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Community Connection
Pre-thesis Interventions The summer of 2012, we started our collaboration with NKCDC. One initiative, the “Big Green Block,� is a project bringing sustainable green infrastructure and education to an area that borders Fishtown and East Kensington. This is part of a 25-year citywide initiative to bring green storm water management projects to areas of Philadelphia. Multiple stakeholders are involved in this project including, NKCDC, Philadelphia Water Department, Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, Mural Arts and Philadelphia Parks and Rec. A team of Master of Industrial Design students from the University of The Arts facilitated a workshop organized by NKCDC (New Kensington Community Development Corp.). NKCDC believes strongly that the community should be involved in the decision making. The goal of the workshop was to engage multiple stakeholders within the community in a collaborative exercise to inform the design of phase two of their Big Green Block. Participants of the workshop were divided into four groups and asked to brainstorm descriptive words they would use to describe the ideal future of the space. Each group had a UArts designer as a facilitator who directed the group members to externalize their thoughts. This sparked some interesting conversation within the groups as the participants discussed what the space and the neighborhood meant to them.