12. By the People – Designing a Better America at Cooper Hewitt

The Cooper Hewitt exhibit By the People: Designing a Better America, is an exhibition of 60 collaborative designs challenging the country’s social and economic inequality, and presenting designs for more inclusive and sustainable communities. In this quest to show how design can act as a catalyst for positive action, viewers investigate how listening, and valuing local community expertise can be essential as a catalyst for positive action.

As we took a closer look at the 60 designs, we spotted some familiar images, such as the Harlem Hospital Pavilion Facade, with its historically significant mural, which replicates three panels from a Works Progress Administration (WPA) depicting scenes from the African diaspora. And Red Hook WIFI, the wireless mesh network that was the primary communication stream for residents of the area when the internet failed after Superstorm Sandy.

The exhibit also includes such topics as designs for What is Affordable Housing, a Tool Kit for Affordable Housing, Rent Regulation Rights Posters, Mobile Markets and SEEDclassrooms. By the People: Designing a Better America will be on view through February 26, 2017 at Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, located at 2 East 91st Street.