David Ludwig, MS Urban and Community Planning ’25, who serves as a Community Planning Fellow for Community Board 1, recently presented his analysis of proposals to create an East River Waterfront Park. “The East River waterfront is set to undergo massive changes over the course of the next few decades,” Ludwig said during a July 14 meeting of CB1’s Land Use, Zoning, and Economic Development Committee. “The FiDi-Seaport resiliency plan has yet to begin. And while the plan does promise to create new open space south of the Brooklyn Bridge, this is the lowest priority of the project. And it’s set to take 15 to 20 years to fully implement.”
The Daily Hub
A roundup of ideas and projects from around the Institute
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Pratt’s Film/Video Department was voted in as a full and official member of The International Association of Cinema, Audiovisual and Media Schools (CILECT). CILECT is a global organization made up of 186 film and media schools from 64 countries. The organization is dedicated to developing and promoting the highest standards of film and media education. Membership opens up a wealth of new possibilities for cultural exchange and collaboration with colleagues from around the world.
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Alumnus D’angelo Thompson shared his favorite books, as well as his favorite bookshop, with International Boy. Thompson also recently discussed his career pivots with Prattfolio.
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Michaela Chavelis Arroyo, BFA Fashion Design ’18, was featured in Jamaica Plain News for a feature that explores her career trajectory. “A lot of people see it [crochet] as such an old craft,” Arroyo said. “I wanted to bring that into the modern world in a different way.”
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The Pratt Center for Community Development shared a success story from their EnergyFit program, which equips small 1-4 family homes in low- and moderate-income neighborhoods in Brooklyn—typically underserved by climate policy efforts—with energy-efficient upgrades such as insulation, air sealing and weather stripping, and high-efficiency appliances for free.
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Sooleen Kim, BFA Communications Design ’24, has received the Red Dot Junior Award 2025: Brand & Communication Design for her senior thesis project, “Wallog,” a social media platform that enriches in-person interactions for a genuine friendship. Red Dot is one of the world’s most prestigious design awards.
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David Burney, visiting associate professor in the Graduate Center for Planning and the Environment, and Marium Naveed, MS Urban and Community Planning ’23, write about bus stop design, including Naveed’s final thesis for Pratt, in Common Edge. “[Naveed’s] research found that some stations naturally supported public life, while others did not. The difference was in the surrounding built environment: public life thrived where there was room for people to linger, where there was traffic calming in place, and where there was clustering of small everyday activities nearby. When these three elements came together, station areas felt like part of a neighborhood.”
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Pratt Trustee and alumnus Derrick Adams will be participating in the 2025 Untitled Art fair in Miami Beach this December. “Comprising over 100 galleries, the presentations feature a diverse array of artistic voices and spaces from 29 countries and territories.”
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Alyse Dees, MS Urban and Community Planning ’27, received the 2025 American Planning Association (APA) Foundation Diversity Scholarship. Dees is “interested in the intersection of architecture and urbanism because she views it as an opportunity to fuse creative storytelling with community engagement to build towards an equitable future,” School of Architecture News notes.
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Associate Provost for Academic Affairs and Associate Professor in School of Information Chris Alen Sula and Chair of Research and Collection Development and Visiting Assistant Professor Amy Ballmer have published a paper with alum Radhika Phansalkar, MSIXD ’25, titled “OER Among the Creative Disciplines: A Survey of Faculty Attitudes Toward OER at a Special-Focus Institution” in the Journal of Open Educational Resources in Higher Education.
More Pratt Institute News
Repair. Rest. Repeat.
Mending Circle, one of Pratt’s newest student clubs, sets aside time for care and community.
Designing Digital Interfaces for Real-World Clients
From Pratt Institute News
Graduate student Shreesa Shrestha, MSIXD ’26, is making the most of every opportunity at Pratt as she balances client projects, community-building initiatives, and a prestigious Product Design Fellowship at The Museum of Modern Art.
Open Studios, Endless Possibilities
From Pratt Institute News
Pratt’s annual MFA Open Studios were complemented by the first-ever Open Fields artist resource fair, making for an electric day of events celebrating artistic practice and the resources that sustain it.