The pandemic has created and exposed a number of challenges in our cities and built environments. From local neighborhoods to city parks, school campuses and major urban areas, we are having to rethink the way we design and use public spaces.

One of the most interesting realizations has been that we have built our cities and public places with hopes for the long term, but our changing reality requires swifter adaptability. On this weekend summit, we will work as small teams to brainstorm how temporary and flexible ideas can create the cities, campuses, and neighborhoods of the future. 

What is “Urban Prototyping”?

The summit is based around the idea of Urban Prototyping. While many of us who work in design are very familiar with prototyping, urban prototyping is the specific idea that cities (and the built environment) should be experimental. Essentially, our cities should be prototypes themselves. This approach means that cities should be comprised of lightweight, flexible, quick experiments to learn what works and then slowly improve.

We are seeing examples of this right now as public spaces experiment with new social distancing paint or outdoor dining structures, and improve them week by week. We will look at these case studies to think about urban prototyping during and after the pandemic.

We will also apply urban prototyping to the familiar places in our lives. For example, a school campus is a perfect venue to experiment with new lunch areas, creative classroom layouts, and a range of temporary interventions.

At the summit we will share more examples of urban prototyping and the thinking behind this discipline.

The Summit

The summit is a weekend-long virtual event exploring the challenges to our cities and the idea of urban prototyping. We will be hosting all events online and helping connect international remote teams, or supporting in-person school teams working together.

Prior to the summit, individuals or groups will propose the topics they want to work on and have access to our online platform and network. The weekend of the summit will have a series of events and breakout sessions to support the groups as they develop their projects.

Students will have options to prototype at home, in their yards, on campus, or in the backyard where possible, but we will also be supporting virtual tinkering, sketching, and online collaboration to respect the needs of the current safety environment.

We will also support student groups in designing an in-person or online prototyping meet-up, and in collecting basic modeling and prototyping supplies to have at home.

Pricing:

Standard Individual Student Registration: $75

The program is based on a flexible pricing model. Individual students can register for $75 and classes can join as a group (up to 10 students) for $300. We also offer reduced program fees for students or schools that are unable to pay the standard fee.

Dates & Registration:

Exact dates will be confirmed based on availability (please complete this form below) and we will select one or a few options. The global program will take place in late November or December with a mix of synchronous meetings taking place between 11am - 3pm EST on Saturday and Sunday. We will also provide asynchronous materials to help students prepare for the summit and meet their teammates, and possible in-person or remote collaborations outside of the main program hours. For groups that enroll all at once, you can also schedule your own timing to participate in the summit with access to all the resources, coaching and some expert speakers.