cityLAB is a nonprofit that performs experiments with the city as our laboratory. Experiments are chosen to seed economic development, generate buzz, and effect positive change in the city, from inside and out.
co-designing the future of transportation
Mobiliti.us ran an inclusive co-design workshop for 200 attendees between October 3rd and October 5th, 2018, with the primary goal of closing the gap between skilled hourly workers who struggle to succeed without reliable access to mobility options, and employers who struggle to hire and retain such workers due to transportation issues. The outcome of […]
the garfield night market debuts!
The Garfield Night Market kicked off last Friday night and was a big success. The market had 29 vendors, six of whom were from Garfield, which — though we’ve set it as our goal to have more and more Garfield-based vendors sell at future Night Markets — we were very proud of for our first […]
see our new and improved tracking tools!
cityLAB’s 6% Place Tracking Tools have a new home! Check them out at here and see the results of cityLAB’s 2012 Garfield Creative Census (according to our calculations, the 6% Place is currently a 3.9% Place!). All that and more at trackingtools.citylabpgh.org. (And while you’re at it, see the talent in the Garfield Freelancers Database!)
a 6% walkabout in the post-gazette
The 6% Place is “an innovative path to socially compassionate community change” says Rob Stephany, director of the Heinz Endowments’ community and economic development program. “We want to see vibrant neighborhoods with strong market forces at work and to make sure that low-income people clearly benefit from that vibrancy.” Read all about the next phase […]
new partners for the 6% place!
And now we are getting on with it. With the help of $49,350 awarded to the Bloomfield-Garfield Corporation by the Heinz Endowments and the energy of our newly-formed 6% Place committee, we are building the 6% Place. The Heinz Endowments supports efforts to make southwestern Pennsylvania a premier place to live and work, a center […]
the 6% Place book is ready for your e-reader!
cityLAB’s 6% Place book is now available for your e-reader! Buy it for your Kindle, Nook, and iPad, or buy a beautifully-bound copy of the book here. And you can still download the book for free here. Happy reading!
looking back: the cityLIVE! courtyard film series
The rain slowed enough last Thursday to screen our last film, The Pruitt-Igoe Myth. We popped lots of corn and filled the house. Thanks to everyone for coming down, to the Toonseum for hosting us and to the Benedum Foundation for their support. Shall we do it again next year? Please Vote for Me, July […]
picker and sdat plan for downtown springfield
cityLAB’s president, Eve Picker, was quoted in yet another article in the Springfield, Illinois State Journal-Register about her work there this week with the AIA Sustainable Design Assessment Team. Comparing the issues facing downtown Springfield to issues that downtown Pittsburgh struggled with for decades, including “retailers moving out, loss of residents and workers, and convincing developers to invest […]
the bgc breaks new ground in garfield
On Friday, The Bloomfield-Garfield Corporation held a ground-breaking ceremony for forty-five new homes in Garfield. As this article in the Post-Gazette describes, this effort is the “last leg of a decade-long, $24 million scattered-site effort that has coincided with a 45 percent drop in crime” in the neighborhood. Read more about the BGC’s efforts and […]
ms. picker goes to washington
Six days from now, Eve Picker, cityLAB’s intrepid CEO, will be meeting at the White House and wants to hear from you: “Help wanted! 6 days from now I’ll be at the White House, in a meeting with the administration and other Pittsburgh business and civic leaders. They want to hear how they can help […]
brainstorming up a storm
On Tuesday night, cityLAB held a brainstorming session to work through the 16 incentives for our 6% Place in Garfield. Community members worked with the Carnegie Mellon architecture students who are researching and designing the incentives this semester. After a presentation about the 6% Place and student progress on the projects, we organized into break-out […]
read all about it
We’ve had some great press coverage about our 6% Place experiment and the brainstorming meeting we will be holding tomorrow in Garfield. The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review posted a short article about the meeting yesterday, and The Bulletin, a publication of the Bloomfield-Garfield Corporation, just published a great piece about the experiment, the 16 ideas for Garfield, […]
off and running
The next phase of our 6% Place experiment got off to a strong start last Wednesday at our community meeting at the St. Lawrence O’Toole Activity Center in Garfield. Garfield residents, along with neighbors from Friendship and beyond, listened to cityLAB present 16 projects for the 6% Place, all designed to reach our 6% goal. […]
I came from San Francisco and stayed for the Penn Avenue arts initiative
Residents of Garfield and Penn Avenue shared the positive side of the neighborhood with us. “I came from San Francisco and stayed for the Penn Avenue arts initiative,” said one. It’s a place where artists can make a place so they don’t need to go to New York. The art galleries, First Fridays and the […]
considering pittsburgh
What makes people consider Pittsburgh? Here’s what we found … Connections - People who are connected to Pittsburgh or make a trip to explore it are more likely to come. Family connections locally make the decision to move easier. Rust belt chic - Those who enjoy grittiness with their city are likely to consider Pittsburgh, […]
