2 THEME | FUTURE CITIES LAUNCHPAD | CITYLAB “Reclaiming Spaces” ThinkTanks focus on future scenarios, while the CityLab, which follows the same methodology, takes concrete challenges from our neighborhoods and enlists community leaders and stakeholders as co-creators to solve those challenges. In the Spring 2019 we collaborated with the then Boston City Council President/District 4 Councillor, Andrea Campbell, the Consulate for the Kingdom of the Netherlands, CITXL/NL [founded by WIT Arch Alum living in Amsterdam], Gemeente Amsterdam with a focus on “Reclaiming Spaces”. Learning from the Dutch experience of reclaiming land throughout history, students, faculty, community, members, and industry representatives worked together to generate ideas relevant for Boston. The co-creation with community leaders was essential to address community needs, understand impact and develop meaningful ideas and strategies for underutilized or vacant properties/lots.
LAUNCHPAD | BOSTON DESIGN WEEK WORKSHOP “Accessible Transportation” As part of the Boston Design Week, we partnered with the Insitute for Human Centered Design to run a workshop investigating the accessibility of the Green line from Brigham Circle to the MFA. Participants from design, healthcare, and technology industries participated along with advocates for accessibility and non-profit organizations. The workshop followed the ThinkTank model and included field studies and interviews on location.
BENCHMARKS FUTURE CITIES 112
7
Total engaged
51
Students representing 8 disciplines
15
Faculty Members representing 6 disciplines
16
Community Leaders
18
Industry Representatives