Participant Work
Each semester CityGAP participants complete Fieldwork based on our Five City Lenses, a Group Project with one of our partner organizations, and an Individual Project based on a meaningful question facing NYC (see below for examples).
Please click here to see the full archival list of our Individual Projects, and check out our Instagram to learn more about our City Lenses Fieldwork. Below are selections from across the semesters of fieldwork and projects to give you a taste of the depth and breadth of our participants’ work!
Department of Transportation Crotona Park East & Longwood Neighborhood Plan
Living City Project’s Fall 2025 CityGAP cohort partnered with the NYC Department of Transportation to understand and analyze five DOT sites in the South Bronx neighborhoods of Crotona Park East and Longwood, to contribute to a new Neighborhood Plan, and to update the DOT/LCP Public Space Evaluation Toolkit, created by previous CityGAP cohorts.
After conducting extensive observations, interviews, research and analysis, the CityGAP participants made recommendations for each site: whether the DOT should turn the site into a Capital Project (creating permanent design elements), Street Improvement Project (deploying the DOT Toolbox) or area for Further Study and Observations (using the LCP Public Space Toolkit). In addition, they also proposed methods for engaging local stakeholders in these neighborhoods through a community engagement plan.
The report provided data and analysis to support DOT's goal to make streets and public spaces more accessible and welcoming places for people of all ages, abilities, and socioeconomic status.
The CityGAP Fall 2025 participants re-evaluated the LCP Public Space Evaluation Toolkit’s effectiveness across contexts and user groups, streamlining the Toolkit and making it easier to use for interviewing stakeholders on site. The Toolkit continues to inform efforts by community partners and the DOT as they improve existing public spaces and propose new ones, advancing the creation of public spaces to meet the needs of NYC’s diverse neighborhoods.
Group Projects
Catherine - Green Deserts, Income, and Accessibility in Brooklyn
5 Lenses Fieldwork
The Just City: Working with La Morada Mutual Aid and Brook Park
Every Monday, our participants conduct community engagement work in Mott Haven in the South Bronx, at La Morada and Brook Park. La Morada is a Oaxacan restaurant and mutual aid kitchen, run by the Saavadra family, serving 600 meals a day to recent immigrants and other community members in need, also holding community events, workshops, and school drives. LCP students prepare and distribute food and assemble pamphlets. Brook Park is a community garden and urban farm that serves as an environmental justice and education center. Participants support founder Danny Chervoni by working in the garden.
