Participatory Mapping Workshop

As part of Courtyard Coalition’s activation in Homeroom, artist and urban planner Cara Michell leads an interactive mapping workshop. Participants are invited to contribute to a series of community-archived maps of Long Island City’s past, present, and future. Come prepared with stories about neighborhood heroes, local tips, and gathering places in Long Island City that you wish more people knew about. Michell, who designed the map at the center of the Homeroom activation, will discuss the process of participatory mapping and its role in shaping public space. Following the workshop, the collaborative map will remain on display in Homeroom for future visitors to explore.

This workshop is part of Courtyard Coalition, a process-focused program that explores MoMA PS1’s Courtyard as a cultural and spatial asset for critical questions at the intersection of cultural institutions, civic space, and urban life.

Cara Michell is an Assistant Professor of Race & Social Justice in the Built Environment at Northeastern University's School of Architecture. Outside of her teaching and academic research, Michell is the founder of s l o w p r a c t i c e, an urban planning and public art studio that prioritizes community participation. Her current art and research projects focus on community-led cartography and participatory map-making. Before returning to academia, Michell worked as an Associate & Senior Urban Planner at WXY Studio in NYC and BrookMcIlroy in Toronto. Her artwork has been exhibited at MoMA PS1 and with the design collective Intelligent Mischief. Michell holds an MUP from Harvard University and an AB in sculpture from Princeton. In 2015, She co-founded and co-chaired the inaugural Black in Design conference with Courtney Sharpe and the Harvard GSD AASU. Materials from the conference are now archived in the Smithsonian NMAAHC.