Center for Urban Pedagogy

The Center for Urban Pedagogy (CUP) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization located in Gowanus, Brooklyn, New York City that works to improve the quality of public participation in urban planning and community design.

Background
CUP was founded in 1997 by the artist and architect Damon Rich with co-founders Oscar Tuazon (artist), Stella Bugbee (graphic designer), Josh Breitbart (media activist), Jason Anderson (architect), AJ Blandford (architectural historian), Sarah Dadush (attorney), Althea Wasow (filmmaker), and Rosten Woo (policy analyst). CUP's current executive director is Christine Gaspar.

Its goal is to communicate on the law as clearly as possible, in areas where there is a low level of education on legal matters. The CUP released the "Vendor Power" booklet informing NYC's street vendors on the law and their rights, "I Got Arrested" for underage persons getting arrested, "Know Your Lines" to raise the issue of regional lines modifications during electoral ballots.

During the fall of 2003, at the Storefront for Art and Architecture, the CUP organized the exhibition City Without a Ghetto themed on the development of low-cost housing in New York City since the late 1940s.

In November 2018, the CUP partnered with New York's Drawing Center to advocate civic engagement through drawing and design.

Awards and recognition
CUP received the 2011 Rockefeller CIF award to develop its Public Access Design project. The project aimed to connect graphic designers and distressed communities.

The Smithsonian magazine lauded the center in 2016 for producing educational kits that clarify the intricacies of New York's zoning and systems. CUP received the Smithsonian's National Design Award that year.

In 2017, CUP founder Damon Rich was honored with a $625,000 MacArthur Fellowship "genius" grant, to be used at his discretion over a period of five years.