Basic Description: Let your community know what you want from abandoned, underused, or vacant spaces.
How-to: Developed by Taiwanese-American artist Candy Chang, “I Wish This Was” uses nametag stickers to allow community members to publicly declare their hopes for development and future use in their neighborhood’s abandoned, underused or vacant sites. Print the “I Wish This Was” stickers (you can download them for free here) at your local print shop or online and then offer them and a permanent marker to passers-by (you can leave them in a box or distribute them by hand). Participants can scribble their ideas for the future of the building and then post the sticker on the building itself.
Inspiration: http://candychang.com/i-wish-this-was/
Impact statement: This project is one way to engage your community in thinking about development possibilities and possible futures of sites that are vacant or abandoned. It is a first-step, casual conversation builder. Community members may wish to document the process in order to push forward more sustained discussions.