"The Saint Michael's Drive Corridor is the heart of central Santa Fe and the intersection point for all four of Santa Fe's city council districts. It's a vital area anchored by the Santa Fe University of Art & Design and the CHRISTUS Saint Vincent Regional Medical Center. In between are important neighborhoods, dozens of crucial businesses and great community organizations. The RE:MIKE event is a continuation of existing and previous efforts to encourage residents, citizens, business owners, students, commuters and everyone who has a stake in the area to lend their voices to its future." - RE:MIKE
Saint Michael's Drive is one of the major east-west streets in Santa Fe. The idea behind the RE:MIKE project is to recognize the history of the area, identify its values, its needs and develop plans to revitalize the corridor into a more comfortable and inviting urban space. As part of the project's kick-off events, urban planner and designer Candy Chang spoke about her work and the power of personal introspection in public space. She combines urban planning, street art, and graphic design to transform simple objects like stickers, stencils, and chalkboards into powerful tools that spark conversations in public spaces around the world. The title of her presentation was Toward Better Public Spaces: Transforming Our Cities Through Art and Design. She talked in length about how we share or don't share information in urban areas and what we would or could reveal if given the opportunity and tools to do so. Santa Fe was recently added to one of Candy's projects called Neighborland, where people in various cities around the country can voice their desires, needs and concerns for their neighborhoods.
By Corie Chambers
