Civic Leadership Program

On October 4, 2024, the AIANY Civic Leadership Program (CLP) hosted Thriving Together: Tackling NYC’s Ecological Challenges, an insightful round table exploring the role of biodiversity in enhancing New York City’s resilience.

On Thursday, November 9, the 2023 class of the AIANY Civic Leadership Program (CLP) hosted a public event. The centerpiece of the event was an open mic story slam, for which the Civic Leaders invited members of the public to share personal stories about how the built environment has impacted their lives.

What is queer space? What would it take for architects to consider queer and trans people as critical stakeholders? How can architects find shared language with queer and trans folks? These were some of the large questions we tried to answer in the 2023 AIANY Civic Leadership Program (CLP)‘s fifth Development Session.

On Friday, September 15, the 2023 class of the AIANY Civic Leadership Program (CLP) hosted their fourth development session, organized by Ivan Himanen, AIA, and Tiana Howell, Assoc. AIA, NOMA. The session focused on data in architecture and planning—a previously under-discussed topic within the CLP.

Committed to the idea that everyone should be able to afford and access resilient infrastructure and emergency resources to secure their safety, the 10 fellows of AIA New York’s 2023 Civic Leadership Program gathered to explore how to increase emergency preparedness and infrastructure for vulnerable communities.

For the first time in AIANY Civic Leadership Program history, the cohort discussed historic preservation as part of their second development session in 2023. The New York Public Library’s Jefferson Market Library was a fitting setting for the topic. The library is a 1959 case study of community engagement to save a building, a former late-19th century courthouse in Greenwich Village, and the city’s response that met their needs.

For its first development session of 2023, the AIA New York Civic Leadership Program met at the Center for Architecture on July 14, 2023 to engage in a conversation on how New York City’s needs identified and prioritized to allow its residents to function and thrive.

The Civic Leadership Program’s second public event dove into the environmental, financial, and social impacts of construction and demolition waste disposal in NYC and explored circular models for waste management.

The event, which took place at the Center for Architecture, focused on the rising importance of cycling since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and on opportunities and limitations for cycling infrastructure in New York City through three primary lenses: equity, education, and enforcement.

The panel tackled limitations and opportunities to further equity in the commons, ranging from challenges of capital funding, maintenance budgets, and cross-community collaborations to creative funding solutions to make impactful changes to our neighborhoods.

This session explored existing models for community-sourced design and planning methodologies, surveying a diverse range of topics including past and present approaches to community participation, community land trusts and mutual aid, solidarity economics, the role of academia and technology in participatory planning, and “inside out” models that center praxis and knowledge building within communities.

The session was focused on how successfully supportive housing in New York City addresses homelessness, and what can be done to improve its design and construction.

On Friday, July 15, the 2022 class of the AIANY Civic Leadership Program hosted their first hybrid development session, organized by Tosin Bamidele, Assoc. AIA, and Bradley Sherburne, AIA. The session focused on urban happiness, its catalysts, effects, and applications.

In collaboration with industry professionals, session participants discussed various coastal climate adaptation pathways through political, financial, and social lenses.

On June 11, the AIANY and nycobaNOMA’s Civic Leadership Program (CLP) hosted its sixth-annual Kick-Off at the Center for Architecture. Ten carefully-selected civic leaders were introduced to the origin, mission, and objectives of the program.

As we experience shifts in practice and pedagogy, many within the design community are reevaluating our agency as designers, questioning our approaches to work, and grappling with the social impact of design.

The program focused on the legalization of basement units, exploring issues of climate resilience, the housing crisis, life safety, and local and state policy improvement.

Titled “Advocating for Park Improvements via NYC’s Prevalent Park Ownership and Operational Models,” the session provided background into existing challenges to the parks system and explored how to advocate for park improvements.

The session, “Affordable Housing, Preservation & Data,” explored how architects can use housing preservation, historic preservation, and data as tools to combat the affordable housing crisis.

The session, “Past, Present and Future of the Public Review Process,” dove into the history and the status quo of the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP).

The AIANY Civic Leadership Program’s second development session explored how communities have sought to empower themselves in the face of these pressures through neighborhood-scale community plans and building-scale shared equity housing models.

The session focused on the transition of outdoor dining structures from an emergency temporary response to the COVID-19 pandemic to more permanent structures.

While the program has adapted to a changing landscape, underlying commitment to encourage design professionals to recognize and act upon their agency to make a larger positive impact on our communities has remained constant.

Reacting against the barriers to progress that the CLP members felt impede growth in the architecture profession, the cohort reached out to offices they viewed as having significant community impact.

With a record number of absentee ballots and early voting, our voting systems and voting spaces have been put to the test. As architects and designers—but more importantly as citizens—what can we do to contribute to voter participation and enhance democracy for all?

