Circular Philadelphia

Circular Philadelphia member Tiny WPA builds on-site at Hunting Park Pool
Tiny WPA staff work with community members from Hunting Park Green to build benches for Hunting Park Pool.

Member Spotlight

Tiny WPA

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Tiny WPA helps build better designed spaces, stronger places and equity by supporting citizen-led design improvements and the growth of Building Heroes.

Why did you become a Circular Philadelphia member?

To be a part of a larger community that is passionate about issues we care about and dedicated to realizing real, long term positive change.

What does a circular economy mean to your organization?

Circularity for us extends well beyond material reuse and even job creation. The magic of the work we do comes from insisting that rich learning, community-power building, great design, job and career pathway creation, material reuse, and even having fun are not mutually exclusive but deeply interconnected.

How is your organization practicing circularity?

Whenever possible we use existing materials from the place where, for example, we might be creating a community-built nature playspace or durable locker room benches for a rec center to actually design and build those improvements. These enhancements are typically created WITH a community or by our young adult ‘Building Heroes’ in a manner that builds skills, creates jobs, strengthens community connections, and routinely generates rich conversations around the history of a place, material, etc. Building Heroes regularly bring the experiences, skills, material knowledge, and even the design details they gain working for Tiny WPA back into their schools, neighborhood gardens, etc. broadly impacting their community. For example, teens will frequently end up teaching not just their peers but also their high school teachers how to build or use everything from a table saw to a laser cutter and in the process change the maker culture of their school.

How can others advance the circular economy?

As a city and society we generally have a belief and imagination deficit.

A lack of belief that we can and should expect SO MUCH MORE from those things that are missing and needed on our sidewalks, in our public spaces, rec centers, housing developments, and businesses. This is coupled with a lack of imagination that young adults and communities are interested in and capable of realizing amazing, high quality improvements and amenities. We are lucky to have some amazing collaborators in Philadelphia who have helped us show what’s possible and push this work ahead but in order to normalize what we are doing and do something truly special, we need more champions and advocates.

Here are three things you can do:

1- Work to create policy change at the state and local level that incentivizes deconstruction or the harvesting of reusable building materials.

2- Advocate for and insist on improvements in public spaces, schools and new developments and that are circular and have multiple levels of local impact.

3- Commission Tiny WPA to create amenities or products for your business or design project that not only have deep impact but serve as models of what circularity can mean for other people and institutions.