ABOUT US
The Urban Conga is a Brooklyn, NY-based award-winning multidisciplinary design studio led by Ryan Swanson and Maeghann Coleman, AIA. The studio is comprised of a diverse group of creatives focused on sparking community interaction and social activity through open-ended play. We achieve this by utilizing play methodologies as a critical tool implemented not just in the work itself but in the participatory design process in which the work is created. Our work explores the idea of working with clients to create more playable cities as an ecosystem of inclusive multiscale playable opportunities intertwined with our existing urban fabric.
Through this work, we have had opportunities to collaborate with local communities, NGOs, businesses, municipal agencies, and institutions worldwide, delivering multi-scaled urban interventions, playable products, workshops, lectures, development plans, and public policy recommendations.
The experiences and spaces we create are just one component of the work we do. The impact of the connections, conversations, relationships, knowledge, and equity that we have been able to spark through these opportunities goes far beyond the physical work itself.
“Our brains are built to benefit from play no matter what our age."- Theresa A. Kestly (American psychologist)
Play is our natural driver as humans to discover, explore, and empathize with others.It is universal, and it can be applied as a powerful tool to start bridging divides and breaking inequities within our cities and public spaces. And yet, the term “play” is consistently absent from significant discussions surrounding urban development, public space design, and city change. Often play is seen isolated within a specific space for a specific group, and through our work we push to shift that narrative and begin to generate open-ended playable opportunities for all demographics within everyday spaces. Our work investigates how play can start to exist in these everyday spaces at a variety of scales.
The work we create begins to encourage people to think about these spaces that could become PLAYces: like public park benches, bus stops, street lights, or just the everyday spaces in-between. We explore how these often once overlooked and underutilized situations can turn into inclusive, stimulating, creative outlets for communal connection. The work becomes more than just a photogenic monument or moment in time; they become everchanging, open-ended platforms that showcase how play can impact the identity, health, social, and economic value of our cities and communities. We see our work as a catalyst for sparking a larger conversation about the value of inclusive, open-ended play within our everyday lives.
