Our City

Our City’s work is guided by two principles: Start by listening, and learn by building. This means listening to community needs, creating meaningful ways to gather and incorporate public participation into the design process, and making the initiative accessible for both experts and audiences who are engaging with this work for the first time.

Our process underscores cross-sector commitments to promote urban centers as models for equitable growth and economic opportunity for all of their residents. The underlying goals of Public Design are to: increase resident participation in the design and planning processes of cities; develop new skills that engender creative pathways to creative jobs; strengthen partnerships that build trust between community members; empower local initiatives with replicable and scalable approaches to transforming communities; and build a network of public designers equipped with new tools for improving public spaces and public life.

Our partnership is a collaboration between Our City, EBALDC, and the City of Oakland. This project would simply not be possible without the unique expertise, resources, and community that each partner brings to the table. It is an outgrowth of conversations spanning nearly 18 months around shared learnings and opportunities between the three partners that is now ready for action.

As a partnership, we share a vision of Oakland where City leadership, community catalysts, creative residents, and private companies co­create inclusive development and growth while protecting the city’s rich cultural heritage and serving as a national model to inspire other cities. The Town Corridor Project harnesses the diverse and complementary experience of all three lead partners toward a neighborhood­wide initiative to test new creative approaches to building thriving communities.

Our project unites EBALDC’s work on community­focused affordable housing, the City of Oakland’s commitment to equitable development, and Our City’s unique approach to art, design, and civic engagement to create a transformative partnership with lasting results.

The Public Design process fundamentally relies on deep levels of collaboration. We know from experience that to be successful, the process has to be inclusive of all stakeholders, from the design of the initiative to its implementation. For this reason, we partner with cultural catalysts, like EBALDC, that have built a deep sense of trust with local residents. We partner with city agencies to align project goals with municipal agendas so that lessons learned can inform policy development and have long­term impact. And we pair artists and design professionals with residents to teach skills and create a renewed sense of agency for individuals in typically underserved and underrepresented populations. Together, these pieces have the opportunity to inspire and inform the national conversation around new approaches to neighborhood development.