City Share will feature Matt Tomasula, founder of CityFabric, Inc., located in Chapel Hill, N.C. on March 28. CityFabric promotes civic and social engagement through simple map-based products.
Mr. Tomasula is an entrepreneurial designer, urbanist, civic instigator and active community member who investigates connecting people with their place through civic and social engagement. In Janurary, he instigated his first two civic-minded projects, titled Walk Raleigh and North is That Way, both exploring different forms of guerrilla wayfinding.
Walk Raleigh was CityFabric's initial step in linking the purchase of products to the funding and promotion of real life, small-scale civic and social interventions. Walk Raleigh is a very basic, guerrilla (self-installed) wayfinding system of 27 signs placed at three different intersections in downtown Raleigh. These signs were intended to put walkability on the forefront of conversation about the future of downtown Raleigh.
"Communicating the process of change and design in the built environment is crucial for inspiring people to get involved in the decisions that determine the direction of their city," said Mr. Tomasula. "The more people talk about and understand their place, the more they will get involved in their community." Since installation, Walk Raleigh has catapulted into the local, national and international conversations on healthy communities and tactical/DIY/guerrilla urbanism. Mr. Tomasula's citizen-led guerrilla project could ultimately catalyze real improvements to Raleigh's downtown.
The meeting will be held March 28 at noon at 63 East Main St. The meeting is free, open to the public and includes lunch. Make a reservation at info@glasshousecollective.org.