The Chinatown Night Market started as a response to the disparate impact of the pandemic to NYC communities and the rise of Asian American hate incidents. As an umbrella project under the Neighborhoods Now initiative by Van Alen Institute + the Urban Design Forum, the effort is an open-air festival in Chinatown that aims to activate an underutilized plaza with the objective to develop safe, smart and innovative urban design strategies for community programming and cultural revitalization.
The series includes intergenerational artists, musical performances, and Chinatown-focused filmmakers alongside local street food vendors. This year as we enter the next phase of the project, we begin to expand on the market with place-based design as well as linking food vendors with Chinatown wholesalers. With dD+P as the project coordinator, we continue to explore what it truly means to have a community-based night market and how to support and foster the vitality of Chinatown.
Program: Neighborhoods Now: Forward – organized by Urban Design Forum and Van Alen Institute
Community Partners: Think!Chinatown, Asian Americans for Equality
Coordinating Firm: di Domenico + Partners
Supporting Designers: Leroy Street Studio
Lighting Designers: Buro Happold
Graphic Designers: The Working Assembly
Legal: Fried Frank
Video Credit: Kate Levy
Video: Kate Levy for Neighborhoods Now, an initiative of the Urban Design Forum and Van Alen Institute
