Activism & Collaboration

Jessica Varner, Michael Maltzan Architecture

Activism

As a young professional I ask myself everyday what I can do to change our city in a positive way. As citizens who care deeply about the urban environment, we can no longer wait for government officials or private developers to plan the future of our city. We have to get involved when we see opportunities to better our community with our ideas, our opinions and our actions.

Activism in Los Angeles and the contemporary city can begin with an initial seed planted for a direction of change. The combination of an economic crisis, a city bureaucracy with limited means, and a resultant lethargic design world is the perfect storm for activism in the city of Los Angeles. Through a small intervention or a large movement, the city can transform. The Piggyback Yard Collaborative Design Group was formed to jump-start a conversation about urbanism and public space in an area at the heart of downtown and along the often forgotten spine of the city, the Los Angeles River and I have witnessed many similar conversations occurring that need to be brought to the table.

Collaboration

Collaboration can take on many forms and involve many constituencies, but most importantly it takes active engagement, beginning with you and me. In a city where fragmentation is written into its geographical forms, collaboration takes work. In the scattered metropolis, collaboration is an intentional effort based on strong initiative and realized only through enduring motivation.

The Piggyback Collaborative Design Group started with a conversation between a poet and an architect about making the invisible, visible, and evolved into a passionate exchange between a whole team of planners, designers, experts and stakeholders. Through communication this conversation can now also include you and, through social media and innovative modes of technology participation can occur in new and emergent ways.

Participation

The Piggyback Yard project must have a voice outside the walls of the initial members. It needs public participation and input to grow into more than the confines of the initial conversation. With new members the conversation changes, matures, and moves forward with the momentum of the living, breathing city. I ask you, Angelenos, to contribute your thoughts, impressions, and ideas for the Piggyback Yard in our PBy Blog; answer our 8 Questions on LA Urbanism, Join PBy… the initial seed can evolve into a drive for everlasting change in the city at this critical moment.