Join us for a thought-provoking conversation about the urban planning exhibition Making or Faking Chinatown? and cultural representation in Chinatown’s built environment between architectural historian Kerri Culhane and urbanist Yin Kong, moderated by Daniel McPhee of Urban Design Forum.

Kerri Culhane is an independent public historian and board member of Think!Chinatown. Over the past 15 years, Kerri’s work has focused on the past, present, and future of the immigrant neighborhoods of New York City’s Lower East Side, Chinatown, Little Italy and the Bowery.

Yin Kong 邝海音 is a founder and Executive Director of Think!Chinatown, a community-based designer and curator living and working in Manhattan’s Chinatown. Think!Chinatown is the culmination of her work in urban design, museum, culinary & cultural instruction, and community engagement.

Daniel McPhee is Executive Director of the Urban Design Forum, an independent membership organization confronting the defining issues facing New York City’s built environment. He produces programs and publications that showcase creative approaches to creating housing, transportation, open space, and climate resiliency.

ABOUT THE EXHIBITION

On view through November 6, 2024, Making or Faking Chinatown? Representing People, Place and Culture explores the unresolved debate around cultural representation in Chinatown’s built environment through extensive research, photographs from Chinatowns across North America, and artwork by artist John Lee. The exhibition is co-curated by T!C Director Yin Kong and architectural historian Kerri Culhane, and designed with fwd | A+U, Farzana Gandhi Design Studio, and Pentagram as part of Van Alen Institute’s program Design Sprints. 

ABOUT THINK!CHINATOWN

Think!Chinatown is a place-based intergenerational non-profit in Manhattan’s Chinatown, working at the intersection of storytelling, arts, neighborhood engagement, and creative placekeeping. We believe the process of listening, reflecting and celebrating develops the community cohesion and trust necessary to work on larger neighborhood issues. By building strength from within our neighborhood, we can shape better policies and programs that define our public spaces, celebrate our cultural heritage and innovate how our collective memories are represented. T!C is the team powering the Chinatown Night Market, Chinatown Block Parties, Chinatown Arts Festival, Chinatown Storytelling Festival, Chinatown!Studio and more. Learn more at www.thinkchinatown.org