Territory
Territory
TERRITORY calls on Albany Park teenagers to re-envision public space in the neighborhood. Three Chicago Public High Schools are located in Albany Park. During the school year, thousands of teenagers occupy the public spaces and public services in the neighborhood. These students are a neighborhood asset, not a liability. Their insights, their urban intelligence, their talents can be employed to transform Albany Park’s underutilized public spaces.
Albany Park is an economically, socially, culturally, and racially diverse neighborhood. The neighborhood has a strong history of community activism, and, in addition to the high schools and two colleges, is home to diverse advocacy organizations – see Blogroll. Territory will draw from these neighborhood organizations to create an urban design team of 10-20 teens who will work together to envision neighborhood transformation.
The TERRITORY urban design team will explore the social and political aspects of public spaces and the history of public art and performance art through a series of workshops and public meetings. Using their research, the TERRITORY design team will develop proposals for transforming public spaces throughout Albany Park. Based on team and community input, and reaching out to neighbors and community members of all types, Territory will implement one or more of the proposals as the culmination of our year-long investigation.
TERRITORY: ALBANY PARK is a project of the Museum of Contemporary Phenomena, and funded in part by the Propeller Fund. Our goal is to engage the singular insights of teenagers in Albany Park to define, negotiate, and occupy territory for neighborhood use. We hope to establish a team of skilled urban problem solvers, capable of transforming the neighborhood through urban design interventions.
