Future Hudson
Organized by Peter Spear
With Kaja Kuhl, Liz McEnaney, and Anna Dietzsch
Portrait of Peter Spear
This Hot Topics panel will discuss the work of Design For Six Feet, an initiative started by Anna Dietzsch, Kaja Kühl and Liz McEnaney as a crowd-sourced catalogue of tactical urbanism and public space interventions since the beginning of the pandemic. Cities and citizens across the world have been innovating in real-time to quickly and creatively provide more space for residents to safely be outdoors, be it for waiting in line in front of stores and pharmacies, for commuting by bicycle, for children to play in streets or for the recovery of businesses and restaurants.
The group will also discuss its collaboration with Future Hudson, Hudson Hall and the City of Hudson to create a shared experience of Warren Street in Hudson as well as a recent design competition for outdoor play in response to closed libraries, canceled summer camps and the uncertainty of school reopenings.
Peter Spear is an independent ethnographer and brand strategist living in Hudson. His work helps organizations deepen their understanding of their customer through ethnographic and creative face to face research. In 2019, he organized a number of local urban planners, designers and activists together to produce the FUTURE HUDSON event series. The goal of the six event series was to create new forms of conversation around urban issues in Hudson, and to advocate for participatory, community-driven urban planning & design.
Anna Dietzsch is an architect and urban designer, who for the past 20 years has worked between São Paulo and New York, using design to promote interaction. Her portfolio includes the planning and design of significant projects, such as the 9/11 Memorial Museum in New York, the Victor Civita Eco-Park and the Green Stream Linear Park in Sao Paulo, the Pop-up Pool at Brooklyn Bridge Park, the Sarah Lawrence College Master Plan and the urbanization of the third largest favela in Sao Paulo, Sao Francisco Global. Her participation in community projects include the “Open Street” program in Sao Paulo, the “Cultural Territory” initiative and the organization of the first “International Night Seminar”, bridging community voices to the public sector and the legislative branch.
Kaja Kühl is an urban designer and planner with 20 years of experience in working with communities in New York City and beyond. Selected projects include “Future Makers/Future Markets”, a series of workshops to explore economic opportunities with refugees in Berlin’s East, “A Vision for Oakdale”, a community-driven vision plan for Oakdale Lake in Hudson, NY and “Lots of Ideas Newburgh”, a guide for activating vacant lots.
She is an Adjunct Professor at Columbia University's Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, where she leads the Hudson Valley Initiative and coordinates the regional urban design studio focussed on communities in the Hudson Valley. She is a Trustee and Treasurer of the Awesome Newburgh Foundation and a member of the APA NY Urban Design Committee. She has been a fellow of the Design Trust for Public Space and the Public Policy Lab in New York, where she developed the acclaimed Housing Ambassador Program.
Liz McEnaney is a preservationist with a demonstrated history of initiating place-based projects and engaging with community stakeholders. For the past decade, her work has focused on regional preservation and urban design issues in New York’s Hudson Valley, in particular the rejuvenation of waterfront communities and waterways. As special assistant to the Commissioner of the Hudson-Fulton-Champlain-Quadricentennial Commission she organized community workshops aboard an historic barge, produced the documentary film Hudson Rising about urban planning issues, and spearheaded dock-building initiatives along the Hudson River. She later served as the Executive Director of the SS Columbia Project, which is restorating the 1902-built steamboat Columbia for service on the Hudson River to reconnect New York City to the Hudson Valley cities and towns. Liz teaches preservation and urban design at Columbia University's Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, and is an advisor to its Hudson Valley Initiative.
The Hot Topics Series of The Hudson Eye 2020 was made possible via a Relief Grant from Humanities New York.
