The changemakers of today’s youth
With a rise in crime on Belmont Avenue, a commercial corridor in Brownsville, Brooklyn, the BCJC actively sought solutions to restore safety and trust. Dedicated to crime prevention and community building, BCJC asked Gehl to help train their summer youth cohort, who were studying urban planning, in using public space and public life methods to inform a community-centered planning process and gather data on existing use patterns.
Gehl urban planners facilitated workshops with BCJC, igniting discussions about the street’s functionality for locals and about how the quality of the environment influenced perception and use. The teens used public life studies to gather observational, anonymous data on how people were using the street. This data was then used as a baseline to compare against observations following a local nighttime lighting pilot. The data also helped to pinpoint priority areas for design and programming interventions.
The workshops equipped the youth with vital tools and resources for public space advocacy, empowering the next generation of public space designers.
