header bar graphic

so, you want to help build a city?

The New Your City project for 2007 is finished!

You can see it on display until June 12th, 2007 in the Providence Public Safety Building.

Below is information about how people of different ages can participate in building a New Your City. If you are interested in starting a city-building project in your town or school or garage, you can get in touch with Jean for advice and some general guidelines... or just find some cardboard and some interesting-looking trash, a hot glue gun and duct tape, gather some kids and friends, and start building!

kids

You are invited to come and build buildings and structures for New Your City! You can make a skyscraper or a highway, a school or a bus system, a garden or a robot or an airplane — whatever you think should be in a city. You can make two-dimensional artwork to be murals or decorations for the walls of the city's buildings, or you can build complex three-dimensional structures. You can also record your ideas and make drawings in the city record binder.

We'll have lots of cardboard, art supplies, assorted junk materials, and tape and hot glue for you to use, plus people to help you with construction. Come over to the library after school and start building.

grownups

everybody!

Come and build, stop by and visit, write down your reactions or ideas in the binder, come to our final celebration. New Your City is for you!

parents (and babysitters)
young people (and people without a 9-5 job)
older people
architects and urban planners
teachers

parents (and babysitters)

Bring your children (or other people's children) to New Your City to work with them on building parts of the city! There will be volunteers to help older children, but if you come with your kids, they will probably be excited to work with you on building projects. Children under 6 years old should have a parent or caretaker to work alongside them and help them out. You can also, of course, come and build your own buildings for the city — again, your imagination is the limit.

If you have interesting junk around the house that you are getting rid of (cardboard boxes, colorful paper, egg crates, containers, fabric and string, etc) bring it to the library — we will turn it into a beautiful city!

If you and your child(ren) can't visit the library during the city-building times in March, you can always build your own building at home and bring it in to the library. Stop by the library or get in touch with Jean for more details.

young people (and anybody without a 9 to 5 job!)

Last year, many people ages 18—30 came in to the library to help others construct their ideas. They were super helpful, patient, and generous with their time. This year, our grant from RISCA allows us to sign a bunch of people up as scheduled facilitators, and we are excited to already have a group of 14 awesome, creative facilitators (who range in age from 13 to 42)! We are still looking for additional volunteers to:

  • help kids build stuff, figure out structural issues, and realize their imaginative ideas
  • encourage and/or assist kids to write down their thoughts in our city record notebook
  • handle the hot glue gun & exacto knives!

You can come in for fifteen minutes, or stay for two and a half hours — any time you can spend in the city is really welcome. If you want to set up a time, get in touch with Jean, or you can just stop by the library during active city-building hours. Of course, you are also always welcome to come by and:

  • build your own structures for the city
  • bring recycled junk, old boxes, or art supplies to be used for building materials. (your old architecture-school models are especially exciting!)

older people

Many of the daily patrons of Fox Point Library are senior citizens — last year they provided great insight and perspective on building a new city in the city of Providence. Grandparents worked with their grandchildren (or other people's grandchildren), other older folks brought in buildings they had made and wrote about their significance in our binder. We are excited to have the participation and help of older people again this year!

architects and urban planners

You, like everybody else, are welcome to participate in building New Your City! We would love to have your insight and experience — and especially your imagination! — be part of the project, and we hope you will come and help build the city you would like to see.

A crucial part of the project, however, is that there is no authority or expertise in the city, and definitely no "right way" to do things: the traditional architectural logic of what makes something structural or appropriate for a certain use will probably be overturned many times, and the only technical requirement is that a creation stand up — for at least a little while. In New Your City, the logics of possibility, creation, re-definition, and imagination guide our actions. We invite you to join us and build your wildest ideas.


teachers

Last year, afterschool, pre-school, special-needs, and elementary school teachers found the experience of creating buildings and landscapes for New Your City to be positive and exciting for their students, as an opportunity for them to engage actively and creatively in a collaborative art project. We would love to have you bring your class to help build the city this year.

— If you teach at an afterschool program, you can bring your class to the active city-building hours. Please let us know that you are coming, at least a day or so in advance! If you can bring an extra adult or young person as a helper, that would be great.

— If you teach during the day, you should schedule further ahead of time to have your class come in and work on the city. Contact Ann Schattle, Library Children's Specialist, for more details and to set up a city-building appointment for your class.

back to top