Public space is like air.
It's something you don't think about until you are lacking it.
And then you realize that you have no space to move, you have no space to meet your neighbors,
you have no space to feel like you are part of a place.
One of the benefits of public space that is owned by the public and not by any private interest
is that that's the place where the unscripted happens and where the encounters take place.
It's healthy. We need to see trees. It's good for the psyche. It reduces crime.
We truly believe in the value of public space and the value of design and how it can transform people's lives.
The design trust for public space unlocks the potential of underused public space.
We've worked on urban farming. We've worked on taxis. We've looked at the spaces below elevated transit infrastructure.
We've worked on neighborhoods. To us, all of that is public space.
The design trust was started to bring together different worlds.
The world of design experts and the world of public agencies that were really charged with making public space happen.
Also, the people whose lives would be shaped by these projects.
And I felt that there was a lack of dialogue between these parties.
Most of our projects come through an open call. The reason we do that is because we're trying to find real emerging needs.
Design trust always partners with other organizations to take on projects to improve public space in New York City.
We also work with the partner to determine what disciplines are required to make this the most effective project.
Design trust has had 83 fellows now in 20 years.
We have worked with your typical architect, urban designer, landscape architect.
Video fellows. We've had graphic design fellows, urban design fellows, policy fellows, participatory design fellows, landscape architecture fellows.
Product designers, economists, artists.
Because in most cases, you see the symptoms of something, but you don't actually know what the source of the problem is.
So a lot of the work of the design trust is problem identification.
The time at which it was founded, the people that were working in public agencies honestly didn't get a whole lot of respect.
It was very obvious that there was a distinct hierarchy within the design profession.
Nobody even thought that it was a problem. The landscape really has changed dramatically.
What I observe now is that the value of public space is almost universally accepted.
There's a lot of synchrony about the importance of public space, the importance of community-based design, the importance of partnerships.
I think it's still really important that there are design nonprofits that are convening people across silos that are bringing together government agencies, design professionals,
and all kinds of stakeholders in the general public to look at public space issues.
The design trust is in a position of being kind of honest broker.
We are fully independent, we are not part of the city, but that's critical because we can agitate, innovate upon city processes and agencies in a way that only outside third party can act.
What are the measures of success for a design trust project?
For example, the High Line. When Josh David and Robert Hammett first brought us this project, they were just two guys and we helped to connect them to policymakers
and also to a level of inquiry which led to this structure becoming the amazing park that it is today.
Design trust has many lessons learned and a lot of them relate to how we engage community.
We've learned that meaningful engagement needs to happen throughout a project so that you're building a discussion, building a dialogue.
The added value that the design trust brings to these projects is having an outside voice.
That's really the strength of the design trust's contribution to all of this, is creating a neutral space for thinking beyond the stock and trade solutions that everybody have already come up with.
It changes the power dynamic where you don't just have a consulting relationship, it's that we are problem seeking and problem solving together.
Thank you.
