Social Urbanism as an Everyday Practice

The purpose of this project draws on the combination of social awareness and our responsibility as community members to consciously connect to the histories and realities within the neighborhood, and acknowledge the effect it has on the collective development [of the neighborhood] as a whole. We acknowledge that policies and resources need to change, to adequately represent the people, in particular, young people of various backgrounds, who may lack adequate representation and access to resources to help enable their voices to be heard. It is for this reason that we, Kollektiv TAHA, wish to use our privilege and platform to act as a bridge, to not only connect, but merge the informal and formal bubbles that unconsciously form our realities in our day to day lives. This is what we define as “Social Urbanism”. Identify. Unite. Uplift. Engage. Celebrate. These words summarize the goals of our kollektiv work. We want to throw ourselves into the neighborhood in order to allow for the opportunity to connect with diverse people, in particularly the young people who occupy these spaces and are looking for an opportunity to do more and give back. For example: in order for young people to take up space in their neighborhood, we would help them organize a “walk” in which they walk us through their neighborhood and educate us (as a collective and interested public) about their environment through their own eyes, or an art exposition with the possibility of a skill exchange. We as a Kollektiv are surrounded by intersectional groups which share similar goals, and we are open to collaborating with these groups to mutually reach our goals together. In this way we hope to overlap our various ideas, and create a space in order to offer activities such as walks, workshops, performances and much more, which acts as an opportunity to connect with the young people who are located in our neighborhood and create a safe space and atmosphere to connect, and ask questions!