ARCH @ 60: Bridging Past Visions and Present Realities
New York, NY
2024
On Nov. 15th and 16th, 2024, the J Max Bond Center for Urban Futures hosted ARCH @ 60: Bridging Past Visions and Present Realities, a symposium that brought together practitioners, advocates, and academics to reflect of the legacy of the Architects’ Renewal Committee in Harlem (ARCH). 2024 marked the 60th anniversary of the founding of the ARCH which was started to serve the planning and urban design needs of Harlem residents. It was formed by planners and architects to ensure residents were the ones shaping their community's future and was once led by J. Max Bond, former dean of the architecture school at City College. ARCH @ Sixty will used several of ARCH’s projects - ARCH itself as a model for community design centers everywhere, its advocacy and organizing work on housing and tenant's rights, and visions for 125th Street that countered the plan for the State Office Building - as starting points for conversations about Harlem’s transformation physically and demographically amidst ongoing development, including the need for more affordable housing, and the fight for neighborhood autonomy.
Videos of the symposium can be found here:
Team
Lizzie MacWillie, Shawn Rickenbacker