Welcome

The mission of the Collective for Community, Culture and Environment is to further economic, social, environmental justice and sustainability by helping communities shape decisions that affect their lives, through planning, design and research.

About Us

The Collective for Community, Culture and Environment, LLC (CCCE) is a women-owned and led planning, architecture, and urban design practice and interdisciplinary professional network based in New York City, with projects throughout the tri-state region. We work with clients and partners that share our mission of developing a sustainable and equitable world.

The Collective, a non-hierarchical professional organization, has 19 Members and 11 Affiliates. We are a certified NYC Minority/Women Business Enterprise (WBE).

 

Featured News

Manhattan CB4 just approved CCCE’s innovative Shared Street design for West 22nd street between 7th and 8th Avenues, a residential street in Chelsea, Manhattan. The street design features curbless entry plazas, and vertical and horizontal traffic-calming features including park-like sidewalk extensions with public seating, containerized garbage, and micro-mobility drop-off areas, and much more…

CCCE also designed and co-led a well-attended community visioning workshop to solicit feedback for the redesign of the street.

Our design, based on Dutch Woonerf and NYC DOT Shared Street principles, could be replicated in other NYC residential neighborhoods. Thanks to all the project partners and collaborators!!

The final report can be found here: bit.ly/3X7oGrf

Stay tuned for further updates on this exciting project!

What we do

CCCE works on planning, architecture, and research projects that further economic resilience, cultural diversity, public health, social justice, and environmental sustainability.

We conduct research, interpret policy, analyze conditions and opportunities, and provide cutting-edge designs. We support and facilitate partnerships, design, and convene participatory processes, enabling effective civic engagement in complex government procedures and implementation of new visions, programs, and plans.

Our inclusive approach engages a broad spectrum of stakeholders including residents, community organizations, and businesses, and builds their capacity to shape decisions that impact daily life, the environment, and climate.

Services

  • Land-Use and Zoning Policy Development
  • Environmental, Health, Food System, and Preservation Planning
  • Neighborhood Planning and Community Development
  • Affordable Housing Policy
  • Urban Design, Landscape Architecture, Placemaking, and Public Art
  • Architecture, Interior Design and Space Planning
  • Financial and Real-Estate Feasibility Studies
  • Energy, Efficiency, and Resilience
  • Economic and Workforce Development

Initiatives

  • Caregiver Affordable Housing for a Resilient Economy (CAHRE) Infrastructure: A new affordable housing model for health care workers and their families; a pilot project is currently planned in the Bronx
  • Anti-Displacement Research (NYC and International) - CCCE multi-year research initiative
  • Land Use Policy and Budget Research Project (NYC) - CCCE research initiative
  • Parametric Urban Design and Real-Estate Analysis tool: WE_GENERATE (beta) - funded by the NYS Health Foundation and the Taconic Foundation/Pratt Center (with GOLES)
  • CCCE Workshops, Courses and Public Programs - by CCCE

Clients

  • Bronx Community Board 7
  • Chinatown Working Group (CWG)
  • CAAAV+GOLES+TUFF-LES+Manhattan Community Board 3
  • City of Stamford, CT, Land Use Bureau
  • East New York Coalition for Community Advancement
  • Good Old Lower East Side, Inc. (GOLES)
  • Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC)
  • New York City Economic Development Corporation (EDC)
  • Prospect Park East Network (PPEN)/Prospect Lefferts Gardens Neighborhood Association (PLGNA)
  • Seward Park Conservancy
  • UPROSE and the Protect Our Working Waterfront Alliance
  • Village of Ossining
  • The Nature Conservancy
  • National Congress of Neighborhood Women
  • NYCHA Tenant Assoc's (Johnson, Clay Avenue, Cooper Park, Ravenswood)
  • New York Health Foundation

Projects

CCCE works with community groups, non-profit organizations, public agencies, and private firms on comprehensive planning, architectural design, stakeholder engagement, and community development efforts. We provide customized teams with the requisite skill set for specific projects and draw upon the deep expertise of the broader Collective for additional input. We are a certified WBE Enterprise.

