Democratic Design: Participation case Studies in Urban & Small Town Environments

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Contents

Introduction……………………………………………………………………....1

Small Towns……………………………………………………………………..8

Bangalow, Australia………………………………………………………………………………12

Murfreesboro, North Carolina……………………………………………………………………24

Selma, North Carolina…………………………………………………………………………....30

Towns in Japan…………………………………………………………………………………..40

Ohya ………………………………………………………………………….........................41

Nanao…………………………………………………………………………………………..48

Urban Neighborhoods……………………………………………………...57

Richmond, Virginia Neighborhood Charrette, ………………………………………………....59

Edgemont Community, North Carolina………………………………………………….……...68

Urban Block Regeneration, Cordoba, Mexico…………………………………………….…...74

Community Facilities………………………………………………………..80

Owensboro, Kentucky Riverfront Development…………………………………………….….82

Cap School, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil……………………………………………………………...95

Community Arts Centers, North Carolina………………………………………………….….108

Government Center, St. Paul, Minnesota………………………………………………….….127

Appendix Urban Participatory Games………………………………………………..............................142

Best-Fit Slide Rule……………………………………………………………………………….145

Knowledge of Emerging Environmental Strategies (KEEPS)……………………………....150

Urban Improvement Visual Alternatives……………………………………………………....152

Arts Center Game……………………………………………………………………………….153

References.……………………………………………………………………156

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INTRODUCTION Participatory design is an attitude about a force for change in the creation and manage-

ment of environments for people. Its strength lies in being a movement that cuts across

traditional professional boundaries and cultures. Its roots lie in the ideals of a participatory

democracy where collective decision-making is highly decentralized throughout all sectors

of society, so that all individuals learn participatory skills and can effectively participate in

various ways in the making of all decisions that affect them.

Today participatory design processes are being applied to urban design, planning, geog-

raphy as well as to the fields of industrial and information technology. Research findings

suggest that positive outcomes are associated with solutions being informed by users’

tacit knowledge (Spinuzzi, 2005). More recently, another factor has been suggested as

being partly responsible for favorable participatory design outcomes, which is described

as collective intelligence (Fischer et al., 2005). Atlee (2003) describes collective intelli-

gence (CI) as a shared insight that comes about through the process of group interaction,

particularly where the outcome is more insightful and powerful than the sum of individual

perspectives. When people align their individual intelligences in shared undertakings, in-

stead of using their intelligence to undermine each other in pursuit of individual status,

they are much more able to generate collective intelligence.

Public participation builds on classic democratic theory: that those citizens who are af-

fected by decisions should have a say in decisions that affect their lives because they will

become better citizens. Participation is effective when, the task is conceptualized in terms

of what is to be accomplished when the need is acknowledged to involve citizens. And it is

often the physical and environmental projects that citizens see directly affecting their lives.

To create a condition in which people can act on their own environmental needs, in which

they can make the distinction between the experts technical and aesthetic judgment, re-

quires a change in the consciousness of both people and professionals. Citizen participation in community decision-making can be traced as far back as Plato’s

Republic (Plato & Grube 1992). Plato’s concepts of freedom of speech, assembly, voting,

and equal representation have evolved through the years to form the basis upon which the

United States was established. Some historians support the notion that Americans have

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always wanted to be part of decisions affecting their lives. Billington (1974) contends that

freedom and the right to make decisions on the early American frontier was the shaping

force in grass roots democracy, i.e., people's right to participate. As many frontier villages

grew in population it became increasingly difficult for every citizen to actively participate in

all community decisions. To fill the void in the decision making process, people began to

delegate their involvement to a representative, which grew into the system of selecting of-

ficials by public elections, and the increase of volunteer associations and organizations (de

Tocqueville 1959). Although public participation can be approached and defined in many

different ways, this discussion is concerned with participation aimed at issues involving

community decision-making.

Colfer et al. (1999) argue for the importance of local people in involvement, decision-

making, and sustainable management. The debate about balancing local with national in-

terests, particularly in the case of public lands, is a discussion about power and is in many

situations the central theme in sustainability. Although social norms vary in different cul-

tures, a participatory approach helps people understand the complex interweaving of envi-

ronmental factors, and provide insights into situations so familiar that their characteristics

are not perceived. The form of participation is important, because it requires careful con-

sideration of communication behaviors throughout the process to bring about knowledge

sharing and learning by all participants (White, Nair and Ashcroft, 1994).

Community participation is commonly associated with the idea of involving local people in

social development. The most important influences come from the Third World community

development movement of the 1950s and 1960s, western social work, and community

radicalism (Midgley, 1986). The plans of many developing countries emphasized coopera-

tive and communitarian forms of social and economic organization, stressing the values of

self-help and self- sufficiency (Worsley, 1967), advocating that the poor and the op-

pressed should be mobilized to promote social and economic progress. Current commu-

nity participation theory suggests that politicians and bureaucrats have exploited ordinary

people and that they have been excluded from the community development process. Its

leading proponents are found in international agencies such as the United Nations, the

World Health Organization and UNICEF. The emergence of community participation the-

ory as an approach to social development is an outgrowth of the United Nations’ popular

participation program that required the creation of opportunities for all people to be politi-

cally involved and share in the development process.

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DEMOCRACY AND PARTICIPATION Many authors describing concepts of participation point to connections between theories

of democracy and theories of participation in design and planning (Fagence, 1977). De-

mocratic theory has always stressed citizen participation in public decision-making. With

few exceptions, however, democratic theory has traditionally encouraged “low quality citi-

zen action by making a fetish out of only one form of political participation - voting”

(Pranger, 1968:30). In reality, democracy was perceived as a procedure for electing gov-

ernment leaders.

Despite the insistence on “citizen rule” in the ideology of democracy, large segments of the

population in all modern nations are in reality powerless to significantly affect the political

decisions, policies, and actions of their societies. The concept of participatory democracy,

which emerged in the 1960’s, was a rediscovery of traditional democratic philosophy (Ol-

sen, 1982).

The roots of the participatory process can be found in the classical writings of Jean

Jacques Rousseau and Robert Stuart Mill. Rousseau’s ideal political system is designed

to develop responsible individual and social action through the effect of the participatory

process. Rousseau believed that participation performs a vital educational effect, teaching

people to be informed, interested and involved citizens who have a sense of control over

their lives and concern for the broader community (Pateman, 1970).

Recently, many public figures have made references to democratic participation with

words like community and citizenship and endorsed concepts like community building.

New organizations such as the International Association for Public Participation and the

Civic Practices Network have identified communities and examples of cutting edge prac-

tices in community participation. Yet at times participation has been distorted to mean that

everything has to be checked with everyone before any decision is made. Juan Diaz Bor-

denave (1994) describes this as a disease called participationitis. Participation has also

come to mean attendance at ongoing public hearings and constant meetings or donating

money to a popular campaign.

Mill argues that participation in national government is only effective if the individual has

been prepared for participation at the local level. It is at this level that people learn self-

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governance. The reemergence of the ideal of a participatory democracy awakened in

many people a concern for public issues outside their own immediate lives. The central

features of a participatory democracy can be distilled into the following conceptions:

• All individuals must have full opportunity to participate as extensively as they wish in all

collective decision making that pertains to them.

• Participation in collective decision-making must not be limited to voting but should in-

clude a wide variety of activities requiring varying degrees of commitment and involve-

ment.

• Responsibility for collective decision-making is to be widely dispersed, so that it is not

limited to officials and/or experts but includes all persons who will be affected by those de-

cisions.

• Participation in collective decision-making must not be limited to the political system, but

should extend throughout all realms of social life, especially work organizations.

• Participation in collective decision-making within nonpolitical spheres of life will teach in-

dividuals’ political skills and norms and will motivate them to become involved in larger po-

litical issues.

These principles can be combined into the following definition: In a participatory democ-

racy, collective decision making is highly decentralized throughout all sectors of society, so

that all individuals learn participatory skills and can effectively participate in various ways

in the making of all decisions that affect them. Particularly crucial in this conception of par-

ticipatory democracy is the insistence that full democratization of decision-making within

all local and private organizations is a necessary prerequisite for political democracy at the

national level.

