The Living City Project- CityGap and CityLab

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The Living City Project sees New York City as a community, a studio and a classroom, offering city-based experiences for teachers and college-aged students, addressing the urgent challenges and opportunities facing the city today.

Following a successful semester as part of the Living City Project’s Spring 2026 cohort, Noah continued working with the...
09/11/2026

Following a successful semester as part of the Living City Project’s Spring 2026 cohort, Noah continued working with the NYC Department of Transportation’s Urban Design Team, building on the cohort’s group project to make the Street Design Manual (SDM) more accessible through games and creative outreach.

During his summer internship, he continued developing the street design scavenger hunts and the Mini-SDM, building on the tools and ideas developed during the spring.

Noah created location-specific scavenger hunts that encourage participants to identify and explore SDM elements in the streets around them. He also further developed the Mini-SDM, into a pocket-sized, graphic-forward version of the nearly 400-page manual building on the Spring CityGAP original, making complex street design concepts more accessible and engaging. His work included designing and revising materials, coordinating merchandise, attending meetings, and testing the activities in preparation for public outreach.

His internship culminated in DOT Summer Streets events at Rose Hill and Foley Square, where the team distributed nearly 500 Mini-SDMs and more than 1,000 pieces of branded swag, bringing the project’s to the public.

Yoni returned to the Living City Project for the spring semester where he interned with the 34th Avenue Open Street. At ...
08/18/2026

Yoni returned to the Living City Project for the spring semester where he interned with the 34th Avenue Open Street. At his internship, he hosted weekly community English as a Second Language (ESL) classes alongside his other work. Inspired by his experience, he created the Hitchhiker’s Guide to Teaching ESL in NYC — a practical guide for new community ESL teachers, shaped by what he learned, experimented with, and designed along the way, paying attention to the context in which students learn (classroom setting and location, the city context, and geography, etc.). The experience wad deeply meaningful and inspiring for Yoni.

The guide is divided into two parts: the first reflects on the experience of teaching ESL in a diverse community setting, while the second brings together dialogues, games, activities, and other materials developed during his time in the classroom. Through this amazing project, Yoni hopes to make teaching feel a little less daunting for new educators, offer practical tools they can adapt to their own classrooms, and begin building a space for conversation among community ESL teachers.

For her Individual Project, Bao Chau researched and wrote a policy memo examining food insecurity in New York City and t...
08/03/2026

For her Individual Project, Bao Chau researched and wrote a policy memo examining food insecurity in New York City and the structural inequalities that allow hunger to persist in one of the wealthiest cities in the world.

Through fieldwork, site visits, and conversations with nonprofit leaders, policymakers, food distributors, and mutual aid organizers, she explored how government programs, grassroots initiatives, and private organizations work to address food insecurity across the city.

Drawing on insights from organizations including Katzman Produce, Sharing Excess, The Friendly Fridge Bronx, Citymeals on Wheels, Grassroots Grocery, the Hunter College NYC Food Policy Center, and La Morada, the memo highlights the interconnected challenges of food access, food waste, poverty, labor, and public policy.

Bao Chau’s policy recommendations focus on strengthening long-term public investment in community-based organizations, improving coordination across New York City’s food system, creating incentives for food donation and redistribution, and investing in a hyperlocal workforce to build a more equitable and resilient food system.

[Katzman Produce, Sharing Excess, The Friendly Fridge Bronx, Citymeals on Wheels, Grassroots Grocery, the Hunter College NYC Food Policy Center, and La Morada]

07/22/2026

For Noah’s Individual Project, he researched, filmed, edited, and produced a 10-minute documentary examining the lives of app-based delivery workers in New York City. As a native New Yorker, Noah has witnessed the rapid growth of the city’s delivery economy, particularly the rise of e-bike couriers. Through interviews with delivery workers, restaurant owners, policymakers, and industry advocates, the film explores the opportunities and challenges of this expanding workforce. Featuring perspectives from Emiliano Mateo one of the delivery drivers, Gabriel Montero of Deliveristas Unidos, Ben Rosenn of PopWheels, Natalie Meltzer from the New York City Council, and the owners of Bird in Hand in Harlem, the documentary highlights issues surrounding worker protections, pay, safety, and the evolving role of delivery services in the city’s economy. Noah’s goal is to amplify the voices of an often underrepresented workforce and contribute to conversations around policies such as fair wages, safer working conditions, and stronger labor protections.

[delivery workers, restaurant owners, policymakers, industry advocates, Deliveristas Unidos, PopWheels, New York City Council, Bird in Hand in Harlem]

The culmination of our semester-long partnership with NYC DOT was the presentation of our final deliverables: the Projec...
07/07/2026

The culmination of our semester-long partnership with NYC DOT was the presentation of our final deliverables: the Project Scope Document (PSD), game mockups, the Mini SDM for Street RPG, and the Micro SDM for Street Sheets.




