Illustration by Heidi Chisholm
Cohabitation Strategies’ Playgrounds for Useful Knowledge Report was presented at a neighborhood convening today in South Philadelphia. The event was curated by the Philadelphia Mural Arts’ Restore Spaces Initiative and Lucia Sanromán, the project curator. The neighborhood convening aimed to discuss the research process and findings, and explore with community stakeholders ways of cooperation and civic engagement for the coming phases of this long term project. Speakers and participants included: Lucia Babina, Kirtrina Baxter, Christi Clark, Cynthia F. Figueroa, Emiliano Gandolfi, Jane Golden, Sovannary Heang, Shari Hersh, Dr. Maria Rosario Jackson, Leela Kuikel, Beth McConnell, Leah Murphy, Thoai Nguyen, Pepón Osorio, Marjetica Potrč, Gabriela Rendón, Damon Rich, Miguel Robles-Durán, Carlos Pascual Sanchez, Lucía Sanromán, Daniel Tucker, Beth Uzwiak, Shira Walinsky, and Rebecca Wanner. For more information about the event click here.
The report has been envisioned as a tool for a long term engagement of the Restore Spaces Program in South Philadelphia, and a call for action and collaboration for local community members, organizers, artists and activists. We would like to thank to all the persons that made possible this publication, especially to community members and civic associations that shared their knowledge and visions. Playgrounds for Useful Knowledge’s report and graphic identity was designed by Heidi Chisholm, a dear friend and collaborator.
Photos by Heidi Chisholm
Playgrounds for Useful Knowledge is a community-based experimental urban platform that uses play, games and performance to reveal, share and celebrate local knowledge produced in South Philadelphia, an area known for its rich cultural and ethnic diversity. A project by Cohabitation Strategies (CohStra), Playgrounds seeks the restructuring of urban spaces by promoting new social relations across cultural and economic divides, with the objective of generating just and sustainable forms of collective inhabiting to confront the pressures of accelerated urban development. For more information about the project click here.
Major support for Playgrounds for Useful Knowledge has been provided by The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage.