CityGAP at The Living City Project

The CityGAP program is an exceptionally well-designed gap year program. I learned a lot about urban design thinking from a diverse group of stakeholders, including average citizens, urban designers, city government employees, educators, architects, and transportation designers.

Tanya and Andy’s extensive network of partners allows us to decode and understand the complex and efficient urbanism of NYC from multiple perspectives that work in synergy. This program has ingrained in me a new lens for looking at cities and systems, and I will never see a new city the same way again.

What I love most about the program is that it's impossible to choose a single favorite part. The program is so dynamic that three months feels too short. In the first month, we walked and explored NYC, immersing ourselves in its culture, history, and foundation, meeting numerous unique contributors to the city’s vibrant tapestry of art and culture. This foundation served us well in the following months as we worked on our group and individual projects.

As educators, Tanya and Andy are endlessly brilliant, supportive, and encouraging. Every day, I was in awe of their work ethic and their ability to manage both the program and the individual learning journeys of the students so sensitively. I feel incredibly fortunate to have had the opportunity to learn from them.

I also had the chance to work with the Department of Transportation, a city government body; Rockaway's Initiative for Sustainability and Equity, an NGO; and 34th Avenue Open Street, a people's collective. We had the honor of collaboratively assessing and rethinking various public spaces in NYC. For two months, our days were filled with visiting nearly every borough of NYC, interviewing stakeholders, conducting thorough research, and building strong camaraderie with our dream team.

The program equips students with invaluable life skills for the 'adult working world,' such as interviewing techniques, working in an office environment, managing professional meetings, conducting practical research, and public speaking, to name a few. I witnessed my peers grow in exceptional confidence over just three months.

With such rich experiences, there is no doubt that students will not only survive but thrive in college, with the comfort of knowing that when they graduate, the 'real world' will be all too familiar. I cannot recommend this program enough; its Top 10 Gap Year Program badge is well-deserved.

Participating in the Living City Project gave me so much insight into the nature of New York City and what makes it unique. Through my experience in the program, I got to meet with the large network of partners that Tanya and Andy provided and had the opportunity to spend especially lots of time collaborating on projects with NYC's District of City Planning and a Brooklyn neighborhood's community board. Throughout these experiences, I developed strong teamwork skills that will serve me well in the future. I also secured a film internship that introduced me to the world of documentary filmmaking, something I would never have been introduced to otherwise. These experiences allowed me to build a strong resume and gain firsthand exposure in the workforce, before starting college. Not to mention living in Midtown Manhattan also provided the perfect base to thoroughly explore (almost) every borough of the city.

Fantastic experience for our daughter! She learned and matured so much in the 3 months of the program. She learned not about NYC but also about herself. CITY GAP taught her more in 3 months than she learned in her first year of college! The program really teaches students about the real NYC and about issues affecting the city and its residents. They learned about the workings of the city and brainstormed practical solutions. Our daughter met so many people and developed a unique and well-thought out independent project as well as collaborated on a comprehensive group project. Also, it was obvious that Andy, Tanya and Zoe cared about the students and worked hard to make their experience memorable and enriching. We highly recommend the Living City Project!

CityGAP is an incredibly unique experience— I am yet to hear of any gap programs that immerse students in experiential, place-based learning in NYC the way the Living City Project does. This program empowered me to explore the passions I already had, and find new interests to fall in love with. Andy and Tanya dedicate their time and energy to their students with more care than any educator I’ve known; their knowledge and enthusiasm is seemingly boundless. Their connections to individual partners as well as organizations enabled us to meet with a wide variety of committed experts who were not only engaged, but excited to be working with us. CityGAP is an excellent program for anyone who is enthusiastic about urban geography, architecture, American history, city planning and design, building equitable communities, learning to navigate a city independently, making friends, eating good food, and exploring new places.

When our son enrolled in the program, we hoped for an exciting immersive experience living in New York City. The website has an excellent explanation of what The Living City project is about. What I’d like to add to that, is that Andy and Tanya are not only incredibly knowledgeable and passionate about their work, their level of support, guidance, kindness and encouragement makes this program exceptional. Along with learning about points of interest and engaging in fun activities, their program truly fostered things like critical thinking, problem solving, and the individual within the city systems. I was blown away by the level of the group and individual projects, and impressed with the range of professional community partners. As a result of this program, my son has a new sense of confidence, independence, and love for the city. This was a life changing experience for us in the best way!

