BYO projects

Analog Community Engagement: I Have/I Need

I Have / I Need is a community engagement project created by graduate architects Charlotte Fliegner and Sarah Crowley. The project gives passersby the opportunity to jot down things they need and/or things they have — like a physical Craigslist post. Posters then coordinate with one another to plan a time to swap items or services.

Walls were recently installed at the SO:ME Space South Melbourne Fashion Market and giddiup cafe, also in Melbourne. See here and here for more information about this project.

(image from http://charlottefliegner.com/archives/769)

How does this project make the world a better place?

We love the focus that technology has brought to community engagement. However, all of this attention sometimes leaves out some of the awesome offline methods of engaging people.

Charlotte and Sarah “could see the potential of using public space as a means of bridging the gap in neighborhoods where there are diverse residents. Through encouraging people to share their excess goods & services with one another in an easy and analog way, we hope that it will create connections between neighbors.”

This project is awesome in it’s simplicity and focus - giving people an opportunity to engage around the things they can authentically help each other out with.

Who is the intended audience?

The first iteration of this project was meant to bridge a disconnect felt between public housing tenants and neighboring residents. As more walls were built, the types of audiences continued to grow. Charlotte and Sarah have installed I Have / I Need throughout Melbourne, and are always looking for new locations to install.

How can our readers extend the impact of this work?

If you have an interest in installing this project get in touch! And use this project as inspiration to help out your neighbors when needed. They’ll be sure to be there for you in return.

Before I Die I Want to Make the World A Better Place

“Before I die I want to: _____________.”  How would you fill in the blank? Over 25,000 people in 7 countries have added their own responses — written with chalk on a wall in a project by Candy Chang entitled “Before I Die.”



How do you engage everyday people in reimagining the possibilities for their neighborhoods and cities? This is a question that we think about all the time, and the work of Candy Chang provides one kind of answer.

Candy Chang is “an artist who enjoys making cities more comfortable & contemplative places” and does that through a variety of public art + engagement projects that have caught our eye for their simplicity, logic, and potential for impact.

In her “Before I Die” project she covered the side of a blighted building in New Orleans with chalkboard paint and prompted people to respond to her prompt, “before I die I want to….” Viewing the images of the project you’ll notice the breadth and depth or the responses, from the serious and somber (“get clean” and “see equality”) to the whimsical (“swim without holding my nose” and “own a monkey”) and the contradictory (“understand” and “be okay with not understanding”).

The project has been recreated in cities all over the world using the Before I Die toolkit, found here: http://beforeidie.cc (click on “build your own”). A wall was recently constructed in Minneapolis, MN as part of a larger initiative by Artists in Storefronts, an organization that collaborates with local businesses and artists to promote creativity and revitalize neighborhoods throughout the Twin Cities. Check out the wall directory to see if one is being built in a city near you!


1. how does this project make the world a better place?
The project gives people the physical and mental space to take time out of their daily life and reflect on what’s important to them. There are many projects and self-help books that ask people to reflect on what’s important to them in their lives. These projects confront people with highly relevant requests in unexpected places - a blighted building, a government office, or a storefront window, creating a sense of curiosity and intrigue. In addition to sharing their own wishes participants and passersby are able to see what others have expressed - creating a sense of community around a universal human concept.

2. who is the intended audience?
There are two audiences:
1. Passersby and participants - all of the projects featured rely on public participant, so residents and passersby are the main audiences for her public installation.

2. You! The beauty of this project is that anyone can initiate the project in their city by using the Before I Die toolkit, found here: http://beforeidie.cc (click on “build your own”).

3. how can our readers extend the impact of this work?
When/if you hear about or participate in a community redevelopment project think past the traditional ways of getting community input (think surveys, focus groups, and interviews) and explore of you might engage your community in a public, relevant, beautiful, and participatory way.

Tenants’ Rights Flash Cards: Improving Policy through Design

For the past few months I’ve been working with the Public Policy Lab on a project to help the Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) “explore ways to facilitate the involvement of community residents in the development of housing-related services in neighborhoods with significant public and private sector investment leveraged by HPD.” For complete details, see the project press release or  download it. More information is also available on the Public & Collaborative New York City website.

As we’ve been exploring the complex relationship between the agency, citizens, and landlords we came across a really neat project developed by artist Candy Chang to address a major challenge she saw in NYC rental-land: the lack of clarity that New Yorker’s have about their rights as tenants. To remedy this problem she developed the Tenants Rights Flash Cards, a series of cards to “translate New York’s official Tenants’ Rights Guide into a fun and friendly format that covers everything from security deposits and subletting to paint and privacy so residents can have fun while learning their rights.”See more on the project post on her website.

1. How does this project make the world a better place?

The Tenants Rights Flash Cards take a super complicated subject and turn it into an easily digestible tool to help landlords and tenants better understand their rights and responsibilities.

Laws are often made and policies drafted with the best of intentions. In the best case they are based on the needs of citizens and reflect a deep policy analysis of their impacts and potential to alleviate problems. However, often times policies are published in a format that nobody can find or understand, rendering them practically meaningless.

Candy Chang’s cards reflect the importance of using design to solving public problems.

When policy makers publish policy in unsearchable PDFs using complicated jargon that only they and their colleagues understand it is not able to have its intended impact.

The Tenants Rights Flash Cards offer one example of a way to publish policy in a way that is easy to understand, hopefully expanding the impact of the policy.

2. Who is the intended audience?

The intended audience for the Flash Cards are NYC residents and landlords. However, I think anyone involved in creating, implementing, or clarifying public policy should also take note.

3. How can our readers extend the impact of this project?

Buy some cards! Proceeds benefit Tenants & Neighbors.

Also, share this project as inspiration to create and communicate better public policies. The Tenants Rights Flash Cards help clarify a bit of NYC housing code and provide an example for other agencies and organizations looking to clarify policy for the people who it impacts.