Building a participatory democracy also means building an increased sense of community

among the population at large. When people have a strong sense of community, they are

more likely to respond positively to efforts to solve community problems, and will be willing

to contribute their time and resources to meeting community needs (Morris 1996). The

process is a stabilizing rather than a destabilizing force. Increased participation efforts do

bring in more people who initially have a lower sense of community than is typical for

those who are politically involved. But these efforts also develop the participants' sense of

community for as long as they remain involved (Thomson et al. 1994). Planners and archi-

tects facilitating a collaborative design process is described as “co-design” by King (1983),

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with such benefits as creating events that allow for social interaction and developing a

sense of community through face-to-face interactions, and publicly affirming community

values. Similarly, the unique qualities of places where planning and development occur can play a

critical role in the process as well (Manzo 2006). Citizens’ attachment to places in their

community can help to inspire action because people are motivated to protect and im-

prove places that are meaningful to them. Sense of community has been linked to place

attachment at the individual and community scale. Rivlin’s (1987) study of a Brooklyn

neighborhood found that attachment to the neighborhood served as a precondition for the

development of a sense of community among neighbors. Both sense of community and

place attachment are linked to participation, consequently sense of community has be-

come a key planning goal (Morris 1996; Perkins, Brown & Taylor 1996). Other studies in

participation conducted during the past decade have referred to such benefits as citizen

empowerment, increasing social capital and promoting a sense of community (Guy 2002).

Advocates of participatory action research (PAR) distinguish between research for the

people and research by the people, where participatory methods have had parallel devel-

opments in such fields as public health, resource management, adult education, rural de-

velopment, and anthropology. Research is seen not only as a process of creating knowl-

edge, but simultaneously, as education and development of consciousness, and of mobili-

zation for action. Action research can be described as a family of research methodologies,

which pursue change and understanding at the same time. It is thus an emergent process,

which takes shape as understanding increases.

The effectiveness of community organizations, social relationships and mutual trust is re-

ferred to as social capital. It is a measure of the social networks in a community with such

indicators as civic education, community leadership, volunteerism, community pride, gov-

ernment performance, and capacity for cooperation (Bens 1994). Therefore, social capital,

along with place attachment can be perceived of as community assets that can be created

through community participation (Kretzmann and McKnight 1993). A community organiz-

ing approach described as Asset Based Community Development (ABCD) sees citizens

as assets and as co-creators of their community. Citizens discover, map and mobilize the

assets that are within the people in the community, as well as informal associations and

formal organizations. Active community participation is key to building an empowered

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community. Empowerment is where people, organizations and communities have control

over their affairs (Rapoport 1987). Communities seeking to empower themselves can build

active citizen participation by welcoming it, creating valuable roles for each person to play,

actively reaching out to build inclusive participation, and creating and supporting meaning-

ful volunteer opportunities. Studies of empowerment demonstrate that such power is

achieved on the strength of interpersonal relationships among those working towards a

common goal (Perkins 1995). Shiffman states that, “community development is not simply

rebuilding…it is…about social and economic justice” (PICCED, 2000). Speer and Hughey

(1995) claim that shared values and strong emotional ties are more effective bonding

mechanisms than reactions to community issues alone.

Our collective journey to find a way to live harmoniously with each other and within our

social, economic, and ecological environments is a quest for sustainability. Community

participation promotes sustainable decisions by recognizing and communicating the needs

and interests of all participants, including decision makers (Sanoff, 2000). Key principles

include:

• Promise the public’s contribution will influence the decision

• Those affected by a decision have a right to be involved

• How can participants/stakeholders best participate

• Provide participants with information they need to participate in a meaningful way

• Recognize and communicate the needs and interests of all participants

• Involve those potentially affected by or interested in a decision

• Communicate to participants how their input affected decisions

Sustainable development was popularized through the 1987 publication of Our Common

Future, the report of the Bruntland Commission (WCED 1987). The Bruntland Commission

defined sustainable development as “development that meets the needs of the present

without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (WCED

1987). Many people view sustainability as that ideal goal or state towards which we strive

(Brown and Peterson 1994); and consequently, the idea of sustainability as a process has

become commonplace. Although there are many themes and perspectives regarding

sustainability it is not absolute and is dependent on social values. One perspective is so-

cial sustainability, which focuses on the need for changes in institutions and current social

values.

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Social sustainability encompasses human rights, labor rights, and corporate governance.

Similar to environmental sustainability, social sustainability is the idea that future genera-

tions should have the same or greater access to social resources as the current genera-

tion. Social resources include ideas as broad as other cultures and basic human rights.

