Roundhouse: Redevelopment Amidst Histories of Urban Trauma

In the wake of the George Floyd protests and rising awareness of inequity and past harms, many buildings – like the former Philadelphia Police Administration Building (the Roundhouse) – are undergoing a reckoning. Reimagining the future of such a site is critical, but lacking an engagement process, the building would be redeveloped without balancing economic-development needs with public concerns, goals, and guidance. This would not heal but rather cause further discord.

This presentation unravels the complexities of formulating engagement processes for redeveloping trauma-infused buildings. Participants gain insight into how multi-layered engagement can amplify diverse voices in placemaking planning. Presenters share strategies for creating safe spaces for audiences that ranged from the original architect through previously incarcerated individuals to marginalized communities citywide. They describe youth-led and pop-up events and other in-person tactics – creating murals, establishing a podium to amplify oral histories, and holding pocket meetings for stakeholders – as well as virtual engagements like a multimedia memory wall. These real-world examples and tools help participants conduct sensitive conversations in communities across the country.

NPC Peer Reviewers assigned this presentation a learning level of Intermediate. For more on learning-level descriptions, visit our General Information Page.