On Friday, October 2, Civic Leaders Corey Arena, Assoc. AIA, and Betsy Daniel, AIA, conducted the fifth and final development session for the 2020 AIANY Civic Leadership Program (CLP). The session’s title, “School Integration and Its Spatialization,” pointed to an important facet of racial inequality in the United States—that segregation is a spatial act.

The session explored the notion of how we can, as civic-minded individuals, designers and architects, push for an agenda that elevates non-market housing stock through methodologies that advocate and activate lasting resiliency within supportive, public, and affordable housing.

The session focused on the shifting forms of justice in New York City, allowing for the cohort to critique the different ways justice can be served in courts and communities.

In NYC, where the profit is often prioritized over the needs of communities, how can we ensure that the ground floor reflects those it is meant to serve?

The cohort explored how architects can work within legacy and novel systems to better tackle the challenges we face today.

The final AIANY Civic Leadership Program (CLP) event for 2019, Agency: An Architect’s Tools for Civic Engagement, was held on December 3 at the Center for Architecture in an effort to empower architects to have a more proactive civic role.

Some are permanent and others temporary, some purpose-built and others borrowed, but as these protective features accumulate, how do we understand their impact on our public realm?

When involved with complex public projects, and particularly when balancing multiple stakeholders, architects can find value in increased user-input throughout the design process.

Architects are giving increased attention to the important concept of social equity as they works to define their role as stewards of public welfare.

The AIANY Civic Leadership Program’s (CLP) Class of 2019 convened for their third development session to explore exclusion, inclusion, and engagement in the public realm from the standpoint of children and teens.

How alternative project delivery methods differ from traditional methods, how they are utilized in New York City, and how they can best serve the public.

The CLP class of 2019 dissected how emerging technologies impact the design of our cities, our buildings, and our communities.

On Saturday, June 1, the 10 new leaders selected for the 2019 class of the AIA New York Civic Leadership Program (CLP) gathered at the Center for Architecture.

On November 9, the AIANY Civic Leadership Program (CLP) discussed how learners of all ages engage with the built environment. “EDUCATION – Inside | Out” was the last of the CLP’s five development sessions.

The Civic Engagement Survey was issued earlier this year to gage civic engagement, equity, and political advocacy practices currently exercised by AIA New York-affiliated principals across New York City.

The AIANY Civic Leadership Program (CLP), delved into affordable housing by visiting with the PDC at New York City Hall, followed by an open forum and workshop with Chhaya.

On September 20, the 2018 AIANY Civic Leadership Program (CLP) hosted its first public event, “Architects, as Required: Exploring the Periphery of Design.”

Architecture alone cannot solve homelessness, but when our skills are applied to the issue, we have the ability to create a path that promotes growth, development, and self discovery.

The 2018 Civic Leadership Program‘s second development session focused on public service in the form of  joining a non-profit or community board.

The first development session of the 2018 Civic Leadership Program delved into grant procurement as a means for architects to serve a greater number of communities and expand the boundaries of our practice.

The kick-off focused on the need for architects to take action by finding opportunities for civic involvement.

AIA New York, along with the AIANY Emerging New York Architects Committee, are now accepting applications for the 2018 AIANY Civic Leadership Program (CLP).

On 11.17.17, the AIANY Civic Leadership Program (CLP) hosted its second and final public program, “…And Justice for All: Reconstituting Just Potentials.”

On 10.20.17, the fifth and final development session of the 2017 AIANY Civic Leadership Program highlighted three practitioners and leaders working to impact change in the regulation of the built environment.

On 09.25.17, the first of two public events of AIANY’s Civic Leadership Program (CLP), “Of, By, and For The People: Grassroots Movements and Policy Transformations,” highlighted the work of four practitioners from across the country.

On 09.29.17, the fourth development session of the AIANY Civic Leadership Program (CLP) brought together six practitioners from various professions—architecture, art, landscape architecture, law, and urban design.

On 09.25.17, members of AIANY’s Civic Leadership Program are hosting the first of two public events, Of, By, and For The People: Grassroots Movements and Policy Transformations, at the Center for Architecture.

The AIANY Civic Leadership Program (CLP) held its second of five development sessions this past Friday, 08.18.17, with the emphasis on how architects can facilitate inclusive and productive community engagement.

On 07.21.17, AIANY’s Civic Leadership Program convened at the Center for Architecture for the first of five development sessions.

AIA New York and the AIANY Emerging New York Architects Committee (ENYA) are pleased to announce the 2017 class of the Civic Leadership Program (CLP).

On 06.24.17, the AIANY Emerging New York Architects Committee kicked off the Civic Leadership Program (CLP) at the Center for Architecture.

AIA New York has launched a new initiative to cultivate and train the next generation of civic leaders in our profession.