Reclaiming the Commons through Play

Professor Deborah Gans and a multidisciplinary team of faculty are working with the Center for Court Innovation’s Neighborhood Safety Initiative on a participatory design project to help re-envision underutilized public spaces on three NYCHA campuses in East Harlem. In the context of a post-covid city beset by segregation, disinvestment, and violence, this project aims to create much-needed intergenerational space for healing and gathering with and for residents of Wagner, Jefferson and Johnson Houses.