We invite you to join us for this virtual information session to learn more about the fourth iteration of Community-Centered Design: Building Belonging. 3×3 is proud to partner with AIA New York for this fall seminar designed to equip architects and allied professionals with tools, skills, and frameworks to lead trust-centered community engagement and design that becomes relational infrastructure over time. Over two half-day sessions, participants will deepen their understanding of responsible engagement to support longstanding project outcome through:
- Expanding representation and equity
- Building trust and derisking
- Strengthening project delivery and outcomes
- Integrating engagement into project workstreams
In this Informational Session we'll cover our community-centered values framework providing an overview of the fundamentals of inclusive engagement. You'll learn when community-centered design works best, whether it’s right for the contexts you or your team are navigating, and how the workshop can enrich your professional growth.
Speakers:
Adriana Torres-Plaza, Engagement and Communications Strategist, 3×3
Megan Marini, LEED AP, Principal, 3×3
Rajesh Sankat, Program Strategist 3×3
About the Speakers:
Megan Marini is a Founding Principal at 3×3. For over 15 years, she has supported the delivery of built environment initiatives that center community voice to drive transformation and community wellbeing. In addition to her work with 3×3, Megan has served as an adjunct professor at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, Pratt Institute and New Jersey Institute of Technology. Prior to 3×3, Megan’s work focused on social determinants of health and environmental justice, supporting development programs internationally at organizations such as the Earth Institute’s Center for Sustainable Urban Development, and the ARCHIVE Institute for clients including the World Bank and the UN. Her work and writing have been featured in New York Times, Public Interest Design, GOOD, and DWELL magazine. Megan holds an MS in Urban Planning from Columbia University, where she received an award for her dissertation on information and communication technological innovation in post-earthquake Haiti; she also holds a BS in Architecture from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Rajesh Sankat is a Program Strategist at 3×3, where he works within civic systems to design infrastructures for relation and repair. Through projects centered in climate adaptation and placemaking, his practice explores how participation becomes infrastructure – how relationships, data, and lived experience form systems capable of long-term transformation. Prior to 3×3, Rajesh was a founding member of the Ontario Government’s Policy Innovation Hub, where he helped define a strategic, design-thinking led approach to build internal capacity for civil servants and society. He has collaborated with organizations including the CUNY School of Public Health, City of West Hollywood, and the City of Toronto’s Parks, Forestry and Recreation Department. Rajesh holds a Master of Public Policy from the University of Toronto, and is an alum of the Urban Design Forum’s Forefront Fellowship and the Toronto Urban Fellows program. His work and writing has been featured in AZURE and Afternoon Magazine.
Adriana Torres-Plaza is an Engagement and Communications Strategist at 3×3. Her expertise lies at the intersection of urban planning, participatory design and communications. Her work at 3×3 focuses on developing participatory methods that shift decision-making power to communities in the design of public spaces, services, and programs. Adriana brings six years of experience in public relations, leading campaigns for nonprofits, advocacy organizations and global brands. She’s particularly interested in using visual communication to demystify technical knowledge and policies, making information accessible to broader audiences and encouraging public participation. Adriana holds an M.S. in Urban and Community Planning from Pratt Institute and a B.A. in Human Geography and International Relations from Durham University in the United Kingdom.
This is a virtual information session—you will receive an email with a Zoom link to access the program upon registration.
AIA New York; 3x3
