Join us for our third edition of Community-Centered Design: Building Belonging, a seminar hosted by AIA New York and 3×3. Offering 7 LU | HSW credits, the program equips architects and allied professionals with the best practices, tools, skills, and frameworks to lead trust-centered community engagement and design that is both inclusive and effective, shaping better outcomes for projects and the communities they serve.
Over two half-day sessions, the seminar will introduce principles, frameworks, and tools supported by case studies and guided activities so participants can deepen their understanding of responsible engagement to not only support project delivery and outcomes but also to build relational infrastructure, belonging, and care in the built environment.
By the end of the workshop, participants will learn how to:
- Expand pluralistic representation, surfacing the priorities of those closest to an issue or project but historically furthest from decision-making—including future stakeholders—to guide decisions.
- Build trust and derisk, by strengthening alignment that can carry projects through implementation and beyond.
- Strengthen project delivery and outcomes, incorporating community insights that lead to more right-fit and longstanding design solutions.
- Integrate engagement workstreams into your day-to-day practice to support engagement continuity and follow-through over the long-term.
Schedule:
Wednesday, November 11
9:00–9:30 AM – Welcome, Breakfast, Course Overview
9:30–10:30 AM – Module 1: What Lenses Do I Bring? (1 LU | HSW)
Positionality & Reflexivity
10:45–12:00 PM – Modules 2 & 3: Who decides and is involved? (2 LU | HSW)
Power & Equity & Representation
12:00–12:30 PM – Group Reflection, Q&A, and Day 2 Preview
Thursday, November 12
9:00–9:15 AM – Day 1 Recap, Day 2 Overview, Ice-breaker
9:15–10:15 PM – Module 4: How is trust earned? (2 LU | HSW)
Authenticity, Transparency, & Accountability
10:15–11:45 AM – Module 5: How do we remove barriers? (2 LU | HSW)
Access, Belonging & Care
11:45 AM–12:30 PM – Workshop
Final Reflections, Commitments to Practice, and Course Close-Out
Speakers:
Megan Marini, LEED AP, Principal, 3×3
Rajesh Sankat, Program Strategist, 3×3
Adriana Torres-Plaza, Engagement and Communications Designer, 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, Marini 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, Marini’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. Marini 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, Sankat 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. Sankat 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. Torres-Plaza 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. Torres-Plaza 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.
