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Placemaking Evaluation Fellowship

The Van Alen Placemaking Evaluation Fellowship provides hands-on experience evaluating the power of design to bring life to public spaces. Seven undergraduate and graduate students evaluate the quality of public life at 2-3 sites in New York City using the tools and methods of Gehl, a pioneer in understanding how design of public spaces can improve civic life.

Participants gain the opportunity to learn valuable skills in evaluating public spaces, while exploring the city through Van Alen’s co-produced installations and programs, and sharing their insights and skills with Van Alen’s community organization partners.

With the support of the Senior Fellow the cohort take its collected data and observations, and produce a variety of creative, impactful images that express the insights they have gained into how public spaces serve communities, and how those spaces might be made more inclusive.

• In-person training on using Gehl’s Public Life Tools
• Collecting data on-site at the Van Alen Block Party in Gowanus
• Collecting data on-site at 2-3 installations co-produced by Van Alen Institute in NYC
• Educational workshop on methodologies for observing and analyzing public life in public spaces
• Learning how insights are applied in Van Alen’s partner organizations
• Optional field trip to share fellows’ observations and skills with Van Alen’s community partners in Albany, NY