Cultural Audit is a rigorous iterative research methodology conceived from a creative, social engagement process and a commitment to civic responsibility. Cultural Audit is used anywhere that technology, the built environment, strategy, and communications intersect with end users.

At the conceptual phase of an idea, I embed myself within a neighborhood or group to move beyond a typical community engagement process.  Through conversations with stake holders, residents, 9-5 professionals and the occasional visitor, I am able to present the diverse voices of a neighborhood via audio recording, video, still image and note taking. I conduct field work engagements with K-12 schools, senior and community centers, neighborhood shops and public spaces. I conduct this field work during weekdays, and weekends mornings, afternoons and evenings. This constituent framed practice ignites transparent, collaborative, participatory processes.

Working with constituent groups as part of a solutions focused process, uncovering insights as ideas take form, Cultural Audit reveals user-group attitudes in real time by asking “This is what I heard - is this what you said?”

I facilitate fully accessible and collaborative public process meetings, at the times of day or evening and at the locations that serve where the community or group lives. Media created with the constituent community ensures the community is at the center of a project, as the agent of the project. The short form media is presented at public meetings so everyone hears the same narratives dispelling an “us” / “them” potential, and is updated in real time to reflect any changes to the project process.

Cultural Audit is a valuable tool in the post design phase of a project, supplying first-hand testimony and documentation of project results, which may be used for funding, outreach, or policy purposes.

By carefully listening, learning, and exploring the contextual framework of constituent communities, Cultural Audit partners with neighborhoods to build structures of empowerment, agency, and representation.

“If you can find a better process (Cultural Audit) of community engagement for a city-sponsored housing initiative than the one undertaken by the Denver Housing Authority for Mariposa, I'd like to see it.”

- Kaid Benfield’s Blog, Switchboard Natural Resources Defense Council

2023 - Poesía Para el Bién Común - client: Artes del Tecnológico de Monterrey, FEMSA, LABNL, Monterrey, MX

2022 - Mujeres del Agua - client: Laboratorio Nuevo Leon, Monterrey, MX

2021 - Gather Here - client: Yes We Cannibal, Baton Rouge, LA

2020 - Cita en Bici / Bike Date - client: CIESAS Noreste, Monterrey, MX

2018 - Cita en Bici / Bike Date - client: University of Monterrey; Monterrey, MX

2017 - 303 ArtWay - client: Urban Land Conservancy, Denver, CO.

2016/ 17 - Content Generation - client: WSL Strategic Retail, New York, NY.

2015 - River North Park - client: City of Denver, Colorado

2015 - National Site Research - client: WSL Strategic Retail, New York, NY

2011 - River Front Master Plan - client: City of St. Paul, St. Paul Minnesota

2010 - Cultural District Overlay - client: City of Seattle, Seattle Washington

2010 - State Center Redevelopment Master Plan - client: City of Baltimore, Maryland

2010 - Mixed Use Housing, Retail, TOD Master Plan - client: City of Austin, Austin Texas

2010 - Public Housing Master Plan - client: City of Oregon, Oregon City Oregon

2010 - Public Housing Master Plan - client: City of Port Angeles, Port Angeles, Washington

2009 - Public Housing Master Plan - client: City of Minneapolis, Minneapolis Minnesota

2009 - Public Art Assessment - client: City of Bellevue, Bellevue Washington

2009 - Mixed Use Housing, Retail, TOD Master Plan - client: City of Denver, Denver Colorado

2008 - Stephen Epler Hall, Post Occupancy Evaluation - client: Portland State University, Portland Oregon

2006 - New Orleans Compact International Conference, New Orleans Louisiana - client: Global Green, Santa Monica California

“The idea of citizen participation is a little like eating spinach: no one is against it in principle because it is good for you. Participation of the governed in their government is, in theory, the cornerstone of democracy—a revered idea that is vigorously applauded by virtually everyone. The applause is reduced to polite handclaps, however, when this principle is advocated by the have-not blacks, Mexican-Americans, Puerto Ricans, Indians, Eskimos, and whites. And when the have-nots define participation as redistribution of power, the American consensus on the fundamental principle explodes into many shades of outright racial, ethnic, ideological, and political opposition.”

Sherry R. Arnstein, “A Ladder of Citizen Participation,” Journal of the American Planning Association