Community boards, city planners, architects, and grassroots organizations initiate and share  several community projects, programs, and events through both physical and virtual interactions. Their projects are discussed through social gatherings at various locations and times of day, with diverging vocal and written feedback from community members. The project proposals are also shared throughout social media to engage constituents’ participation. While these discussions are necessary to address communities shaped by new project developments, these methods rely on physical community input as well as media algorithms for project exposure and longevity.

This thesis acknowledges these organizations and their methods but seeks to challenge their engagement through a visual and digital interface that positions community members as main facilitators of a project's programming and development. It is a pilot website (communitybuilds.cargo.site) that supports the formation of community organizations around Broadway Junction and its surrounding communities. However, the digital interface’s tools, resources, and visuals can be applied in other locations. The site displays information about their neighborhoods, organization efforts, potential sites for community projects, and resources for project programming and development.

This website engages community members through an accessible visual language consisting of recognizable elements that anyone can understand, regardless of the level of an individual’s visual literacy. Users orient themselves within the site through its markings, including text, aerial views, perspectives, and transit notations.

1. Main Site Plan: Users navigate to view information about their neighborhoods: like services, organizations, events and unused city-owned lots.

Visit ︎︎︎communitybuilds.cargo.site to view the thesis website. Or see a short presentation on ︎︎︎Cooper Union’s End of the Year Show