CityGAP offers an incredible opportunity for young people to explore their interests and passions at a critical moment of transition in their lives. Whether they are about to leave for college or are already on their college journey, CityGAP allows students to reflect on and explore what excites and intrigues them about the world around us. Program directors Andy and Tanya create a space that asks students to think critically, while also celebrating the wonder of New York City. Andy and Tanya are two exceptional educators who not only care deeply about their students, but have also spent a lifetime studying the city and bolstering its success. They bring a long career of invaluable connections, which gives students a window into communities across the five boroughs, allowing them to meet with remarkable partners who live each day trying to make this city a better place. As a staff member I have had the joy of witnessing students’ inspiring work unfold through the steadfast guidance of Andy and Tanya. They are endlessly committed to supporting the success of each of their students, and have taught me the value of place-based learning. It was such an honor to work for Andy and Tanya and I will miss my time with them as I embark on my own path as an educator.

I took a gap year before my first year of undergrad because of Covid. I came across CityGAP and was thrilled because I was hoping to have a semester in a city setting. I don't want to sound like a cliche, but I feel very certain that CityGAP has changed the trajectory of my future in many senses. I felt that the program helped me to become the curious, knowledge-loving, ambitious person I've always known I could be. The program gave me a really special, analytical yet everyday lens to look through as I go through our ever-changing world. And at the same time, the program isn't constant learning in the way that we often think about it. I feel that it developed my passion for learning through the unique way Andy, Tanya, and Truly teach experiential learning, I began to understand how truly fascinating everything around us is. During my semester, we studied the NYC food system, 70s arts movements, and I did a personal project learning about Billie Holiday, protest music, and the Harlem renaissance (all of the links to the final projects are on the CityGAP website). This program is so unique because the students get to choose what we study, and once we do, Andy and Tanya provided us endless support, ideas, and resources to pursue these. With CityGAP, we could learn about pretty much anything, and no matter what we chose, Andy and Tanya had endless resources, fascinating contacts, and creative ideas about how to approach these topics. Andy and Tanya taught me about institutions, artists, people, and ideas that I don't feel like I would've had the same ability to find on my own. Not only is the sheer access to resources incredible, but the way the team teaches us to self-advocate is too. Going into college, I feel like I have a new confidence in my ideas and in asking for help or insight from unfamiliar people. This, to me, has been one of the greatest gifts of the program. Lastly, Andy and Tanya are unlike any other educators or people I have met before. I consider them my teachers, but also my life-long mentors and my friends. The support, encouragement, knowledge, and humor of these two is something I will always cherish and look forward to having for a long time to come. CityGAP, to me, feels perfect for those interested in becoming more informed citizens of today's world; an intellectual wonderland. I can't encourage it enough!!!

I decided to take a semester off of school during the spring semester of my junior year at college. This choice was mainly because of the pandemic and its impact on the quality of my schooling experience. When I found the Living City Project, through a family member who recommended it to me, I was beside myself with interest and excitement. It seemed like the perfect program for me to do during my time off that would be both academic and rigorous while also being exploratory and fun!

And I must say, the program exceeded my expectations of what I would gain from a semester away from school.

The Living City Project is an incredible opportunity for young people to expand and grow themselves as students, communicators, collaborators, and individuals. I spent the spring of 2021 in the CityGap program. This program is especially unique because of its placement in New York City and its individualization to each student’s interests.CityGAP utilizes the city as its “classroom” in every capacity possible. Although we completed this program during a year into the COVID-19 pandemic, we were able to spend almost every day outside in the world, safely, interacting with contacts, peers, and the city.

As students, we decided what specific relevant issues and movements in NYC we wanted to explore. Our group decided to study Food Justice and Sustainability in the NYC food system and Art and Social Change in NYC in the 70s and today. For each of these focuses, Andy and Tanya guided us through finding research, resources, and people to study the roots of these focuses. Additionally, for each focus we completed a group project of our own design that was the summation of our experiences.

For the first project cycle, Food Justice and Sustainability, we wrote and designed a Food Justice cookbook - called “A Bite into the Big (affordable, local, just, and sustainable) apple.” For the second project cycle, we created a public art project called the Scroll Project that explored issues of public spaces all over the city during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Each of these projects exceeded my expectations of what is attainable to make during a semester and what is possible to create as students. Thought the creation of these projects, Andy and Tanya guided and pushed us to combine our skills, research, resources in ways I did not imagine possible.

I cannot recommend this program highly enough. But more than that, I cannot recommend Andy and Tanya highly enough. They are truly outstanding educators, mentors, and people. (Not to mention that they are incredibly funny and engaging!)