How can urban design promote health, well-being, and growth for youth? How can our design process center youth agency and autonomy, and create powerful partnerships between adults and young people? The 2023 Forefront Fellowship, Free to Grow, is a yearlong exploration that inspires adults to center youth in the built environment, in partnership with the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and New York City Public Schools. I collaborated with a small team of fellows to center youth within LAM’s [Libraries, Archives, and Museums]!
Youth envision libraries as a space for collective education, social connection, and liberation – a place to feel free. But libraries in NYC fall short of this vision and are in a state of disrepair, disinvestment, and decay – leading to fragmented teen engagement across branches. Teen spaces often aren’t created with teens at the helm. They frequently include spatial and social limitations that may come across as surveilling, disengaging or at times hostile to young people.
To build teens’ civic capacity to co-create their libraries of the future, we produced and piloted three solutions:
Experimenting with art-making as a research modality, our open-source curriculum instigates a creative dialogue with teens about their experiences and dreams for a future library. We piloted Dreaming in Place: Libraries as Catalysts for Social Change at The Free Black Women’s Library in the spring of 2024. We took a neighborhood-centered approach to our workshop series, which amplified the work and legacy of June Jordan; a Black, Queer, Caribbean author who was raised in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn. June used libraries as a way to self-educate on the topic of architecture and urban planning which resulted in her vision for Skyrise Harlem. An innovative housing proposal for Harlem residents after the 1964 riot, co-designed with futurist architect Buckminster Fuller. The full curriculum will be piloted at BPL locations in Fall 2024.
A public collection of zines and themes from our zine-making workshops for a teen-centered library, which can be used as a tool for library design and advocacy.
Youth-led design guidelines
We developed nine youth-led recommendations for creating “Teens’ Library of the Future” based on key themes we identified in our workshops. These include:
Let the outside in: Stimulate the senses with biophilic design and sounds for the soul.
Let the inside out: Expand knowledge beyond walls and bring the library outdoors.
Make it cozy: Create cozy, welcoming spaces for teens to feel at home.
Make it accessible: Expand dimensions around accessibility for all library users.
Let them be loud: Support solo and group activities to let teens’ voices be heard.
Let them eat: Serve study snacks with affordable, healthy food and beverage options.
Modernize resources: Promote learning beyond the classroom with up-to-date literary collections and resources.
Provide relevant programming: Activate library spaces with paid work and learning opportunities and teen-led programming.
Build a coalition: Build a coalition among indie, mobile, and public library systems in your neighborhood.
