Van Alen And Urban Design Forum Launch NeighborhoodSnow.nyc

The Urban Design Forum and Van Alen Institute today launched neighborhoodsnow.nyc, a digital toolkit featuring more than 35 designs, guidelines, and strategies to aid safe reopening and recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Each tool was created by neighborhood-specific working groups as part of Neighborhoods Now, a rapid-response initiative launched by the Forum and Van Alen in June. Led by community organizations in Bed-Stuy, Jackson Heights, Kingsbridge, the Lower East Side, and Washington Heights, these working groups include coalitions of architects, engineers, lawyers, and planners in the Forum and Van Alen's collective network.

The initiative has now raised more than $100,000 to implement these designs and strategies in the coming weeks. In some neighborhoods, a selection of these designs have already been put into action and the Forum and Van Alen continue to fundraise to support further implementation.

Resources on neighborhoodsnow.nyc include:

• DIY barrier designs for outdoor dining, such as a modular barrier that features planters and detachable trash bins, and a flatpack plywood kit that can be adapted for winter dining with vinyl or polycarbonate sheets
• Extensive HVAC guidelines that can be applied to different closed environments and work spaces based on need, size, and occupancy
• Outdoor learning kit-of-parts that uses affordable, durable off-the-shelf materials to support sustained educational programming

This website will be continuously updated with additional designs and strategies from the Neighborhoods Now working groups. Detailed reports from each group, posted on the Urban Design Forum and Van Alen Institute websites, provide full context for each resource and greater insight into this collaborative, community-led process.

"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."

"The Washington Heights small business community faces multiple challenges. With the expertise of the Neighborhoods Now team, we were able to address some of these challenges with practical, cost effective solutions," said Yvonne Stennett, Executive Director, Community League of the Heights. "We are truly grateful for the opportunity to collaborate with such talented architects and designers. Their commitment to safe reopenings and eye for detail is second to none."

"For us, the Neighborhoods Now project has provided an extraordinary opportunity to serve our city at a critical time," said James von Klemperer, President, KPF. "Working closely with the Restoration Corporation to help the Bed-Stuy community to stay functional in this COVID period has been both productive and faith-inspiring. I hope this work will open up doors for us all to be more engaged in the future."