UWA Co-Director Neeraj Bhatia and Blake Stevenson (B.Arch 2018) will give a public presentation on their design-research related to the Piero N. Patri Fellowship in Urban Design. Presented in a 308-page book, the design-research focuses on the complex evolution of San Francisco’s Southeast Waterfront and asks how displacement of existing residents can be mitigated. Specially, the project attempts to locate the agency for the spatial design disciplines in these discussions. Examining two of the major causes for displacement– economic necessity and cultural estrangement, the design-research formulates a series of techniques that range from the individual to collective. Economic necessity is an individual concern that centers on the value to be gained from one’s land. The design-research investigates different strategies to leverage property into a productive resource while being able to still live on the land. Cultural concerns are collective in nature and arise when existing residents feel that the institutions and amenities provided by a neighborhood no longer support them. The proposal re-frames a series of contemporary commons– or, collectively shared resources– centered on making, to inject amenities that tap into the cultural legacy of the neighborhood while bringing people together. Through reengaging the notion of a commons, one of the first uses of the Southeast Waterfront’s lands, the project positions the concept of working together as a critical mechanism to embrace pluralism.

Lecture: Tuesday September 26, 2017, 6pm
Location: SPUR Urban Center, 654 Mission Street, San Francisco,CA 94105-4015
More info: http://www.spur.org/events/2017-09-26/recommoning-frontier