Social sustainability is in essence about a shift from focusing more or less exclusively on

the needs of the individual, community or country, to the needs that will meet the best in-

terests of the whole. Therefore, a major activity of a democratic community is developing

the attitudes, skills, process and institutions needed for people to engage creatively with

their diversity (Atlee, 2003). Consequently, new tools are needed to address the environ-

mental challenges of the present and future.

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SMALL TOWNS

The complexity of big cities with large numbers of people and institutions usually results in

a fragmentation of functions, a division of power, roles and responsibilities so there is a

likelihood of many disconnection’s between dimensions of a community. In a small town

the dimensions of cultural norms, social structure, local economy, and decision-making

are much more interconnected than in a big city. Thus, the goal based development plan

used in the towns of Murfreesboro and Selma in North Carolina, Bangalow in Australia,

and Ohya and Nanao in Japan, made connections between awareness, perception, deci-

sion-making, and implementation.

Current interest in small towns is associated with the concern for what are believed to be

the more manageable scales of human activity. The philosophies of smallness-seekers

run the gamut from the anarchists who believe in minimal external control to the critics of

urbanization who find large cities unlivable in, and even unmanageable.

As a result, the apparent changes to the small town have been from an autonomous and

distinctive place to live, to one that is no longer independent, or even separable. Once

characterized by limited growth and minimum resident control, small communities are

experiencing a renewed interest with people returning to the small town being signifi-

cantly different from those who never left it. There are also indications that small town

residents voice higher satisfaction with work, housing, and leisure time activity, and the

rate of participation tends to be higher in small communities.

Despite the higher subjective senses of quality of life, small towns are in need of help

particularly from the planners who stamp out master plans that look alike. The idiosyn-

crasies and characteristics of each small town are ignored. Every town has a personal-

ity, a unique combination of elements that creates its identity. A town's character, or

sense of place, is shaped by its architectural style, the natural setting, cultural diversity,

use of materials, and countless other local conditions that distinguish one place from an-

other. The relationships of all these elements to each other are important aspects of a

town's identity (Sanoff, 2000).

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There are four action-modes that are generally used in small town revitalization (Swan-

son, Cohen, & Swanson, 1979). In some of them, proposed action is a one shot effort,

while in others, activities are undertaken sequentially or simultaneously. In some of

them, values are made explicit at the outset, while others project values that are implicit,

not clarified, or justified. In some outside experts play a prominent role, while in others

local residents dominate the process.

The categorical approach tends to carry out one substantive project at a time. The pre-

sumption is that each problem may be solved in relative isolation, without regard to its

interconnections to other problems. Recreation problems, housing problems, infrastruc-

ture problems all receive separate treatments, while the cumulative direction for the

community structure goes unattended. State and federal grants and programs, where

support is available, nurture this piecemeal approach by specific problem areas. This

approach encourages local people to think in categorical terms.

The comprehensive planning approach intends to overcome the piecemeal one

through an overall assessment of community facilities and services. The major problems

in a community are identified and recommendations are made, often without an analysis

of the impact on the residents. This approach examines the problems, but never sets

them in a perspective of how they relate to social structures, decision-making systems,

and community values.

The integrative approach attempts to involve people in a process where they identify

their own needs and preferred courses of action. These considerations are part of proc-

ess of organizing, choosing priorities, mobilizing support for the proposal, and engaging

in the implementation of the project. Thus a specific problem such as housing, sewage,

or social services, may be the beginning of a deeper exploration of the community's

problem. The integrative approach tries to connect problems to the social, political, and

value context of the community. In doing so, the solutions to housing problems may be

found in the social structure or political system, instead of in narrowly defined rehabilita-

tion or construction actions that commonly emerge from the categorical approach.

The dialogical approach emphasizes values clarification. It is concerned with having

local residents articulate their values up front, to understand how they help or constrain

achieving desired goals, and to decide the necessary changes they must make. In many

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community improvement projects, the values being reinforced have tended to be those of

the dominant persons or groups in town. To avoid this, those who advocate the dialogical

format of community problem solving encourage community discussions of internal dy-

namics and values before engaging in specific projects. Basically, this is a process of

community education where residents become aware of the forces acting upon a com-

munity from within and from outside.

