Erica Mateo, Project Director of Neighborhood Safety, Center for Court Innovation
Ifeoma Ebo, Senior Design Advisor, NYC Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice
Quilian Riano, Strategic Initiatives Specialist, Office of the Chief Architect, NYC Department of Design and Construction
Shin-Pei Tsay, Executive Director, Gehl Institute
Historically, zoning and building codes have contributed to the concentration of low-income people of color into public housing developments that are physically and financially segregated from the public life of their surrounding neighborhoods. Today many public housing developments account for 20% of the highest crime areas in New York City, as a result of the systematic ghettoization of the low income population. The consequential visual impact on the public realm in these communities is evident in the degradation of urban quality. This session will explore a new initiative – spearheaded by the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice to address crime in and around NYC public housing through an interagency and community engaged approach to addressing crime prevention through design and programming called Neighborhood Activation.