Chinatown
2020
Resiliency In Urban Food Systems
A conversation with economic botanist Dr. Valerie Imbruce, architect and urbanist Stephen Fan, and founder of Think!Chinatown Yin Kong in which they explained the initiatives and concepts behind CALL / Chinatown’s Designing Food Awareness Project. This event took place as a part of Climate Week NYC 2020
Healing: Food & Our Future
Artist Tattfoo Tan and Traditional Chinese Medicine Practitioner Donna Mah discuss how food can be a part of the healing process. This conversation, held on August 13th, 2020, launched Tattfoo's collaboration with CALL WuXing Oracle Cards, a project that will collect stories and recipes which connect to asian produce items with healing properties.
2019
Mapping Chinatown’s Food Systems
Urbanist and architect Stephen Fan and economic botanist Dr. Valerie Imbruce lead nearly 100 participants through Chinatown’s narrow streets to explore the Food System that sustains an entire region, and the challenges it faces.
2018
Heat Mapping
Architect Joyce Hwang and environmental engineer Prathap Ramamurthy documented the “hidden” physical conditions — in particular heat loss and retention — of rent-controlled buildings in Chinatown through thermal imaging. This WALK explored the substandard housing condition in many buildings in Chinatown and reflected on how the arts could be a catalyst to reveal the benefits of strategic renovations to energy conservation and livability.
2016
Broadway: 1000 Steps — Mary Ting, Paul Bartlett & Sophie Plitt
Artist Mary Ting, scientist Paul Bartlett, and urban forester Sophie Plitt discussed the nuances of post 9-11 air pollution, toxicity and quality of life issues that Chinatown residents face. The walk began on the Southwest corner of Broadway and Canal and ended in front of the Confucius Plaza.
Broadway: 1000 Steps — Ellen Driscoll, Joyce Hwang & Mckenzie Younger
Artists Ellen Driscoll, Mckenzie Younger and architect Joyce Hwang’s WALK explored the urban ecosystem of Chinatown, touching on the history and evolution of the neighborhood around Collect Pond from a freshwater pond landscape to an industrialized urban area. The WALK conveyed the profound effects that human actions have on urban ecosystems.
Broadway: 1000 Steps —Jean Shin & Robin Nagle
Artist Jean Shin and ecologist Robin Nagle highlighted the often invisible immigrant population, systems and economies that are part of the ecology of Chinatown. Shin and Nagle focused on recycling work done by canners, patterns of consumption, and hidden infrastructures of waste stream and labor, as well as Nagle's research into unofficial can redemptions infrastructure.