This balance of elements that creates a town's identity is under constant pressure for

change. For this reason it is important that new development and change be guided by

a conservation philosophy, a conscious policy of respect for the existing environment,

and for the unique identity of towns. Thus a renewed awareness is necessary to guide

change within certain desired limits. Awareness is the beginning of a process leading to

the understanding of problems, clarification of objectives, and the consequences of the

strategies for change.

The revitalization of a neighborhood or a small town requires knowledge about the inter-

nal conditions as well as those external forces that might impinge upon its development.

Such an investigation is referred to by Bernie Jones (1990) as an environmental scan

and includes the SWOT—strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. The infor-

mation needed in a neighborhood or small town planning process is in the categories of

physical, social and economic. Jones identifies 13 areas of needed information:

• Natural environments

• Existing land uses

• Zoning

• Circulation

• Utilities

• Housing

• Community facilities and services

• Urban design features

• General physical condition

• History

• Demography

• Social analysis

• Economic base

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A method for organizing this information is by the SWOT categories, using a map to an-

notate and identify positive as well as negative features. A useful technique for integrat-

ing the data is to compose a scenario, describing what the community would be like at

some point in the future if certain trends are continued or reversed. The KEEPS (Appen-

dix) game is an exercise that can enable the public to be aware of the strategies for re-

versing undesirable trends.

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BANGALOW, AUSTRALIA Bangalow is a small Australian town in New South Wales, with a population of 780 peo-

ple. The township and its immediate surrounding rural area consist of a population of

3000 people. Bangalow lies in the valley of Byron Creek, 12kms. West of Byron Bay.

With the coming of the railway in 1894 and the clearing of the "Big Scrub" rainforest,

Bangalow thrived as a dairying district. The comparative wealth of the early 1900's is

evidenced by the fine commercial buildings in the town center. The town's historic char-

acter was noted in an assessment of environmental heritage (Shellshear, 1983) and ef-

forts have been extended to reinforce the town's continuity with the past. The town of

Bangalow was where a design resource team spent four days helping to preserve the

town's past and to shape a new future. The team consisted of this author, and four ar-

chitecture students from the University of Sydney, as well as several local architects and

planners who served as consultants and information resources. This charrette process, a

period of intensive planning, was decided as the most expedient and time effective strat-

egy to enable the town to reassess its future, since a proposed by-pass off the Pacific

Highway would dramatically effect the potential of Bangalow as a rural tourist center and

gateway to the hinterlands.

The visit of the design team began with a meeting of community leaders followed by a

bus and walking tour with interested citizens (Figure 1). The tour provided the team with

additional insights about the community from local professionals who had conducted

feasibility studies of the implications of the by-pass. The second day consisted of inter-

views with townspeople who voiced conflicting opinions about the town's future (Figure

2). The purpose of the interviews was to identify the range of issues, from the resident’s

perspective, that seemed to be crucial to the towns’ economic and social development.

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Figure 1: Walking tour

Figure 2: Interviews with townspeople

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Resource Team Schedule

Evening before, team arrival and informal social event

Day One

8:00-9:30am Breakfast briefing with community leaders and resource people

9:30-1:00pm Driving tour of Bangalow and surrounds with community leaders and local

professionals. Included in the tour were industrial and residential, areas,

educational institutions, and the by-pass location.

1:00-2:00pm Working lunch

2:00-4:00pm Walking tour of Bangalow

6:00-8:00pm Resource team discussion and preparation for Day Two interviews

Day Two

8:00-8:30am Working breakfast

8:30-10:30am Interviews with interested individuals and community leaders

10:30-12:30pm Model making and drawing workshop with school children


1:30-5:30pm Interviews continue

6:00-12 midn Resource team preparation of workshop materials

Day Three


9:00-12 noon Preparation for workshop


1:00-6:00pm Preparation for workshop

6:30-9:00pm Community workshop

9:00-10:30pm Dinner with Director of Arts Council of NSW, community consultants, and

community leaders

Day Four


9:00-12 noon Measure key buildings and sites in the community


1:00-6:00pm Continued gathering of information for future design/planning

6:00-8:30pm Dinner with community leaders for workshop summary and recommenda-

tions for future planning and management

Resident interest was displayed for converting Bangalow into a "heritage village with true

charm," while opposing views expressed belief in "not looking back." Many seemed to

agree, however, that recognition of the town's history was important. Gateways to Ban-

galow emerged as a popular issue as well as signage and streetscape enhancement.

