Community Census: A Collaborative Neighborhood Survey

Category
Social Impact Strategy
About This Project

 

Empowering community members to share neighborhood perceptions and assess local needs through an interactive public installation.

 

Frustrated with the existing approached to public engagement, TYTHEdesign and 3×3 Design were looking to enhance traditional means of data collection to create positive social impact. Drawing on the organizations’ backgrounds in design thinking, urban planning, and community development, the groups collaborated to explore community members’ nuanced neighborhood perceptions while bringing a fresh approach to data collection.

 

OUR STRATEGY

 

Community Consensus, an interactive neighborhood data collection tool, was co-created between TYTHEdesign and 3×3 Design.  Through information collection and community engagement, the tool seeks to empower individuals to share feedback about and take action regarding existing resources and neighborhood needs. The interactive tool uses yarn and nails to publicly record their concerns and interests regarding their neighborhood. The project seeks to build positive, impactful, collaborative outcomes, rather than simply output. To create scalable impact, the team turned the pilot into a kit that can be purchased by any community organization, customizable with the specific insight they hope to gather.

 

THE OUTCOME

Diverse Community Input

To date, the project has collected data from 600+ participants across NYC, including Greenwich Village and–in partnership with the Brooklyn Public Library–Fort Greene, Kensington and Grand Army Plaza Brooklyn neighborhoods.

 

Creative Data Collection

Local individuals and organizations use Community Census to creatively collect and analyze data, driving neighborhood growth and change in ways that benefit all stakeholders in the community. Users report that Community Census has directly encouraged dialogue about how their organizations can address resource gaps in the neighborhoods that they serve.

 


 

Client: Brooklyn Public Library, Village Alliance.

 

Collaborators: 3×3 Design (Megan Marini, Vanessa Smith) TYTHEdesign (Kristina Drury, Grace Moore, Marta Aubia)

 

Year: 2015-2016