A two-year initiative to learn about grassroots initiatives fostering respectful design for placemaking, and place-keeping, Design ManifesT.O. 2020 (DM2020) is working with Rexdale Youth Mentorship (RXYM) in the Queens Plate community in northwest Toronto. The project is led by Associate Professor, Cheryl Giraudy and Saskia van Kampen, Assistant Professor at San Francisco State University.
Placemaking involves the creative ways in which people make neighbourhood spaces more comfortable through projects that better the lives of their communities.
The engagement with RXYM is a follow up to the project’s ‘Creative Practice as Protest’ (CPP) workshop under a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) grant that was held last year.
Along with urban planner, Lena Phillips, Giraudy and van Kampen will engage with RXYM to co-design a report of finding and recommendations aimed to benefit the community and research.
RXYM identified the need for youth to flourish, not only through recreational programming, but through programs that build professional skills and social awareness. These goals are aligned with DM2020’s aim to foster youth and other community participation in research that explores inclusive creative practices for equitable city making.
The series of events includes a joint survey about placemaking in neighbourhoods, an online youth forum and a virtual artist talk and exploration of education pathways in art & design led by OCAD U students and recent grads.