Reclaiming Infrastructure: Community Visions for Transit-Oriented Public Space

This panel discussion, organized in collaboration with the AIANY Civic Leadership Program, will explore strategies to reimagine abandoned, underused, or harmful highway infrastructure, turning these projects back to the communities they have long severed.

The evening will begin by reviewing Robert Moses' car-centered approach to New York City planning. These new highway projects, particularly in urban areas, were often strategically routed through lower-income neighborhoods in the name of “slum clearance.” Across New York, his work displaced hundreds of thousands of residents across the Bronx, Queens, and Brooklyn.

The discussion will examine several efforts to reshape urban infrastructures in New York with consideration of both long-term community-led proposals and near-term repairs to explore how each approach could best serve residents, involving stakeholders, decision-makers, planners, and communities historically affected in the planning process.

Speakers will address several case studies as strategies have been deployed elsewhere to transform highway infrastructure into spaces that benefit local communities.

By bringing together planners, organizers, researchers, and community members, this event will create space for honest discussion about the possibilities and limits of infrastructure reuse to help transform harmful infrastructure into public spaces that are accessible, useful, and responsive to community needs.

Leading the event from this year’s CLP cohort are Sally Lape, Rosanna Valencia, Chenyan Wang, and Jane Chenyang Yu.

Speakers:
Isabel Castilla, ASLA, PLA, Associate Partner, Field Operations
Janet Fink, AIA, LEED AP, Executive Director, Institute for Public Architecture
Margaret Newman, FAIA, LEED AP, Practice Leader, Stantec
Matthew Shore, Director of Planning and Development, South Bronx Unite

About the Speakers:
Isabel Castilla, ASLA, PLA, Associate Partner, Field Operations, specializes in large-scale, transformative public realm projects that involve extensive community engagement and complex multi-agency approvals. She approaches each project through a multidisciplinary lens—combining creative design with a strong focus on detail and technical execution. As an Associate Partner at Field Operations, Castilla has dedicated 20 years to leading major projects including multiple sections of High Line; the vision plan for the renovation of Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue; the framework plan and implementation of The Underline in Miami and the renovation of Miami Beach’s historic Lincoln Road and Toronto’s Bentway Islands. Castilla serves as a Landscape Architecture Commissioner for the New York City Public Design Commission.

Janet Fink, AIA, LEED AP, Executive Director, Institute for Public Architecture, was named Executive Director in March 2024 after serving as Interim Executive Director. Her involvement with the IPA extends back to 2020 when she joined as residency director, leading the selected topic design fellowships – “To Be or Not to BQE” and “Reconnecting Communities Across the BQE” – that explored alternatives to the crumbling and divisive Brooklyn-Queens Expressway. More recently, as interim director, Fink orchestrated the May 2023 symposium “BQE 2053: Towards a Decarbonized Sustainable Multi-Modal Transportation Network,” which drew over 30 guest speakers and elected officials to the full-day event on Governors Island. Fink is a practicing architect and experienced educator. Her firm, Fink & Platt Architects, restores and expands historic buildings and spaces in New York City and beyond. Additionally, she teaches architecture and urban design studios as an adjunct associate professor at New York Institute of Technology.

Matthew Shore, Director of Planning and Development, South Bronx Unite, leads the advancement of South Bronx Unite’s capital projects via project management, community planning, and organizing. He is an embedded planner, organizer, and policy enthusiast inspired by grassroots movements focused on community stewardship, health, and racial justice. A Bronxite from Bedford Park, he’s active in Bronx-based efforts that aim to upend extractive planning and development in exchange for long-term community-led solutions that build our right to self-determination boroughwide, like the Northwest Bronx Community & Clergy Coalition’s campaign for shared ownership of the Kingsbridge Armory. Before joining South Bronx Unite, he supported anti-displacement organizing for small businesses and learned from the City’s oldest CLT as an ANHD Graduate Fellow for Cooper Square Committee. He also helped kickstart efforts to build an open space equity coalition between several nonprofits in Brooklyn CB1. He provided research and administrative support for the passage of the CLCPA while working as an Environmental and Urban Policy Analyst for the NYS Assembly.

Margaret Newman, FAIA, LEED AP, Practice Leader, Stantec, is a trained architect and urban planner on both our Urban Places and Smart Mobility teams. She has more than 30 years of experience designing public realm projects and leading multidisciplinary projects. Operating at the intersection of urban planning, mobility, and design, Newman works with both private and public sector clients to maximize their design and operations potential, transforming concepts into real-world solutions. Her public realm projects are strategic and economical, but they also prioritize people to better integrate planning and transportation into the fabric and context of cities. Under Mayor Bloomberg and Commissioner Sadik-Khan, Newman served as chief of staff at the New York City Department of Transportation, where she directed major agency projects including the capital construction plan for Times Square.

About the Civic Leadership Program
The AIANY Civic Leadership Program (CLP) is a six-month mentorship and training program designed to develop design professionals into civic leaders. Eight selected participants will gain hands-on experience engaging with municipal agencies, community organizations, and local stakeholders through development sessions and a public event. The program fosters skills in communication, public speaking, community outreach, and consensus building, empowering participants to navigate and influence the civic process effectively.