Reimagining the Archive: Black Memory as Design Praxis

A Symposium Presented by: The Harlem Place, Memory & Culture Incubator (PMCI), and Spitzer School of Architecture, CCNY

The Place, Memory & Culture Incubator (PMCI) at the Spitzer School of Architecture, City College of New York, invites you to attend Reimagining the Archive: Black Memory as Design Praxis, a three-day symposium exploring how Afro-diasporic memory and cultural practices are reshaping architecture, preservation, and the built environment.

What is “the built archive,” and how can it be understood as a living, spatial, and community-centered practice?

Across disciplines, designers, archivists, artists, and cultural workers are expanding the boundaries of the archive—embedding it within neighborhoods, landscapes, and collective memory. This symposium brings together leading and emerging voices to reflect on and imagine new frameworks for preservation, storytelling, and culturally resilient futures.

Founded three years ago, the Harlem Place, Memory & Culture Incubator (PMCI) is a collaborative initiative that rethinks preservation as an active, creative, and community-driven process. Through partnerships across Harlem and beyond, PMCI has developed new approaches to engaging history, memory, and place.

This symposium marks a milestone moment, including the transition of the Harlem Place, Memory & Culture Archive to community partners.

What to expect: Over the course of the symposium, you’ll experience keynote lectures, panel discussions, roundtables, site visits, performances, and community-based activations exploring how Afro-diasporic memory shapes design and preservation practices today.