COVID-19 New Paradigms in Urbanism & Design: Q & A with Design for Six Feet
Anna Dietzsch, Liz McEnaney and Kaja Kühl
The APA Urban Design Committee is conducting a series of conversations with urbanists who are thinking about the future of Urbanism and Design in the age of COVID-19.
Abstract:
As Urban Designers and Planners we are stewards of a unique perspective through which to view our surroundings. Our social infrastructures and daily routines as New Yorkers have been uprooted by the pandemic. Oriented in our neighborhoods, how can we seed more equitable and resilient futures for the built environment?
Anna Dietzsch, Liz McEnaney and Kaja Kühl are the co-founders of Design For Six Feet, an initiative to reimagine urban spaces in response to COVID-19 as a way to help cities — big and small — rethink their public space to help residents stay safe and to prepare for the health, social and economic recovery ahead. The three also teach Urban Design at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation.
How has the pandemic affected your community, workplace, and daily routines?
Design for Six Feet: Shortly before we all went to shelter in place in March, we had started loose conversations about collaborating on urban design projects together. Since then we had weekly meetings on zoom to discuss our values, mission and ideas for what kind of organization we would want to create. Co-creation, activism and sharing knowledge were three key aspects of urban design that were important to us, but it was all very abstract. Slowly, the intersection of urban design and the pandemic became part of our weekly conversations.
What differences have you noticed in the urban fabric of your neighborhood or the built environment of your city?
Design for Six Feet: We discussed ideas for responses to what we perceived in our respective environments at the time: The need for more sidewalk space where people wait in line; the unfortunate lost opportunities in closing all the basketball courts in New York City instead of repurposing them for contactless activities; the open streets movement, and so on. In the spirit of co-creation and amplifying many voices, we pivoted towards a format that wouldn’t be only about our own ideas for public space, but would allow us to amplify and connect the many ideas and experiments happening right now all over the world. We were particularly inspired by this video of a spontaneous physically distanced sidewalk dance party in Detroit. There are so many simple creative solutions to being physically distanced but socially connected. And as always, members of a community are as much experts as urban designers. So in early May, we started with a simple instagram account @designforsixfeet and began posting ideas from all over the world.
How would you describe the evolution of public space interventions as seen on your instagram feed?
Design for Six Feet: We are now four months into this experiment, we have about 2300 followers. So we are far away from being “influencers” but we have had beautiful exchanges with people across the world who are working on ideas of repurposing public space to be safe. We mostly repost when people tag us or we post things that we find inspiring. We know that “six feet” oversimplifies the science as well as the current debate about cities during and after the pandemic. And so does the format of instagram. But it is engaging in a global dialogue that is positive, highlighting humor and creativity. In the early days, there was for instance Tactical Urbanistas, @tact_urbanistas, a group of women in London, who went out and painted street or parking spaces in front of supermarkets to alleviate crowding, where people have to wait in line.
These interventions have become more sophisticated and we see more examples by architects and urban designers. While the month of May was about pop-up bike lanes and open streets, June and July was all about the reopening of restaurants and businesses. Cities across the country were developing their guidelines for “streateries” and parklets over the course of days or weeks. Design and designers took on a greater role.
We ourselves pivoted to an interest in outdoor recreation, play and learning during the later weeks of the summer as discussions about school reopenings took center stage. We will describe more on that below. The next thing on everybody’s mind is: How do we keep this up, when it gets cold?
As an Urban Designer (or Planner), what changes to our physical environment should become a permanent part of the urban planning and design process as we move closer to re-opening despite the enduring pandemic?
Design for Six Feet: As has been said by many before, the pandemic revealed systemic failures and inequalities that have been present for a long time. We are cautiously optimistic and highly motivated to use our momentum to actively engage in the spatial justice issues revealed. For Design For Six Feet, this means we would like to focus on creative ways of adapting public space to accommodate essential and dire needs, especially in places hardest hit by the pandemic or its economic consequences. How can we better accommodate those who do not have the ability to learn or work from home? How can waiting outside a foodbank be done not only safely but with dignity? How can the opening of public space for private restaurant businesses be done in a fair, inclusive and equitable way? These are all questions about short term measures. More significantly, we need to engage in a complete shift toward public investment for the benefit of all.