The Project Scope Document brought together months of research, stakeholder engagement, gameplay analysis, and design iterations. It documented the reasoning behind each game concept, implementation considerations, accessibility strategies, and recommendations for future development.

Our final portfolio included five game concepts, each designed for different audiences, learning styles, and settings.

Players explore real neighborhoods, completing location-based challenges that teach them to identify and evaluate the Street Design Manual (SDM) elements in the built environment. Through teamwork, observation, and redesign activities, the game builds practical knowledge of street design while encouraging critical thinking about public spaces.

Street RPG is a tabletop role-playing game where players assume the roles of different community stakeholders and work together to solve real-world street design challenges. By negotiating, planning, and navigating the SDM process, players gain empathy for diverse perspectives while learning how street improvement projects are developed and implemented.

StreetCraft is a narrative decision-making game where players take on different roles and make street design choices that affect multiple outcomes, such as cost, feasibility, and community satisfaction. As players progress, they learn SDM treatments through interactive scenarios, helping them understand the trade-offs involved in designing safer and more accessible streets.

OpenStreet Manager is a city-building and management simulation game where players design, program, and maintain an Open Street while balancing budgets, community needs, and long-term maintenance. The game teaches key SDM concepts by challenging players to make strategic design decisions that improve safety, equity, vibrancy, and overall street performance.
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Street S

What better way to design Street Design Manual based games than by playing games ourselves? Alongside our scavenger hunt...
06/29/2026

What better way to design Street Design Manual based games than by playing games ourselves? Alongside our scavenger hunt and field research, we spent time testing, analyzing, and discussing games to better understand what makes them engaging, educational, and accessible.



Our research extended beyond gameplay. We met with a wide range of stakeholders, including city agencies, accessibility units, academics, private-sector practitioners, and nonprofit organizations to understand the needs and priorities of the communities that we intended our games to serve. These conversations helped us identify opportunities where games could support public outreach, education, and engagement.



We met with Borough Commissioner offices in Queens, Manhattan, and Staten Island, where we learned about borough-specific challenges and the tradeoffs involved in street design. We also met with DOT Street Ambassadors and the DOT Accessibility Office, who emphasized the importance of clear communication, accessibility, and designing experiences that resonate with diverse communities.



To refine our ideas, we sought feedback from game design and transportation professionals. At the NYU Game Center, we met with Eric Zimmerman to discuss game design principles and review our early concepts.



We also received valuable input from TYLin, a transportation planning and engineering firm, and Transportation Alternatives, a nonprofit advocating for safer and more equitable streets.



Throughout these meetings, we continuously tested, presented, and refined our game concepts. The feedback we gathered directly informed the final deliverables: Project Scope Document,

06/25/2026

We have proposed the Scavenger Hunt as one of our final game concepts, while also developing four more proposals that combine both analog and digital games….we will be sharing them soon…..

Sharjah M’Bodji’s Individual Project brought local storytelling to life through UbuntuHarlem Magazine: “The Fire This Ti...
04/14/2026

Sharjah M’Bodji’s Individual Project brought local storytelling to life through UbuntuHarlem Magazine: “The Fire This Time Begins With Us.”

Rooted in the African philosophy of Ubuntu, “I am because we are,” the magazine centers community, connection, and shared humanity. Through interviews, photoshoots, and creative collaboration, Sharjah highlighted the voices of Harlem youth (ages 14–25), capturing the heartbeat of the community. This issue explores the power of ARTivism (art + activism), using creativity to confront injustice, spark dialogue, and build collective strength.

Mason Sznip’s Individual Project imagines how the New York City AIDS Memorial can be further activated as a living space...
04/06/2026

Mason Sznip’s Individual Project imagines how the New York City AIDS Memorial can be further activated as a living space of remembrance and community. Centered in Greenwich Village, his work honors those lost during the AIDS Crisis while proposing new programming and public activities to bring people back into the space with intention and care.

Mason reached out to and interviewed Executive Director of the Memorial, Dave Harper, and shared his completed project with Mr. Harper. In his proposals, he intends to collaborate with survivors and the q***r community and visions to connect the past and present, ensuring we actively carry forward the memories together.

Thadeus Tuma’s individual project, From Scraps to Strategy: A New Life for Fashion (& the Garment District?), combines d...
04/01/2026

Thadeus Tuma’s individual project, From Scraps to Strategy: A New Life for Fashion (& the Garment District?), combines deep research with hands-on innovation to rethink the future of fashion in NYC.

After exploring the environmental and structural challenges of fast fashion and the Garment District, he designed a messenger bag from thrifted jeans that cuts emissions by 60% (6 kg CO₂e vs. 15–35+ kg CO₂e for a new bag). His work shows that while NYC has contributed to the problem, it can also be a uniquely active part of the solution by leveraging local skill, small-batch production, and upcycling innovation.

Sustainable fashion isn’t just possible; it’s already in the making in NYC.

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