“Staten Island’s Turning Point?” asked a New York Times headline not too long ago announcing the big wave of real estate development on the doorsteps of NYC’s fastest growing borough. Multi-million dollar projects are now underway along the North Shore waterfront in the Naturally Occurring Cultural District of St. George, Tompkinsville, and Stapleton.

Join us for a discussion about how the arts can be a powerful civic tool in this time of transformation. The Design Trust for Public Space’s Future Culture Photo Urbanism Fellowship, in partnership with Staten Island Arts and the Alice Austen House, expresses a critical perspective on the diverse cultural community of Staten Island’s North Shore. The selected Fellow Gareth Smit's photography will complement the parallel Design Trust project, Future Culture — an experiment in ways for artists and developers to engage in planning their community together, including long-term strategies for neighborhood revitalization, sustainability, and equitable economic development.

The panel, moderated by Design Trust executive director Susan Chin, FAIA, Hon. ASLA, will include Gareth Smit, our Future Culture Photo Urbanism Fellow; Paul Moakley (Jury Chair), Deputy Director of Photography and Visual Enterprise, TIME & Caretaker and Curator, Alice Austen House; and Monica Valenzuela (Juror), Deputy Director, Staten Island Arts.

This event is part of the NYC Design Talks at Cooper Union during the NYCxDESIGN week.