Justice in Design Project — Susan Opotow, Jayne Mooney, & Friederike Windel

Graduate Center Professors Susan Opotow and Jayne Mooney, are serving as team members for Justice in Design, a project organized by Van Alen Institute and The Independent Commission on New York City Criminal Justice and Incarceration Reform. Friederike Windel, first year doctoral student in the PhD Program in Critical Social/Personality Psychology is working on this project as well. The project is researching how jails impact the health and well-being of both the people inside them and the communities in which they sit.

The team, charged with developing design principles to inform the development new and healthier models of justice in New York City, has expertise in design, criminal justice, environmental psychology, affordable housing, and community engagement. Led by Dan Gallagher and Nader Tehrani of NADAAA, an award-winning architectural and design firm, the Justice in Design team includes: Susan Gottesfeld of the Osborne Association; Karen Kubey, an urbanist specializing in housing and health; psychology and criminal justice professor Susan Opotow; and sociology, criminal justice, and women’s studies professor Jayne Mooney.

Justice in Design was developed in a partnership between The Independent Commission on New York City Criminal Justice and Incarceration Reform and Van Alen Institute. The Commission was convened in February 2016 at the request of New York City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito to craft a blueprint for the future of criminal justice in the city. Van Alen Institute convenes collaborations among communities, scholars, policymakers, and professionals to rigorously investigate pressing social, cultural, and ecological challenges.