In your view, has social distancing yielded any unexpected benefits to the built environment?
Design for Six Feet: The ad hoc transformations of streets everywhere is energizing and has opened up conversations that seemed impossible a year ago. We should be careful though not to see them as the actual transformation but a beautiful form of community engagement. They are experiments, and make visible to everyone what might be possible. They should be seen as process, not outcome. As urban designers, we have an extraordinary opportunity to include as many voices as possible in this experiment to heal our public space from past mistakes and create equitable healthy spaces for our future; To listen and observe.
@designforsixfeet is only one small place, where this process is discussed on a global scale. Back in May, there was a lot of pressure mounting from within and outside New York City government. “Look, what Paris is doing”, “Look what’s happening in New Zealand”. If you walk on Vanderbilt Avenue in Brooklyn now on a Saturday, you see families picnicking on the median.
Are there specific ways you have focused on staying positive throughout the pandemic?
Design for Six Feet: Not sure about positive. We all had our frustrations with the limitations the pandemic imposed on our lives at times and more than once felt “zoomed out.” But starting Design For Six Feet had a positive impact on our outlook and perception of our own ability to address the pandemic. We were watching and contributing positive and optimistic ideas for public space. We were engaging with knowledge around what is safe to do and how we all can enjoy public life and stay socially connected. As a side effect, we were able to make more confident decisions about our own comfort level of what feels safe to do outdoors and with others.
What are your predictions, if any, on permanent effects or impacts of the pandemic on the urban realm?
Design for Six Feet: (Kaja Kühl) There were days when I was watching my 4-year old daughter practice bicycling on a quiet tree-lined residential “open street” and thought “Why would we ever give this up again?” More broadly, we probably all hope to see a meaningful alignment between the various different crisis that we currently face as a society: A public health crisis, the climate crisis and the movement for social justice and equity. This pandemic has shown all of us that things can change really quickly. Let’s use this momentum to change.
What question have we missed in this conversation? Is there anything else in relation to this dynamic time you would like to share?
Design for Six Feet: Since May, Design For Six Feet has expanded beyond a social media account. Over the course of the summer, we have been able to engage with some smaller cities in the Hudson Valley to design and implement public space interventions for distancing and recovery. We have strong connections to the Hudson Valley through our teaching and wanted to contribute our capacity to places that otherwise may not have the resources to organize any public space interventions.
In Hudson, we worked with Future Hudson, Hudson Hall and the City of Hudson to implement Shared Streets, a program which allows businesses to expand into their main street and reduce traffic and speeds on weekends. The City invested in infrastructure such as movable planters that served as street barriers, picnic tables and public restrooms. All of this was built by a local artist employing local youth over the summer. As part of the program, we developed a “Whose Streets” curriculum for local youth to discuss urban design and the right to use the street.
In Newburgh, we organized a design competition “Design For Play” to bring ideas of how to create engaging environments for play and learning in streets and public spaces. We are currently working with the three winners and three Newburgh-based organizations to implement the proposals. We created a website to publish all 70 entries and would love to see these ideas spread to other places. People can contact us to get in touch with the designers.
About the Author
Charlie Cunningham is a dedicated urbanist and Project Manager at the firm EA Creative in New York City, focusing on the intersection of Urban Design, Architecture, and Technology. You can follow more of his photos, stories, and current fieldwork on Instagram @charlieprima.
Voices of Urban Design is a discussion forum that is curated by the APA New York Metro Chapter’s Urban Design Committee. Posts are edited for clarity and length only; opinions and statements that appear in this blog are not endorsed by the American Planning Association nor its affiliates. We expect and encourage healthy debate!
