Civic Studio – References

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https://www.land-studio.org/

LAND studio is a catalyst, convener, and collaborator. For more than thirty years, we have managed a wide range of public art installations, cultural programming, and civic space development projects across the city of Cleveland.

We focus on engaging the community in every step by working alongside residents, local leadership, and our network of organizational partners.

We acknowledge our role as a gatekeeper to public arts investment and look for ways that our work can better reflect Cleveland’s diverse neighborhoods and eliminate barriers to participation. As dialogue related to racial equity and inclusion continues to evolve inside and outside our organization, we are committed to creating and maintaining opportunities for everyone, regardless of race, gender, ability, or the community in which they live.

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https://www.wayside.studio/

Wayside is an independent studio focused on urban design and visual communication. Led by its principal, Curry Hackett.

Our practice employs diverse, site-specific methods to realize projects of socio-cultural value. We work at multiple scales to bolster the relationship between people, their communities, and the environments that support them.

[civicstudio-ref]

http://dsgnagnc.com/about/

DSGN AGNC (Design Agency) is an architectural, urban design, strategy and art studio that experiments with new forms of space, policy and process creation through political engagement. We work with stakeholders and trans-disciplinary teams to create comprehensive research that can be used to propose a variety of spatial designs, targeted policies and actions that seek to increase agency at various scales — from pamphlets to strategic urban design plans to architectures to landscapes.

[civicstudio-ref]

https://www.grayscalecollaborative.com/about

We work with clients and communities to take on complex urban challenges, reconcile competing interests, forge new and ongoing relationships, and work collaboratively towards better designed and more inclusive built environments.

[civicstudio-ref]

https://theurbanstudio.org/home

Our mission is to “advance design thinking for equitable + sustainable urbanism.”  

We are designers of color working with communities of color to green cities for ALL.

[civicstudio-ref]

https://studio-zewde.com/about

Studio Zewde is a landscape architecture, urban design, and public art practice based in Harlem, New York City. The studio’s work is lauded for its design methodology that syncs site interpretation and narrative with a dedication to the craft of construction. The firm’s employees have multi-disciplinary backgrounds in landscape architecture, architecture, city planning, urban design, sociology, statistics, community organizing, and public art. Studio Zewde is devoted to creating enduring places where people belong.

[civicstudio-ref]

https://agencylp.com/

Agency is a mission-driven practice dedicated to addressing social equity, cultural vitality and environmental resilience through design excellence, strategic planning and community engagement. We believe that – in order to address the most challenging issues of our contemporary society – diversity and inclusion are foundational to how we see, understand and, ultimately, shape our collective experience, particularly in the public spaces, parks and streets of our cities.

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https://www.design-advocates.org/home

Design Advocates is a platform for architects and designers to share resources and collaborate on efforts to serve the public good through pro bono projects, research, and advocacy.

[civicstudio-ref]

https://saintheron.com/

saint heron is a multidisciplinary creative group that seeks to expand cultural, art, music, and design conversations and communities. saint heron is an institution working through multiple mediums to produce, collect, preserve, and uplift our own stories, while exploring innovative ways to build the space we wish to see exist. saint heron is an agency and design studio developing thoughtful collaborations to create visionary concepts that cultivate complete experiences. saint heron is a practice. saint heron is a process.

[civicstudio-ref]

https://www.designforthejustcity.org/about

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5b5dfb72697a9837b1f6751b/t/5b7d9e4221c67c1bee80cbb7/1534959170568/JustCityIndex_Site.pdf

WE'RE A TEAM OF DESIGN JUSTICE THINKERS AND DOERS.

The Just City Lab investigates the definition of urban justice and the just city and examines how design and planning contribute to conditions of justice and injustice in cities, neighborhoods and the public realm. Professor Toni L. Griffin and her team of research assistants have produced The Just City Index, Just City Indicators for the Public Realm, tools for civic engagement, design case studies and offer masterclasses and workshops on designing for justice.

[civicstudio-ref]

https://kounkuey.org/

We believe in the power of public space to create healthy, vibrant and prosperous communities.

KDI works with local residents to transform unsafe and under-used sites into “Productive Public Spaces”. From permanent parks to temporary vacant lot activations, each space integrates key amenities such as community buildings, water and sanitation facilities, green infrastructure, and open spaces for recreation and exercise. We execute all phases of the design process.

[civicstudio-ref]

https://www.dapcollective.com/get-involved

Design as Protest is a coalition of designers mobilizing strategy to dismantle the privilege and powers structures that use architecture and design as tools of oppression. 

Co-organized by BIPOC designers, we exist to hold our profession accountable in reversing the violence and injustice that architecture, design, and urban planning practices have inflicted upon Black people and communities. Design as Protest champions the radical vision of racial, social, and cultural reparation through the process and outcomes of design.

[civicstudio-ref]

https://colloqate.org/about-cq

The struggle for human and civil rights is one that has largely evaded the design profession and we have framed our work around addressing this void. Established in 2017, Colloqate Design is a multidisciplinary Architecture + Design Justice practice focused on expanding community access to, and building power through the design of social, civic, and cultural spaces. Our mission is to intentionally organize, advocate, and design spaces of racial, social and cultural equity.

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http://www.tinywpa.org/

Tiny WPA’s mission is to grow and empower an army of talented community-design leaders—Building Heroes—that will make Philadelphia the national model for how to engage people of all ages in the design of their cities and help lay the foundation of an incomparable future for community-generated civic innovation

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http://welcometocup.org/About

The Center for Urban Pedagogy (CUP) is a nonprofit organization that uses the power of design and art to increase meaningful civic engagement particularly among underrepresented communities. CUP projects demystify the urban policy and planning issues that impact our communities, so that more individuals can better participate in shaping them.

We believe that increasing understanding of how these systems work is the first step to better and more diverse community participation.

CUP projects are collaborations of art and design professionals, community-based advocates and policymakers, and our staff. Together we take on complex issues—from the juvenile justice system to zoning law to food access—and break them down into simple, accessible, visual explanations.

The tools we create are used by organizers and educators all over New York City and beyond to help their constituents better advocate for their own community needs.

[civicstudio-ref]

https://openarchcollab.org/

The Open Architecture Collaborative is a US-based nonprofit (501c3) supported by a global chapter network. We develop educational programming for designers and architects to grow as leaders and changemakers while simultaneously producing placemaking programs with community developers and associations to inspire ownership and civic engagement in traditionally marginalized communities.

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https://www.thisismodest.org/copy-of-education

Primarily a service-based and educational design entity, we promote a new wave of design that understands the positive impact that localized and modest-scale product creation can have on social and environmental systems.

We work to strengthen maker-communities who wish to develop their design and making skills, creating goods that predominantly utilize native plant-based resources cultivated in managed forest systems or reforestation scenarios, in order to help rebuild natural systems.  

Through our projects with non-profit / community partners, we deploy young designers and makers aiming to demonstrate a working and accessible regenerative design model, whilst disseminating vital ecological comprehension over how we can design with and for natural and social systems.