Designing for the City of Strangers

Malleable Environments and the Pursuit of Spatial Justice in the Bronx

“…Krzysztof Wodiczko, writing about designs that could facilitate dialog in new urban contexts, described the benefits of creating a "thing in between," a neutral zone or object that would help facilitate dialogue amongst "strangers" from different social groups who possess different amounts of political power [20]. The MotF application can be viewed individually, promoting a more reflective experience, or as the type of mediating platform Wodiczko describes, as part of a guided, public, location-based cinema walk, led by project participants who possess agency over their surroundings.…”

Scaffolding Undergraduate Engineering Design Education with the Wellbeing Framework

“…Yet, engineers frequently fail to consult with the intended users. 33,[50][51][52] Engineering activities aimed at alleviating poverty frequently involve designing for a stranger 53 rather than as a result of responding to a lived experience, as professional engineers rarely find themselves living in poverty. This approach situates power and agency amongst professionals rather than with local communities, 41 where the intended audience are passive recipients of charity, rational consumers operating within a scope of choices, or active citizens within socio-technical systems.…”