Fall 2024
The anti-displacement studio conducted design action research in collaboration with the Chinatown Community Land Trust to support their ongoing organizing and advocacy for community stabilization. Studio research particularly focused on mapping, visual studies, interview analyses, and case studies to inform community-driven strategies to develop Chinatown as a historic and cultural district.
ANTI-DISPLACEMENT MAPPING
For this first studio exercise, students created a pair of concept maps, the first summarizing key drivers, mediating conditions, and effects of urban displacement and the other representing anti-displacement practices and strategies in Boston Chinatown.
VISUAL STUDIES OF COMMERCIAL AND CULTURAL LANDSCAPES
For this second studio exercise, students photographed, collaged, and analyzed Chinatown shops, storefronts, and commercial streets. They used historical data to trace business and physical changes over time. They noted building widths and heights and studied different uses, physical characteristics, and identifying features that make Chinatown Chinatown.
CHINATOWN SMALL BUSINESS & VISITOR PERSPECTIVES
For the final project, students began by analyzing interviews with Chinatown small business operators and patrons about their experience of neighborhood-level changes. They then created two sets of visual summaries: one profiling Chinatown businesses and another exploring major themes from the interviews with Chinatown visitors.
CASE STUDIES OF POLICY AND PROGRAM PRECEDENTS FOR COMMUNITY STABILIZATION
Additionally, students conducted case studies of historic district designations and other protective measures. The cases were selected together with CCLT partners, and each team followed up by reading case materials and interviewing practitioners, investigating case strengths and tradeoffs along with relevance and replicability for Boston Chinatown.
Image Credit: Camille Schnaas