Name
Preserving Black Presence - A Toolkit for Cultural Placekeeping
Date & Time
Friday, October 16, 2026, 1:00 PM - 2:30 PM
Tyler A Ray Tazianna Footman Tya Winn Tayyib Smith Britney Elayne Coleman
Description

The Community Design Collaborative and The Growth Collective are partnering to present Preserving Black Presence Philadelphia, a multi-faceted design services project to support the historic and cultural preservation of Black community assets in Philadelphia. Started in 2025, the initiative provides feasibility services to three historic sites: The Colored Girls Museum, the ACES Museum, and the MOVE Archive; considering their technical preservation, futureproofing design opportunities, and organizational and physical sustainability. Through the initiative, a peer cohort was created of 20+ sites of historic significance in Philadelphia to organize around cultural placekeeping. This two-year initiative piloted a toolkit for diasporic preservation practices. The broad team partnered with a community design center- with 35+ years of design feasibility studies that combine architecture, planning, and landscape architecture expertise with community development- and a black-led real estate collective to work towards shared goals. Through the PBP Cohort, the participants, local minority designers, and the staff team co-created digital tools for public consumption, including an interactive timeline, a collective mental map, and a syllabus on Black Philadelphia spaces. This seminar will share learnings and replicable tools that can be replicated for placekeeping.

Course Credit
LU/HSW
Number of Credits
1.5 Learning Units (90 min)
ID
4261