Selected Projects

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Image Stamford CT South End Neighborhood Plan

Stamford CT South End Neighborhood Plan

Featured, Urban Planning, Workshops, Sustainable Design, Urban Design, Historic Preservation

The City of Stamford, CT Land Use Bureau retained the Collective to develop a comprehensive community-based plan for the South End neighborhood – a 322-acre waterfront peninsula. After a thorough community-engagement process, CCCE’s team created zoning, historic preservation, and urban design guidelines for affordable housing, office and retail development, as well as recommendations for new educational, cultural and landscape amenities.

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Image GOLES Office Renovation, N.Y.

GOLES Office Renovation, N.Y.

Featured, Workshops, Sustainable Design, Architecture, Interior Design

GOLES – Good Old Lower East Side, Inc. – a 45-year-old Lower East Side housing and preservation organization, appointed the Collective to completely re-design their storefront offices and public meeting spaces. The new offices support GOLES’s work on tenant rights, homelessness prevention, economic development, community revitalization, and its advocacy for a sustainable and healthy environment.

 

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Image WE_GENERATE (beta) Chinatown, Manhattan

WE_GENERATE (beta) Chinatown, Manhattan

Featured, Urban Planning, Workshops, Sustainable Design, Urban Design, Civic Tech

WE_GENERATE (beta) is an interactive, participatory digital tool for communities and professionals that democratizes neighborhood planning by empowering citizens to visualize and shape urban building and renovation projects, analyze multiple trade-offs, and make persuasive data-backed choices that further public health, resilience, preservation, and urban justice.

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Image Sunset Park BK Green Industrial Resilient District (G.R.I.D. Plan)

Sunset Park BK Green Industrial Resilient District (G.R.I.D. Plan)

Featured, Urban Planning, Sustainable Design, Workforce Development, Green Jobs

The Sunset Park industrial waterfront in Brooklyn is one of New York City’s largest industrial waterfronts with its only deep-water port. It is also home to the second-highest number of industrial jobs in New York City. Industry City is a 6.5 million square feet industrial campus on the waterfront.

In 2017, Industry City proposed a rezoning plan that would increase its footprint to add two hotels, academic uses, and larger retail and office spaces while preserving a token amount of industrial space. UPROSE engaged the Collective to analyze the Industry City rezoning proposal and to create an alternative plan that addresses UPROSE’s climate justice and economic development goals.

 

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Image The Plan for Chinatown and Surrounding Areas: Preserving Affordability and Authenticity

The Plan for Chinatown and Surrounding Areas: Preserving Affordability and Authenticity

Urban Planning, Workshops, Sustainable Design, Advocacy Initiatives, Comprehensive Plan

The “Plan for Chinatown and Surrounding Areas: Preserving Affordability and Authenticity” was a collaborative, multi-disciplinary effort built upon meetings, interviews, surveys, and consultation with many of the 51 member organizations of the Chinatown Working Group (CWG) in Lower Manhattan. The CWG plan set the basis for a rezoning of the area in order to stabilize and increase the amount of affordable housing in Chinatown and the Lower East Side while preserving and creating more small business and cultural opportunities.

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Image Bronx CD7 – Land Use and Zoning Study

Bronx CD7 – Land Use and Zoning Study

Urban Planning, Workshops

The Collective conducted a study to assess land use and zoning patterns and developed a long-term vision for parts of Bedford Park and Kingsbridge Heights, in the Bronx with community input, resulting in recommendations to Community Board 7.

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Image Ravenswood Queens Community Land Trust Visioning Workshops

Ravenswood Queens Community Land Trust Visioning Workshops

Urban Planning, Workshops, Community Land Trust

The Collective, together with the NYCHA Ravenswood Residents Association, and other Western Queens partners, collaborated on two community workshops designed to kick-start a visioning process for a new building on a site near the Ravenswood Houses.

CCCE conducted historic research, developed site and zoning analyses, and designed, co-led, and evaluated the workshops.

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Image Ossining N.Y. Housing Vacancy Study

Ossining N.Y. Housing Vacancy Study

Urban Planning, Affordable Housing

The Village of Ossining selected CCCE to conduct a Housing Vacancy Study to determine the vacancy rate in buildings with at least six dwelling units that were completed prior to January 1, 1974. Pursuant to the New York State Emergency Tenant Protection Act, if there is less than a 5% vacancy rate in such buildings, a housing emergency can be declared and rent regulations can be imposed.

