People and Places

Working from videos created by GSAPP Urban Design students, the award-winning filmmaker Allan Holzman has crafted a multi-screen montage depicting the myriad people and neighborhoods in New York City’s five boroughs for an installation at The Forum at Columbia.

The installation opening will be accompanied by a panel discussion featuring Cassim Shepard, Nans Voron, and Allan Holzman in conversation with Ira Katznelson, Kate Orff, and Raafi Rivero.

The student videos which inspired the project explore the resilience of communities as they navigate the tensions of urban change, and how different proposals for neighborhoods and streets might foster healthy and sustainable living. The videos were created as part of a GSAPP class called Reading New York Urbanisms taught by Shepard and Voron, which introduces Urban Design students to New York City as a laboratory of historical and present-day experiments in shaping the urban environment. By arming students with the observational and representational tools to “read” how the city’s multiple voices and actors influence its physical form and social experience, the class enables students to convey the dynamics of urban life. The installation celebrates the experience of the daily patterns, struggles, and pleasures of New Yorkers across the five boroughs of the City. People and Places will remain on view at the Forum through August 9.

Cassim Shepard is an Adjunct Assistant Professor at Columbia GSAPP. Trained as an urban planner, geographer, and documentary filmmaker, he lectures widely about the craft of visual storytelling in urban analysis, planning and design.

Nans Voron is an Urban Designer and Associate at SCAPE/ At Columbia, Nans held the position of adjunct professor for the Urban Design Program teaching both in the urban design studio and Reading New York Urbanisms.

Allan Holzman is a filmmaker, editor, director, and producer.

Ira Katznelson is the Ruggles Professor of Political Science and History at Columbia’s Political Science Department, and Deputy Director of Columbia World Projects.

Kate Orff is an Associate Professor at Columbia GSAPP, Director of the Center for Resilient Cities and Landscapes, and the Director of the Urban Design Program.

Raafi Rivero is a Brooklyn-based filmmaker and photographer.

Organized by the Urban Design Program in partnership with Columbia World Projects, and with the generous support of The Graduate School of Architecture Planning and Preservation at Columbia University, The Forum at Columbia University, and Corpus Christi Monastery in the Bronx, New York.

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