Van Alen Institute Projects In Public Architecture

Programs: Competitionsfor 120 years, we have been organizing inventive design competitions that shape the built environment. We see the design competition as a vehicle to mobilize people across disciplines to develop innovative approaches to complex social, cultural, and ecological challenges around the world. In 2016, we worked on competitions ranging from a competition to address sea level rise in south florida (shore to core) to memorials for the future, an ideas competition to reimagine how we think about, feel, and experience memorials. Additional projects included: a flash competition to shutdown of the heavily traveled l train; next parks coltsville, a competition that engaged communities to imagine the future of national parks; and fair share, which challenged students to apply the tools and technologies of the sharing economy in support of more equitable access to resources, sustainable built environments, and enriched lives for urban residents.

public programswe host energetic, festival-style seasons of public events in new york city for a broad audience of urban enthusiasts and professionals. Explore a continuously updated selection of our programs that engage a diverse range of topics designed to provoke, enlighten, question, and critically examine the themes of multi-year inquiries. In 2016, our fall festival mandate explored how political mandates and public participation shape the urban landscape. In the spring we looked at the theme of disruption through a festival of public programs where we questioned and looked beyond the current concept of disruption, and used this buzzword as a lens for better understanding cities. We also launched van alen sessions, a video series that takes viewers on revealing trips through a citys internal workings, documenting conversations with urban planning practitioners and city dwellers. The series brings together the analysis of experts and the experiences of ordinary people.

researchvan alens research is grounded in a firm belief that design is a crucial tool for investigating the most pressing social, cultural, and ecological challenges we face. Our research projects draw on the expertise of leaders from the world of policy, science, the arts, economics, medicine, and beyond. Our goal is to advance new thinking and creative solutions to evolving problems. In 2016, we initiated work on justice in design, a set of guidelines for healthier new york city jails. Van alen institute, a nonprofit organization headquartered in new york city, has been using design to tackle complex social, ecological, and cultural challenges for over 120 years. Justice in design builds on van alen's interest in the impact that people's surroundings have on their wellbeing, and in how civic buildings and public infrastructure can be made more equitable.