 

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Image Community Visioning for Edgemere Queens

Community Visioning for Edgemere Queens

Urban Planning, Workshops, Urban Design, Waterfront Resilience

Through focused organizing and strategic support, CCCE and Rockaway nonprofit partner RISE worked on a project led by Edgemere community members to articulate and advocate their own response and build a consensus around a vision for socially and ecologically beneficial use of undeveloped, flood-prone city-owned vacant land.

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Image National Congress of Neighborhood Women

National Congress of Neighborhood Women

Workshops, Planning, Real-Estate Feasibility Study

CCCE was engaged to assist the National Congress of Neighborhood Women, a long-term non-profit women’s organization based in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, to articulate its vision for the future and the use of the building they own at 249 Manhattan Avenue. More specifically, this effort included several meetings with the group to explore the thoughts of the NCNW Board members and key stakeholders on directions for the future of the organization and the possible uses of their building. To facilitate decision-making about the building, CCCE prepared a zoning analysis and a preliminary building analysis that proposed design layouts/massing based on what the zoning would permit, and the group’s programmatic directions identified in the initial conversations.  A report summarizing the findings and preliminary design options was submitted to the group and was discussed by CCCE and the Board and stakeholders in early 2021. The report’s recommendations also served as the basis of subsequent meetings on next steps held by NCNW.

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People

Member

Eve Baron

Eve Baron

Urban Planner

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Patricia Barrera

Patricia Barrera

Land Use and Affordable Housing

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Leslie F. Boden

Leslie F. Boden

Community Health Planning and Program Development

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Wendy Brawer

Wendy Brawer

Sustainable Design, Mapping and Communications

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Meta Brunzema

Meta Brunzema

Architecture and Urban Design

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Paula Luria Caplan

Paula Luria Caplan

Urban Planning

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Jocelyne Chait

Jocelyne Chait

Community Planning

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Devyani Guha

Devyani Guha

Community Planning and Development

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Jill Hamberg

Jill Hamberg

Urban Planning, Research and Policy

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Eva Hanhardt

Eva Hanhardt

Community and Environmental Planning

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Zehra Kuz

Zehra Kuz

Architecture and Environmental Design

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Mercedes Narciso

Mercedes Narciso

Architecture and Urban Planning

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Jina Porter

Jina Porter

Urban Planning

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Peg Seip

Peg Seip

Community Planning and Development

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Yvette Shiffmann

Yvette Shiffmann

Affordable Housing and Community Development

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Evren Uzer

Evren Uzer

Community Engagement and Community Planning and Design

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Laura Wolf-Powers

Laura Wolf-Powers

Planning and Economic Development

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Ayse Yonder

Ayse Yonder

Community Development and Disaster/Resiliency Planning

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Affiliates

Beth Bingham

Beth Bingham

Planning and Historic Preservation

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Caitlin Cahill

Caitlin Cahill

Community Participation and Environmental Psychology

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Linda Cohen

Linda Cohen

Community Organizer

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Wendy Fleischer

Wendy Fleischer

Energy Urban Planning and Environmental Justice

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Ellen Pollan

Ellen Pollan

Non-Profit Arts

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Beth B. Rosenthal

Beth B. Rosenthal

Community, Organizational and Collaboration Development

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Martha Sickles

Martha Sickles

Urban Planning and Energy

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Jaime Stein

Jaime Stein

Urban Planning and Environmental Sustainability

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Patricia Voltolini

Patricia Voltolini

Urban Planning and Economic Development

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News

Image CCCE’s W. 22nd Shared Street Design (7th/8th) Approved by MCB4

01 / 05 / 2023

CCCE’s W. 22nd Shared Street Design (7th/8th) Approved by MCB4

Manhattan CB4 approves CCCE's shared street design for W. 22nd street (7th/8th). Check out CCCE's urban design for a shared/safe/slow residential street based on DOT & Dutch Woonerf street design principles - and feedback from a community visioning workshop: bit.ly/3X7oGrf. Thanks to all the partners and collaborators!!

STREETSBLOG ARTICLE: MCB4 approves CCCE's shared street design