Congratulations to Paula Segal, our 2014 Summer Stipend Recipient

With Urban Reviewer Signage for Urban Renewal Areas in New York City Paula and her colleagues will produce and implement signs to mark active renewal areas, to help build awareness of urban renewal plans.

From Paula’s Summer Stipend Application:

“The City of New York has adopted over 150 urban renewal plans for our neighborhoods. Neighborhood master plans were adopted to get federal funding for acquiring land, relocating the people living there, demolishing the structures and making way for new public and private development. Plan adoptions started in 1949 and many plans remain active today. Development in the plan areas sometimes happened, like Lincoln Center, and sometimes didn’t, like many still-vacant lots in East New York and Bushwick.”

“We want to design signs that will mark active urban renewal areas and places that were planned as open space through urban renewal and put them up. We want to show how the history of planning impacts present-day neighborhoods and connect current residents with opportunities to shape their part of the city.”

Read more about the Urban Reviewer process here, or check out their new database.

Here’s what our panelists had to say about Paula’s application:

“We were impressed with the overall project and it’s potential to improve the quality of life of many New Yorkers. The goals were realistic and would contribute in a clear and tangible way to the project.”

“I appreciated the breadth and depth the team has already committed to this project and documented in their website and entry. It seems this is a well-developed idea that needs a marketing push to make it more visible to people most likely to be affected by their work.”

“This is an awesome project. I love it because we all want to find out about this real estate, this communal property. Don’t we all think, as we walk around the city – “Why is this lot empty? What used to be here? What ought to be here?” But we rarely take action, much less dive into city records, create a database, engage in community planning and bring about positive change. I’m hugely impressed by the amount and quality of research that this team has already done; it’s a massive, amazing project.”

“A street level presence would be great for the work they are doing. Successful execution and results seem like a sure bet with this one.”

“Very admirable cause. There are plenty of similar grassroots organizations like this who want to bring more greenery to cities, not just NYC. However, these guys are fully involved and have already put in a lot of time and effort to get urban renewal going. Very clear about what they want and why.”

Thanks to all of this year’s applicants!

Check out all of the great submissions from our 2014 finalists.