. Common themes developed among small groups included intergenerational worker-owned incubator hubs where elders could train young people in practical skills, building community and launching businesses and creative products collaboratively. Their work was combined into architectural drawings for the Astin Jacobo Center. The youth and staff have presented the process and drawings to hundreds of local residents and neighborhood leaders, as well as elected officials, gathering input and building support. We are currently working with partners to secure investment for the project and continue its growth and development.
CAPITAL CITY FARM, TRENTON NEW JERSEY
We are engaging with communities in Trenton, NJ as they co-create Capital City Farm. To ground this conversation around community driven planning and wealth-building, we brought Undesign the Redline to the Trenton Public Library. Neighbors began asking the question, ‘How does an urban farm Undesign redlining?’ Taking this deeper, systemic look at how Trenton became Trenton, we began to consider not just how we design an urban farm, but how we use our farm to design our community. The farm will not only be a productive space where healthy food is grown, sold and shared, but also a community-driven place where programs and projects that area residents want to see happen will take place. This will now be a community owned space, where new businesses like a cooperative food truck and honey collective sprout alongside rows of healthy vegetables. A larger ‘WE’ are creating an ecosystem with the potential for transformation. In the process, we are learning how to Undesign: sharing these stories in future exhibits and bringing these lessons forward.
ENTERPRISE COMMUNITY PARTNERS, NEW YORK CITY
During the summer of 2016 we brought the Undesign the Redline exhibit to the Enterprise Community Partners New York City Office to facilitate and deepen the conversation around race and housing, both internally for their staff and more broadly with their many partners. More than 1,000 visitors ranging from the formerly incarcerated to housing commissioners, bankers, community organizations, and policy makers toured the exhibit generating robust conversations about community reinvestment and affordable housing policy.
COLLEGE CAMPUSES
Versions of Undesign the Redline have appeared on numerous college campuses including CUNY Law School and Rutgers University. In February of 2017, Designing the We brought the exhibit to Smith College to impact the process of redesign of the Neilson Library. Smith has undergone a dramatic increase in the number of students of color and first generation college students in recent years. The college brought dtW and the Undesign the Redline exhibit to facilitate the process of how library staff and the College as whole begin to co-design and co-create with students spaces and processes that meet the needs of this shifting student demographic. Hundreds of students, faculty and staff from Smith and local colleges, as well as community residents and local partners from the Pioneer Valley participated in tours, events and workshops to begin to imagine what Undesign work can look like in Western Massachusetts and on college campuses. Smith Libraries has committed to taking an Undesign approach to their operations going forward.
TEAM 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.
Braden Crooks
Braden is a gardener and 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 studied developing forms of horizontal organizing within solidarity economies. He sits on the board of Sure We Can, a collective for canners who redeem bottles and cans for five cents. 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.
Gregory Jost
Gregory Jost is an author and speaker with over 15 years of experience in bringing together the worlds of community development, organizing, data, and advocacy. At University Neighborhood Housing Program, Gregory created the Building Indicator Project to evaluate levels of physical and financial distress in 62,000 New York City apartment buildings and transform the ways banks, their regulators and City agencies interact with properties and their owners. The successes of the project lay in the process of harnessing the data and creating metrics collaboratively with shared ownership and evaluation techniques, resulting in a dramatic decline in distressed buildings across every neighborhood of the City. Gregory holds both a Bachelors and Masters of Arts from Fordham University, completed two years in the Team, Management and Leadership Program at Landmark Worldwide, co-founded a Community Supported Agriculture cooperative in his neighborhood over a decade ago, was a founding board member of the school where his two children now attend, and is a long time board member of New Economy Project. He is currently writing a book on race, real estate and redlining through a Bronx lens.
Charles Chawalko
Charles Chawalko is a designer, cartographer, and historian whose wide-encompassing vision and knowledge bridges the disparate threads of the past into a cohesive meshwork to address today’s critical urban issues. He has previously worked with 596 Acres on the first digital mapping of New York City’s urban renewal plans, as well as the Morris Justice Project in community-based participatory action research on issues of policing and gentrification. Charles holds a Bachelors in History from Fordham and a Masters in Design & Urban Ecologies from Parsons.
Sabrina Dorsainvil
Sabrina Dorsainvil is a Boston-based designer and illustrator whose work ranges from playful drawings to the development of strategic, human centered design solutions used to address complex issues such as housing, healthcare and human rights. She has worked with community based organizations, city governments, large corporate institutions, and international projects on issues regarding social, spatial and environmental justice. She is fascinated by people; the way they move, speak, touch, interact and experience environments, objects and each other. Sabrina holds a BFA in Industrial Design and an MS in Design and Urban Ecologies.
WE designingtheWE.com 601 w26th Street, Ste.315 New York, NY 10001 info@designingthewe.com