Piloting Innovative Community Engagement Tools for Two Bridges

In dense and growing cities like New York, meaningful community participation in planning and urban design projects is essential to further equitable and sustainable development. This is particularly relevant in Chinatown, Manhattan where the local community needs tools to fight luxury towers, gentrification and the displacement of low-income tenants and businesses. Our project seeks to co-develop a set of interactive digital tools - WE_GENERATE (beta) - that democratize neighborhood planning in Chinatown by empowering citizens to visualize and shape complex urban projects, analyze trade-offs in real-time, and make persuasive data-backed choices that further resilience, preservation, and urban justice. These user-friendly digital tools will actively engage local constituents in the planning process, to ensure that their priorities and concerns are reflected in a proposed Special District for the Chinatown Waterfront.