Maharam Design Fellowship

Providence, Rhode Island / Summer 2017 / Maharam Design Fellowship, City of Providence, Mayor's Center for City Services / Independent Research / Civic Engagement, Constituent Outreach, Facilitation

two groups working through the entry sequence of city hall during the design thinking workshop

The Maharam Design Fellowship provides support for RISD students to craft an experience that will highlight and strengthen the role of visually acute critical thinkers and problem solvers in helping to improve public policy and tackle large social issues. I worked in the Mayor’s Center for City Services, focused on how the 311 system can be made more approachable and effective on multiple scales in Providence.

311 functions extremely well as a one to one recorder of one constituent addressing one problem (such as a pothole or sidewalk), but I was interested in using the recognizable and effective 311 infrastructure and applying it to larger city services, such as the Department of Planning and Development.

The broader goal of the Maharam Fellowship is to situate fellows into atypical arenas, such as municipal government. I hosted a design thinking workshop for those in the Mayor’s Center for City Services, Senior Services and Office of Innovation to imbue design thinking into their work.

As a summer fellow I learned how to start conversations and explore how design fits into the power and responsibility of local communities and their city.

part of my work included direct constituent outreach at local events, such as the Sankofa Farmer's Market

Municipal Buildings Map, designed to be constituent facing and action oriented