'Neighborhoods Now' Initiative Shares Design Recommendations and Resources to Aid NYC Communities' Reopening

The Urban Design Forum and Van Alen Institute has published a series of design recommendations and downloadable resources for community-based pandemic recovery strategies, created by design professionals and local organizations participating in Neighborhoods Now. Launched in June 2020, Neighborhoods Now channels pro-bono resources from New York-based design and interdisciplinary firms into site-specific strategies for neighborhoods' recovery and reopening. The Forum and Van Alen organized this initiative in response to the COVID-19 pandemic's disproportionate impact on communities of color and neighborhoods that already lack access to resources as a result of long-term structural inequities.

Neighborhoods Now launched in collaboration with the 82nd Street Partnership (Jackson Heights, Queens); Bed-Stuy Gateway BID and Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation (Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn); Community League of the Heights (Washington Heights); and Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition (Kingsbridge, Bronx). In neighborhood-specific working groups, these community organizations have collaborated with design firms in a six-week sprint to develop safe and effective reopening strategies tailored to specific sites in those communities.

To date, more than 200 individuals have provided thousands of hours of support and an estimated $1.3 million in in-kind services. They include members of 65 interdisciplinary firms including Arup, COOKFOX, Henning Larsen, Moody Nolan, and SO-IL, and 25 consulting experts from the fields of community development, engineering, graphic design, land-use law, public health, and urban planning. New York City's Departments of City Planning, Health, Parks, Sanitation, and Transportation and the New York City Economic Development Corporation have also participated in community consultations.

The initial outcomes, released this week, are a comprehensive set of design recommendations and prototypes for open-air restaurant extensions, flexible retail displays for storefronts and pop-ups, modular street furniture and shading elements to activate underutilized open spaces, and more. In some neighborhoods, the working groups have implemented prototypes of their designs, such as outdoor barriers enabling more restaurants to participate in the city's Open Restaurants program. Van Alen and Urban Design Forum are actively fundraising to support additional implementation.

Over the past six weeks, the Neighborhoods Now working groups have also created supplementary materials, now available for free download by the public. These include:

• Multilingual signage with COVID-19 health protocols, designed by Partner & Partners, Pentagram, and Two Twelve
• Informational pamphlets tailored for businesses and residents
• Legal template to aid activation of vacant properties, created by Fried Frank

"We've been so lucky to work with the Neighborhoods Now initiative, which has brought really talented technical capacity to help implement the solutions identified and developed by our community," said Sandra Lobo, Executive Director, Northwest Bronx Community & Clergy Coalition. "Neighborhoods Now is a great example of how partnerships across diverse stakeholders with community at the center can be transformative when addressing economic and community development issues, especially at this challenging time when many residents and businesses feel invisible and forgotten."

"Neighborhoods Now has brought equity to our community by providing direct assistance to the most needy small businesses and free planning services to our organization," said Leslie Ramos, Executive Director, 82nd Street Partnership. "Without this initiative, it would have taken us years to do the work accomplished in just a few weeks."

For a complete list of participating organizations and firms, each working group's full report, and photos from projects implemented to date, visit vanalen.org.

Neighborhoods Now Summit
October 6-7, 11 am-1 pm
Register here

In this two-part capstone event, the Neighborhoods Now working groups will come together to present their accomplishments, discuss their goals for the future, and share reopening strategies that can be deployed across New York City and beyond. The Urban Design Forum and Van Alen Institute will also debut a publication with key findings from the initiative, including concrete and actionable recommendations for city governments, community organizations, and design firms keen to take on similar projects.