Co-Designing Black Neighborhood Heritage Conservation
BlackSpace shares inspirations, experiences, and lessons learned from an exploratory process of co-designing heritage conservation efforts alongside members of Brownsville, one of Brooklyn’s Black enclaves. In this introduction to the playbook exploring the process, BlackSpace points towards a collaborative and inclusive development based on local trust and respect.
By BlackSpace
Photo:Lerone Pieters/Unsplash
THE PURPOSE OF THE PLAYBOOK
This playbook aims to provide guidance to practitioners both local and non-local, striving to collaborate with community members to document, conserve, and amplify Black neighborhood cultures.
The design of the playbook highlights our process, some of the “magic moments” that served as eye-opening experiences, lessons learned from our efforts, and actionable prompts that can help neighbors, practitioners, kids, and local cultural producers document, conserve, and amplify Black cultural assets in historically Black neighborhoods.
WHAT IS HERITAGE CONSERVATION?
BlackSpace defines heritage conservation as intentional actions that protect and elevate culturally significant markers, both non-physical and physical, in an effort to understand a place and the past, present, and future of its people. Amplifying culture and heritage alone cannot combat urban forces like gentrification or economic disinvestment. However, heritage conservation is necessary in strengthening Black community agency.
Heritage conservation can:
» Acknowledge cultural traditions, rituals, and sites as assets
» Advance self-determined narratives; inspire local advocates
» Affirm peoples’ rights to their places; prevent cultural erasure
» Fortify social networks; facilitate deeper community connectedness
Heritage conservation can be done by:
» Anyone rooted in or making the culture of a community - aka “cultural producers”
» Those who keep and share neighborhood history and culture, formally or informally, and those who might not necessarily recognize their work as “heritage conservation”
» You!
Photo: Heather Ford/Unsplash