June 3, 2025 6pm – 8pm
Westbeth Community Room
155 Bank St
(enter through courtyard)
New York, NY

FREE

To Register for Event: Civic Solidarity

Click to enlarge

The event will bring together two approaches to encouraging community and equity through civic design, each running through essential aspects of life that too often remain marginalized: death and the night.

This Civic Solidarity event consists of a 20-minute presentation by two of DeathLAB’s research fellows, reviewing the lab’s philosophy, research, and urban proposals, including new engagement with Green-Wood Cemetery.

Leni Schwendinger’s talk, “Are You Afraid of the Dark, A Light Justice Approach” will walk us through nighttime design and lighting strategies she has developed over decades of practice that include community engagement.

Share your thoughts, hopes, and questions about disposition and memorialization, both personal and societal.

Leni Schwendinger , Westbeth resident, is a multi-disciplinary designer focusing on lighting and community engagement. Her projects include lighting cities, bridges, parks, and waterfronts. Her work is deeply rooted in community engagement through synthesizing communal approaches to outdoor illumination, on-site lighting workshops, and her NightSeeing™ program, where she leads nighttime walks through urban spaces around the world. The walks raise awareness about the fear and poetics of the darkened hours to improve the nighttime environment, especially for women and night-shifters.