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Keen interest was shown for replacing the traditional verandahs (covered porches) and

encouraging reluctant shopkeepers to invest in Main Street improvements.

Many residents also cited new and improved facilities for the visual and performing arts

as a need, with an emphasis on places for the town's youth. Some people lamented the

problem of resident apathy, while others remarked about the "good community feeling." It

was generally recognized that the community was heterogeneous, with many new fami-

lies with young children moving to town. Consequently, the services in Bangalow were

inadequate, forcing residents to shop in nearby towns. While most residents seemed op-

timistic about Bangalow’s future, there was concern about their ability to satisfy all

authorities that impose conflicting and arbitrary regulations on new development. Simi-

larly, a popular view expressed was to limit residential development and ensure that

green views from Main Street are preserved.

The results of the interviews provided the necessary background to prepare for a com-

munity-wide workshop that was held at the local bowling club on the third evening. This

event was planned to provide an opportunity for the residents of Bangalow to meet face

to face to consider the goals and strategies that would enable their ideas to be imple-

mented. Public participation in Bangalow's future through a community workshop was a

strategy for bringing together different generations of residents, an event that had not

previously occurred in the town. The design team relied upon the expertise of the com-

munity participants to shape their future by developing a list of goal statements prepared

from previous interviews.

The objective for design intervention was to develop a process whereby citizens could

identify important issues, outline specific alternatives and implementation procedures, so

they could change the plan as they felt it should change. Since conflicting values are in-

herent in any goal oriented process, an approach was developed which encouraged

community members to clarify their differences through a game simulation, where goals

and implementation strategies were the key factors that participants could manipulate.

Since Bangalow's young people represent the future of the town, a special children's

workshop was conducted with 5th and 6th grade students from the public school. The

young people were involved in developing models of their future town as well as wall mu-

rals depicting their likes and dislikes (Figure 3). The message from the ten and eleven

year old children was clear; more stuff for the kids. Activities such as a pinball parlor,

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skating rink and park were specific features identified, though there was a general feeling

that Bangalow lacked the necessary services and amenities associated with a self-

sufficient community. The results of this two-hour activity were exhibited at the commu-

nity workshop, held at the Bangalow Bowling Club. Special activities were developed for

the younger children attending the community workshop while their parents were en-

gaged in the goal setting process. The children viewed a 20-minute video of their school

workshop showing the making of their artwork.

Figure 3: Children making models and drawings of their future town

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To begin the community workshop, small groups of five persons each were formed

where players selected from a goal list provided, four statements that seemed important

in developing the town. The individual lists were then pooled, and through a process of

collaboration, four mutually agreed upon statements were selected by consensus.

Through a similar process, complimentary strategies were selected that could effectively

accomplish each of the goal choices. During both phases of the process, group mem-

bers were urged to support their individual choices, and persuade the total group to in-

clude their own particular selection (Figure 4).

• Recognize the area's natural and scenic resources as major assets • Heighten public awareness to the town's unique historical character

• Provide youth oriented activities • Improve gateways to the town • Enhance the community's natural resources • Promote downtown revitalization

• Package and promote an image of innovation and tradition

• Encourage the arts to contribute to the development of the community

• Promote the town's historic resources

• Create avenues for public/private partnerships for community development

Figure 4: Twenty workgroups participating in the planning session

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The process provided the impetus for discussions with town members, and the subse-

quent development of goals reflecting the wide range of possibilities for the town of Ban-

galow. The citizens of Bangalow explored many ideas. The ideas were summarized and

reflected a concern for the town's unique heritage, and the provision for services and fa-

cilities for special populations and interest groups.

In addition to the goal setting exercise, the design team prepared sketches of proposed

changes to features of the town that were identified by the residents during the inter-

views. This part of the workshop focused on six different aspects of the town, including

the town entrance, building signage, infill and open space, adaptive reuse of vacant

buildings. The intent was to allow participants to compare the existing situation with pro-

posed changes in order to fully realize the potential impact of the changes (Figure 5).

