Welcoming the Radiant Inaugural Cohort of the SCCI Peer-to-Peership!
SCCI Launches Radical Platform To Nurture, Engage, and Empower Urban Communities for Transformative Change
New York, NY, June 26, 2023 — The Shape of Cities to Come Institute (SCCI), a groundbreaking platform committed to bringing together New York City’s most impactful urban activists to think and build together, is excited to announce its launch and the opening of applications for its inaugural "STUDY. PLAY. ACT" peer-to-peership program.
SCCI's mission is to build a network of solidarity across fields by democratizing urbanization processes, countering systemic urban inequities, and redistributing power, decision-making, and resources to those underrepresented yet actively shaping the city. Drawing on the expertise of place-based community leaders, scholars, and technical professionals, the institute aims to elevate and nurture grassroots knowledge about New York City and beyond.
“Cities are shaped by many kinds of people and in many different ways- never exclusively within government offices, corporate boardrooms or academic journals- though these have their place," says Masoom Moitra, Executive Director of SCCI.
“In a context where only certain kinds of knowledge are visible and recognized as being legitimate, our project aims to foster a culture of plurality and collaboration, leading to the creation of transformative approaches, theories, processes, and actionable tools." Masoom brings to this work more than a decade of experience with self-determination centered urban planning, pedagogy, research and design.
SCCI is pleased to be working with a broad range of esteemed institutions and organizations, including The New School, The Clemente Soto Vélez Cultural and Educational Center, the New York Times’ Headway Initiative and the Institute for Public Architecture (IPA). The program intends to offer an ecosystem of care, camaraderie, support and mentorship during and after the STUDY. PLAY. ACT cycle. The course will introduce many to the concept of cities that prioritize the well-being and inclusion of all their residents, aiming for sustainable, equitable, and empathetic urban development.
SCCI is privileged to have an eminent board of members and co-founders that include urban anthropologist and cultural producer Libertad O. Guerra, museum curator and urban justice activist Monxo López, Bronx-based urban designer and researcher Oscar Oliver-Didier, Mexican-born urban planner committed to housing and immigrant justice Gabriela Rendón, acclaimed political urbanist Miguel Robles-Durán, and Samuel Stein, a renowned researcher on housing and urban planning in New York City and author of Capital City: Gentrification and the Real Estate State. Each board member brings a wealth of experience in land-based activism, urban planning, academia, and community outreach, contributing to SCCI's multidisciplinary approach.
"Our board members are actively engaged in the issues that lie at the center of the institute's concerns and have deep and extended networks of trust and collaboration within the activist communities that are a primary focus of this project. It is an honor for our organization to be involved as an anchor partner," says Libertad O. Guerra, the Executive Director of The Clemente Soto Vélez Cultural & Educational Center.
With an extensive background in spatiality, mapping, and social justice, Monxo López shares his excitement, "SCCI offers a unique platform to tackle urbanization and urban justice issues head-on. Organizers who have been on the ground doing this work for a long time don't often have spaces like this to work through issues and ideas together. I am thrilled to be a part of founding this initiative for transformation."
Miguel Robles-Durán, director of the graduate urban program at Parsons School of Design/The New School, underscores the potential impact of SCCI's work, noting that "SCCI embodies the spirit of understanding cities as complex urban and political ecologies that benefit from collaborative learning and radical change-making. As an educator and urbanist, I can see the profound possibilities this platform offers for just urban landscapes.”
SCCI invites organizers, activists, thinkers, cultural workers, writers, scientists, and artists from across New York City's grassroots communities and movements to apply. Each member of the 15-month cohort will receive a stipend of $10,000 and a certificate from The New School, along with additional financial and operational support to implement projects developed within the program. The application deadline is July 24th, and information sessions are ongoing.
About The Shape of Cities to Come Institute (SCCI)
SCCI is a pedagogical peer-learning platform supporting the production of socially and environmentally just propositions for the city. It seeks to empower the visions and activism of New York City's working class neighborhoods and communities of color, fostering a diverse network of urban practitioners for transformative urban change. SCCI is generously supported by Mellon Foundation’s Humanities in Place Program.
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