A few good things

November 5, 2020

I went back and forth this week, wondering if I felt up to writing and/or if you felt up to reading.

Personally, I've spent the last 48 hours refreshing pages and re-checking results, logging off Twitter (do yourself a favour), and feverishly cycling around town so that I’m exhausted enough to sit down for a second and do my job.

So, I thought, I'll keep it simple this week. Here are a few projects that make me go, 'that is how you do it.' The stuff that keeps me going. I think that’s just what this week needs.

Resources

Creative Grounds at Anthony Overton Elementary

This project worked as an “organizing platform to facilitate collaborative projects” amongst residents and visitors to a closed down school in Chicago. By activating the space temporarily, participants had the opportunity to collaborate through hands-on activity. Check out the video and while you’re at it, see what else Borderless Studio is up to.

Opening Up Between New and Long-time Detroiters

It’s time for conversations to reach out to everyday people, the people we don’t normally see. We need to encourage more conversations with people who don’t have a ‘name’ or access.

This initiative, called the Better Arguments Project, is working to help Americans have better arguments. In this example, we’re in Detroit where participants have come together to discuss the tensions between newcomers and long time residents of the city.

Co-Designing in a Pandemic

After intensive ethnographic research with street-involved adults in Edmonton before the pandemic, the city had found that people who were living on the streets were “seeking something more than services.” Fast forward to the pandemic, the project is now looking to co-design a role to provide those connections.

Thanks

This was originally published on my newsletter, Design With. It was archived in 2023.