Community-Centered Design: Engagement That Creates Belonging

In alignment with the 2024 AIANY Presidential Theme, Belonging and Beyond, AIA New York is proud to partner with 3×3 for a powerful two-day seminar focused on community-centered design. This immersive program is designed to equip architects and allied professionals with the tools, skills, and frameworks to lead equitable, inclusive, and trust-centered community engagement processes.

Participants will deepen their understanding of social positionality, explore power dynamics, and learn to foster inclusion, belonging, and care in the built environment. Through a series of interactive modules, attendees will shift from traditional engagement to reflexive, co-creative practices that prioritize access, authenticity, and shared decision-making.

Schedule:
Wednesday, May 28
9:00–9:30 AM – Welcome, Breakfast, Course Overview

9:30–10:30 AM – Module 1: What lenses do I bring? [Pending 1 LU | HSW]
Positionality & Reflexivity 

10:45–12:00 PM – Module 2: Who decides? [1 LU | HSW]
Power & Power-Sharing 

12:00–1:00 PM – Lunch Break  

1:00–2:15 PM – Module 3: Who is involved? [1 LU | HSW]
Inclusion, Equity & Representation

2:30–5:00 PM – Module 4: How is trust earned? [2 LU | HSWs]
Authenticity, Transparency, & Accountability
Group Reflection, Q&A, and Day 2 Preview

Thursday, May 29
9:00–9:15 AM – Day 1 Recap, Day 2 Overview, Ice-breaker

9:15–11:45 AM – Module 5: How do we remove barriers? [2 LU|HSWs]
Access, Belonging & Care
Final Reflections, Commitments to Practice, and Course Close-Out

Speakers:
Thomas Bond, Engagement and Communications Designer, 3×3
Amanda Ramos, Assoc. AIA, NOMA, WIN, Head of Community, 3×3
Lucas Teixeira Vaqueiro, Program Strategist, 3×3 

About the Speakers:
Thomas Bond is an Engagement and Communications Designer at 3×3. He is a designer and advocate for social change, holding a Master’s degree in Transdisciplinary Design from Parsons School of Design. Driven by a belief in the power of radical imagination, Thomas envisions more just and liberating worlds, challenging the status quo and reimagining possibilities for human flourishing. Thomas believes that all people are designers in their own right, capable of shaping new realities through creativity, collaboration, and collective action. With a deep commitment to community engagement, Thomas prioritizes working alongside communities to foster mutual aid, shared knowledge, and empowerment. Through their interdisciplinary work, Thomas seeks to cultivate spaces where diverse voices can co-create solutions to complex social challenges. Whether through design, activism, or education, Thomas is dedicated to building a future rooted in equity, solidarity, and the belief that together, we can shape more inclusive and sustainable worlds.

Amanda Ramos is an architect and advocate who advises the community building and learning efforts at 3×3. She focuses on community-centered design to co-create strategic, regenerative, and equitable futures. After 17 years of leading corporate innovation, she recently branched out to dedicate herself to the inclusive practices of social innovation. Amanda holds degrees in Architecture from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, was mentored as a transdisciplinary designer by Bruce Mau, and founded the innovation consulting practice at Gensler. She serves as Chair of the Advisory Council at WIN: Women in Innovation, a member of the Board of Directors at AIANY, and is a faculty at SVA in the Design for Social Innovation program. Born and raised in NYC, she lives in Brooklyn with her husband and twin 13-year-old daughters. She strongly believes in big ideas that result from radical collaboration, co-opetition, and creativity.

Lucas Teixeira Vaqueiro is a Program Strategist at 3×3. His work focuses at the municipal level on topics such as institutional modernization, training, and improvement of public services in a collaborative way. Aside from 3×3, Vaqueiro teaches at Parsons’s Strategic Design and Management program and is a research fellow at the Brazilian National School of Public Administration. He is a civic designer, researcher, and instructor with five years of experience in public innovation and civic design. Vaqueiro was one of the founding members of the São Paulo City Hall Government Innovation Lab, where he served as Research Director. He has collaborated with the UNDP, Metropolis Network, Bloomberg Philanthropies, and the Brazilian Government. Vaqueiro holds a Bachelor’s degree in International Relations from the University of São Paulo and an MFA in Transdisciplinary Design and Design of Civic Services (Minor) from The New School, Parsons School of Design.

Please Note:
By registering, you are committing to attend the full two-day program, which includes all five modules from Wednesday, May 14 through Thursday, May 15. [This program is submitted for 7 LU | HSWs total]