Instagram story viewer> @akopetzky_> Posts

A.Kopetzky

@akopetzky_

1.1K

followers

1011

following

Ph.D. Candidate obsessed with vacancy
Previous food worker, potter, and architect
A million other things

POSTS STORIES REELS

"Businesses adapt around prolonged uncertainty, and entire blocks begin orienting themselves around absence. Transparency alone may not resolve long-term excavated sites, but opacity continues to widen the distance between those who shape urban land and those who live alongside its suspension."

Ash Kopetzy studies excavated development sites throughout the city that remain perpetually unfinished and fenced off — and how their development limbo affects the surrounding neighbors.

Order your copy or become an ARCADE member using the link in bio.

By Ash Kopetzy ( @akopetzky_ )
From Issue 43.1: A Human Kind of Problem

Published by ARCADE NW Publishing by @akopetzky_

2026 fieldwork film developed! Standing on a trashcan - trying to capture the mayhem that was fifa. by @akopetzky_

To work in the CID is an honor I am continuously shocked by. The conversations, sounds, meanderings - to sit and write in Hing Hay, walk up to Little Saigon, go to TP Tea, watch children run, elders plays chess, mahjong, and table tennis. I have to pinch myself, that a neighborhood I have loved since childhood, I get to witness unfold before my eyes again and again. Thousands of steps, many celebrations, so much Shumai. Exhaling this beloved time, with nothing but joy. by @akopetzky_

We bonded for the first time over cauliflower tacos in 2017, when we barely knew who we were or what the world was asking of us. Almost 10 years later, and we have grown in ways that we couldn’t imagine. Through grief, accidents, job loss, personal crises, identity shifts, big pivots, and being each other’s second hand therapists. Watching yours and Zakeel’s love over time has been a joy, from moving in together, to building a home - shifting life, and watching someone care for you so deeply over almost more than half your life. It is a true joy and honor to love you, and witness you be loved. by @akopetzky_

Happy 5th birthday to the sweetest familiars, who follow me around like shadows, sleep beside me, watch me write and rewrite. For traveling cross country more than once. This human loves you deeply, Palo and Fino. Happy world goth day sweet boys! by @akopetzky_

Slowly heading into the fourth and final year of a journey that has been much more than getting a Doctorate. I have learned more about myself in these last years than I have my entire adulthood. It has been such a rewarding, humbling, and caring journey. I continue to be grateful, and always somewhat laughing to myself “how the heck did I get here?” I still don’t know. by @akopetzky_

Baby sweater for a lovely human I met on the plane a little bit back. Because we all need some sunshine ☀️ by @akopetzky_

A couple of years ago I spent many weeks trying to gain access to the Grand Central Building. I would ask the security guard, who would turn me down, walk up to Smith Tower to ask a property manager - he would give me his card, refuse to take a meeting, and turn me away. I hassled with emails. Rinse and repeat.

October 2025 (on Halloween), Urban Visions bought the building from Goldman Sachs, whom had kept it vacant for 6 years prior. Immediately following, there was an open house for the community, and since - it has held artists for First Thursday art walk. The hearth is consistently roaring, which you can see from the exterior, the lights are on, I no longer am a hassle, folks are renting space, passerby’s are talking about its return. Almost like a prodigal son, “the heartbeat of Pioneer Square” has come back into the hands of community development. It may not be what it was, and that’s the point, we are just glad you’re back, Grand Central. by @akopetzky_

The CID in a temporary state of chaotic population increase (!). What was curious is right when you walk through the Historic Chinatown Gate, there is a kettle corn stand. Questions arise immediately. Why (lol)? Who wants kettle corn when there is dim sum at HK Bistro, Wanton Soup at Canton Wanton? What was the most curious were the stands of food of those do not have a CID business, although that is no issue - how is that impacting the current standing businesses within the neighborhood (even though they participate by offering food specials on the Food Walk)? What are ways to expand the LNY festival to also include the Little Saigon neighborhood more? What about collaborations with those of heritage alongside the current standing businesses in order to open the street, let the family association balconies, the brick, Canton Alley, breathe a little more? I am curious how small businesses feel about having a temporary tent stand in front of their store front that represents the fact that they have stayed and endured all that the CID has experienced; as noted during the Lion Dance, it represents all of the hard battles won, and brings blessings to us all. by @akopetzky_

The most spectacular building, sitting virtually vacant (outside of some City offices). Nestled between two neighborhoods. Truly confused, yet not confused at all. A space held in waiting, anticipation, or just the liminal unknown; the very nature of our urban fabric tends to forget how to answer such questions with creativity, while also allowing communities to feel loss of space which could otherwise be imagined as something that provides instead of slowly gets forgotten. You’d play mahjong here? I certainly would! Or dance lessons? Or a coffee shop? An arts market? by @akopetzky_

What a funny year 2025 was. Grateful for every accomplishment and falter. Grateful for not knowing and having the curiosity to figure it out. Grateful for every lesson learned, even if I needed to learn it more than once. Grateful for those who have entered my life and have made it all the more vibrant, beautiful, and fun. Grateful for my body and how movement has changed over this last year for me. Just grateful. May 2026 continue the steadiness and calmness of this current life. by @akopetzky_

Thinking about this back alley and drinking tea as hot as the sun in the morning.

Shot on ancient BW film by @akopetzky_