Q&A with Board Chair Diana Reyna

Through her public service as Deputy Brooklyn Borough President (2014–17) and NYC Council Member for the 34th Council District (2001–13), Diana Reyna has often encountered Van Alen’s network of designers and local leaders. Notably, she met former Board member Hana Kassem (Principal, KPF) at a presentation of KPF’s resiliency and renewal work at NYCHA’s Red Hook Houses; this led to more conversations about how NYC can invest in design equity across all five boroughs.

With Hana’s recommendation, Diana joined Van Alen’s board in 2024, and assumed the role of Board Chair in June 2026. As she transitioned into this leadership role, we spoke with Diana about her personal definition of an equitable city and Van Alen’s part in giving form to this vision. This conversation has been lightly edited for clarity.

What first drew you to Van Alen’s work and our mission to create more equitable cities through inclusive design?

As a City Council Member representing Williamsburg, Bushwick, and Ridgewood, my district was home to shade deserts, or areas with very little trees planted. Yet when you crossed one street into another neighborhood, you’d see hundreds of trees. It became clear I was representing two different cities. Where trees were planted in New York City did not necessarily match the demand, and I started to dedicate capital funds to plant more trees across my district.

So I feel like I’ve been working for equitable cities my entire life! During my 22 years of public service, I was trying to create equity in the neighborhoods I represented. I didn’t want to go into Manhattan to receive what I was missing in my own neighborhood. So transitioning into an organization that has the same mission is ideal, and Van Alen has the ability, network, and resources to go from ideation to actualization. And although I’m not an architect, I believe that we’re all designers and we should all have an opportunity to design spaces we want to live in.

What does an equitable city feel like to you?

Enjoying an evening at sunset, dancing in the park, walking to work. Kids being able to enjoy a working swing in their neighborhood park. You know, there are parks that haven’t been touched since the ’70s. We have to want to find and assess the neighborhoods that have been neglected, because the definition of an equitable city for someone who’s always had a working swing may be very different from someone who didn’t. When we enjoy an equitable city, we’re not thinking about a broken swing or how we could fry an egg on the sidewalk because it’s so hot due to shade deserts.

What’s Van Alen’s role in getting to that point?

I see Van Alen as the steward. It’s an institution that can drive an agenda with community. We provide the platform for aspiring practitioners to collaborate with community members and better understand how those relationships result in excellence of service. Creating equitable cities is not just a discussion, it’s a practice. So we have to raise up that practice and educate others about it.

At its core, Van Alen connects design with public life. We operate at the intersection of design, policy, research, civic leadership, and community engagement. We are not solely an architecture organization, policy institution, think tank, or cultural center. Our strength comes from occupying the space between these disciplines and creating opportunities for collaboration that otherwise might not exist.

Our audience extends well beyond designers. It includes architects, planners, policymakers, civic leaders, community organizations, philanthropists, students, researchers, and residents whose lives are shaped by the systems and spaces around them. These audiences are not ends in themselves; they are participants in a larger mission to advance more equitable, resilient, and imaginative futures through design.

New York remains our greatest asset and our most important laboratory. Few places offer the density of challenges, opportunities, talent, institutions, and cultural diversity found here. Housing, climate adaptation, public space, mobility, public health, social cohesion, and economic opportunity are not uniquely New York problems; they are global challenges. The work we undertake here can provide lessons for cities around the world as we learn from one another.

For those aspiring practitioners, what’s something they might contribute to Van Alen? And what’s something they might receive from Van Alen?

Young practitioners come to Van Alen with the ability to be open and build upon what’s come before. Engineering is all about deconstructing to reconstruct and get something even better. I want young practitioners to feel like they can do that with Van Alen.

In exchange, we can help mentor and provide opportunities for that next generation. How do you take design excellence and actually apply it equitably? These are lessons that may not be taught in schools because they’re grounded in lived experiences. Van Alen has an important role to play in facilitating those discussions.

Thank you so much, Diana. Any closing thoughts?

I’m just excited! I’m honored to have the confidence of my peers on Van Alen’s Board, and it’s important to me that we’re thinking long-term about how to leave a legacy of equitable cities for generations to come.