Weaving Commons
Toolkit for Public Space Making in CambridgeRole
Concept Development, Design, Production
Advisor
Belinda Tato
Associate Professor in Practice of Landscape Architecture
Harvard University Graduate School of Design
Co-director, Ecosistema Urbano
Teammate Tingyue Tan, Gio Hur
Weaving Commons is a participatory toolkit that reimagines how communities engage with overlooked public spaces in Cambridge, MA. The project asks which spaces are avoided or unseen, why they exist that way, and how local voices can shape their transformation from the start. At the core of the toolkit are custom stamps, each representing a potential action or idea for public space. Stamping offers a simple, accessible, and tactile way to participate—leaving a visible mark that turns abstract feedback into an immediate, shared gesture.
Activated through public installations and hands-on workshops, Weaving Commons invites residents to identify places they care about, propose interventions, and articulate what would make their city more inclusive and welcoming. By centering lived experience and collective imagination, the project challenges top-down planning models and reframes public space as a shared, adaptable resource driven by community agency.