Following a competitive national selection process, Elaheh Demirchelie was awarded the HKS Design Fellowship. This platform enabled her to lead a research-driven, community-centered proposal aimed at reimagining the public realm in Anacostia, Washington, D.C.—a historically underinvested yet culturally significant neighborhood in the nation’s capital.

In collaboration with a local church and neighborhood stakeholders, the proposal advanced a tactical urbanism framework centered on a network of “micro-activation” nodes. Using low-cost, reclaimed materials such as shipping pallets, the design envisioned a series of small-scale, site-specific interventions that respond to localized needs for safety, shade, gathering, and ecological presence. The process was structured around participatory engagement sessions that positioned residents as co-creators—ensuring that each intervention was not only contextually relevant but also deeply rooted in community identity and aspirations.

The proposed interventions act as points within the urban fabric, strategically placed to enhance walkability, social visibility, and informal surveillance across fragmented public corridors. The design strategy emphasized spatial justice through resourceful materiality, modular adaptability, and inclusive programming—enabling community stewardship from inception. By fostering local ownership through co-authorship, the proposal sought to catalyze long-term resilience through short-term, replicable acts of transformation.

Though unbuilt, the project stands as a replicable design framework for bottom-up public space activation in under-resourced neighborhoods. It illustrates the power of design to serve as a platform for civic agency, and how modest tactical interventions—when guided by deep community input—can reframe the trajectory of place-based revitalization.