Figure 5: Comparison of existing situation with proposed changes

The results of the workshop were analyzed by clustering similar goals and compatible

strategies, together with comments made about changes in the town's appearance. On

the fourth day, a strategic plan was proposed to enable the residents of Bangalow to

move towards their stated goals. The components of a strategic plan included a state-

ment of purpose, drawing upon the goals at the community workshop, such as:

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To recognize the area's natural and scenic resources as major assets (Figure 6).

Figure 6: Comparison of existing situation to proposed changes

This statement defines what should be accomplished through the strategic plan, and will

be the responsibility of the participants in the process to shape this statement into a se-

ries of tangible outcomes. Since the goals are broad statements of intent, strategies are

measurable tasks that support the accomplishment of goals. Action steps further ad-

vance strategies by specifying activities that contribute to their achievement (Figure 8).

The Bangalow best-fit slide rule (Figure 7) is a design tool for public officials, landowners

and citizens to collectively examine building infill alternatives and their consequences for

vacant sites. It is most effective when it is used in small groups settings where members

make individual choices, defend their decisions and reach consensus about the most

appropriate fit. The technique brings to light aesthetic issues that need to be understood

by various interest groups in order to assure that an infill solution is appropriate for the

character of the streetscape. A site left vacant by a fire was the stimulus for the devel-

opment of the best-fit slide rule.

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Figure 7: Best-fit slide rule

GOAL:

To create a permanent home for performing and visual arts organizations in Bangalow.

STRATEGY: Renovate the Art gallery into the Bangalow Center for the Arts. Establish steering committee to oversee facility planning and fund raising.

Action Steps Responsibility Timeline Appoint committee Spirit of Bangalow, Inc. September

Have support committee Spirit of Bangalow, Inc. October

work with office staff

Hold national design Committee March

competition

Hire capital campaign Committee June

consultant and begin

fundraising

Select architect Committee September

Figure 8: An example of strategies and action steps

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Implementation of the strategic plan required the formation of a new organization to pro-

vide the needed communication and coordination between civic, historic, government,

and arts related organizations. Although this would be an independent organization, it

would bring together representatives from existing groups with the intention of integrating

economic development and the cultural life of the town. Twenty-five people agreed to

become part of a steering committee, with task forces created in Natural Resource De-

velopment, Urban Design, Cultural Facilities, Cultural Tourism, and Media Communica-

tion Education. The identification of the task forces resulted from an analysis of the pat-

terns of goal statements generated at the workshop.

Two months after the formation of a new organization called, the Spirit of Bangalow, task

forces reported significant progress towards fund raising and implementation of numer-

ous projects including a community park, restoration of an old movie theater into an arts

center, and the restoration of verandahs. One year after the initial community workshop,

substantial changes were made including the addition of several verandahs (Figures 9 &

10) and a children's park.

Participation in neighborhoods and with community organizations is widely recognized as

a solution to many social problems. Over the last two decades, people in many neigh-

borhoods and small towns have come together to create their own community-based or-

ganizations to tackle problems, which government and the private sector have long ne-

glected. They have formed countless block clubs, self-help groups, neighborhood asso-

ciations, community organizing fund drives, and community development corporations.

The public demand for participation, especially in planning, has grown to where govern-

ments have begun to incorporate into their legislation, compulsory provisions for public

participation and public authorities have come to regard public involvement as a normal

part of their practice (Shearer, 1984). In many situations it can be observed that the par-

ticipation process is not considered a separate exercise from the design process.

22

Figure 9: Proposed addition of verandahs

Figure 10: New verandahs added to the streetscape

23

CONCLUSION

Community participation is a complex concept. Planning for effective participation re-

quires an analysis of the issues to be discussed; the individuals or groups that are to be

affected the resources that will be needed, and the goals for which the participation is

being initiated. While it is necessary to identify goals and objectives in planning for par-

ticipation, it is also necessary to analyze the techniques that are available and the re-

sources they require. Techniques such as surveys, review boards, neighborhood meet-

ings, conferences, task forces, workshops, and interviews, represent a few of the options

available to participatory designers. When people participate in the creation of their envi-

ronment, they need the feeling of control; it is the only way their needs and values can

be taken into consideration.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

The Arts Council of New South Wales, Bangalow By-Pass Ring Road Committee, and the Com-

munity Cultural Development Unit, Australia Council sponsored this project. The design team in-

cluded Matt Devine, Ann McCallum, Roger Ackland, David Young, and David Huxtable. The

Project Coordinator was Rory O'Moore and included Helen O'Moore, Stacey Pollard, and Vicki

Reynolds, all from the town of Bangalow. An earlier version of this chapter appeared in Sanoff,

H. 2000. Community Participation Methods in Design and Planning. New York: Wiley & Sons.

24

MURFREESBORO, NORTH CAROLINA

Growth and development is not only a problem for large cities but for small towns as

well. Yet, the methods used for citizen involvement are equally suitable for use in urban

neighborhoods. This case study describes the delicate balance necessary between citi-

zen learning and effective decision making.

