Together North Jersey

Placemaking in Context: Honoring the Culture and History of Communities
2024-04-26 09:00 - 12:15 UTC | Edward J. Bloustein School, 33 Livingston Avenue, New Brunswick, New Jersey, 08901
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Placemaking in Context: Honoring the Culture and History of Communities
Date: Friday April 26, 2024
Location: Bloustein Special Events Forum, New Brunswick, NJ
Placemaking strengthens the connection between people and places. Join us as we examine placemaking through a lens of arts and humanities with transportation, highlighting the culture and histories of local communities and encouraging safe, active transportation through the built environment.
This workshop, Honoring the Culture and History of Communities, is open to municipalities, planners, and anyone else interested in learning about placemaking. Speakers represent a variety of projects and places with different goals and outcomes – remembering events of the past, preserving community memories, acknowledging changing landscapes, and celebrating communities that occupy spaces in the present.
Attendees will walk away with:

Examples of diverse types of placemaking, demonstrated by the variety of speakers, projects, and locations.
The integration of arts and humanities into placemaking through public history, landscape architecture, and storytelling.
Placemaking and active transportation through presentations about Strollology (the science of walking), public art, and safety.
An opportunity to share their own ideas and troubleshoot issues in their communities through a hands-on workshop.

Keynote Speaker:

Nina Cooke John, Founding Principal, Studio Cooke John Architecture + Design

Panelists:

Professor Kristin O’Brassill-Kulfan, Assistant Teaching Professor & Coordinator of Public History – History Department, Rutgers University School of Arts and Sciences (AIR Collaborative)
Jennifer Souder, Founder, Asbury Park African-American Music Project
Diane Shelton, MSW, Community Outreach Specialist, Interfaith Neighbors
Tamara Remedios, Director of Neighborhood Activations for Global Center for Urban Innovations, Audible

Presenters:

Anette Freytag, Professor of the History and Theory of Landscape Architecture, Rutgers University School of Environmental and Biological Sciences (co-founder of AIR Collaborative)
Daniel Swern, Co-founder and Producing Director, coLAB Arts

Event Agenda
9:00 to 9:30: Registration and Networking
9:30 to 9:40: Welcome – David Behrend, Executive Director, NJTPA
9:40 to 10:00: Keynote – Nina Cooke John
Nina Cooke John will discuss the development, design, and installation of Harriet Tubman monument in Newark, NJ.
10 am to 11:00: Panel Presentation – Honoring the Past
This presentation brings together experts from community-based organizations in New Jersey. Led by Dr. Kristin O’Brassill-Kulfan, the panel will discuss topics such as collaborative knowledge production about local history, stakeholder mapping, and historical resource auditing for community history projects. The panelists will provide case study examples from New Brunswick, Asbury Park, and Newark.
Panelists and Moderator

Dr. Kristin O’Brassill-Kulfan (moderator), Assistant Professor, Rutgers – AIR Collaborative
Jennifer Souder, Founder, Asbury Park African-American Music Project (AP-AMP)
Diane Shelton, MSW, Community Outreach Specialist, Interfaith Neighbors
Tamara Remedios, Director, Neighborhood Activations for Global Center for Urban Innovation at Audible

11:00 to 11:15: Break
11:15 to 12:15: Placemaking Presentations – Honoring the Present
Two presenters will share their expertise in placemaking with a focus on everyday users of the space. Dr. Anette Freytag will discuss the concept of Strollology – the science of walking – to experience and identify the typical planning errors of a car-based society. She will present on a trans-Atlantic project centering the importance of planners and public administrators to take walks at project sites.
Dan Swern, producing director for coLAB Arts, will share how the organization uses creative interventions, including public art and performance, to forward community dialogue and information sharing around justice and community-based issues.
Presenters

Dr. Anette Freytag, Professor, Rutgers – AIR Collaborative
Dan Swern, Co-founder and Producing Director, coLAB Arts

(end of main program)
12:15 to 12:45: LUNCH
Break for lunch on your own. A list of local lunch options will be provided.
12:30 to 1:30: OPTIONAL Workshop
Attendees with placemaking projects in their own communities are invited to stay for a collaborative discussion with experts from the Vibrant Places Program and the AIR Collaborative. This session provides an opportunity to ask questions about local initiatives or share ideas with other placemakers looking to implement projects.
