Information for the Future: Milwaukee and Neighbors

Grant Heimerdinger, “Information for the Future: Milwaukee and Neighbors”
Mentor: Arijit Sen, Architecture

Milwaukee’s Northwestern suburbs have been devastated due to poor urban city planning. With selective care packages, we worked to begin reviving some of Milwaukee’s developing areas. I used the sharing tactic of zines, to bring others information in a neat, portable, and concise way. I used several strategies which helped me begin my research, for example, understanding the setting and what may apply to our site’s interests instead of my own. I also had to plan and maintain a steady work path in order to send our packages out during their designated times. After managing these strategies I was able to get strong results and feedback from the recipients who were able to share their zines with neighbors and plan for their communities to grow. One specific zine explained the strength togetherness represented by a community garden, which now thanks to our zines is in the process of being built. Our work was given out to thousands of families in Milwaukee in the hopes which they will share and converse as a community for generations to come. After our work was distributed we saw high as well as average results, but the key factor is that these neighborhoods received our care packages. Many enjoyed our work with the zines and welcomed their information, but some oversaw the information which led to less cooperation and a sense of community.