In recent years, the town of Murfreesboro, North Carolina (pop. 2000) under the direction

of the Murfreesboro Historic Association (MHA) rehabilitated and reused several of its

old, historically significant buildings. As a result, the community benefited by the addition

of space with the potential to support a variety of activities, but also retains its important

educational and cultural resources as reminders of the town’s physical, social and eco-

nomic development. In order for the MHA to make effective decisions and guide the fu-

ture of the historic district, the Community Development Group devised a growth plan

(Sanoff, 2000).

The concept of conservation through adaptive use has been applied in many communi-

ties throughout the country and is widely recognized as a viable approach in small com-

munities as well as in urban areas. The increasing demand for residential and commer-

cial development coupled with the continual deterioration of older structures within a

community, raised questions concerning the importance of conserving old buildings. The

dozens of reasons for preservation can be grouped into four main headings: cultural

memory, successful proxemics, environmental diversity, and economic gain. They are

described as follows:

• Cultural memory-Buildings are tangible reminders of the accomplishments and growth

that a community made throughout its history. Different architectural styles are a physical

record of the environment, in which the community’s ancestors worked and lived.

• Successful proxemics-This refers to the relationship between people, the activities they

engage in, and the places where they perform these activities. Before the development

of the automobile as the primary means of transportation and the development of land

use zoning, most neighborhoods displayed the characteristics of successful proxemics.

Places of employment, schools, churches, and the neighborhood stores were within

walking distance of one’s home. Today, the social interaction that once occurred as a

25

result of walking to and from work or to the neighborhood store has been lost. Conse-

quently, the feeling of town or neighborhood identity has diminished.

• Environmental diversity- People’s everyday environment is becoming increasingly more

homogeneous in appearance and in use. Zoning regulations, with restrictions on land

use and density, building appearance, location of a building on its site, were intended to

produce an orderly environment, but the result is often homogeneity. Rapid, uncontrolled

growth, too, created communities that are automobile dependent. These influences

make the preservation of older buildings and neighborhoods, with their diversity of build-

ing types, a desirable alternative to many of the newer monotonous environments.

• Economic gain-Recycling old buildings to new uses make it economical to save them

while retaining much of the original building. Investments in rehabilitation not only add to

the cultural resources of a community but have also produced a higher market value for

the improved property.

The town of Murfreesboro still contains neighborhoods that have successful proxemics.

Recognizing that these neighborhoods, like others throughout the United States have

adapted due to the growing pressures for change, an alternative approach to develop-

ment was deemed a necessity. Faced with limited resources and infrequent professional

assistance, the MHA sought assistance to develop a process where citizens groups

could identify important issues, explore alternative solutions, and select implementation

procedures so they could change the plan as they felt it should change. Since conflicting

values are inherent in any goal-oriented process, an approach was developed that en-

couraged community members to clarify their differences through a design game where

goals and strategies were the key elements that participants could manipulate. Knowl-

edge of Emerging Environmental Preservation Strategies (KEEPS) provided groups in-

terested in preserving the many qualities unique to older neighborhoods with an under-

standing of the strategies open to them. Organizing and planning for the preservation of

the qualities the community had identified as important, relied upon the consideration of:

• The environmental qualities the group chose to develop,

• Their goals,

• The type of strategies the community could realistically use to accomplish their goals.

26

This exercise prepared community residents to engage in the design development proc-

ess. The KEEPS game (Appendix) provided the impetus for discussions with community

members and the subsequent development of goals reflecting the wide range of possi-

bilities for the town of Murfreesboro. Community members utilizing the nominal group

technique (NGT) where individuals proposed, discussed, and compared statements, and

finally established their priorities generated ten goal statements for the town (Delbecq,

1975). They are listed in order of importance as follows:

1. Preserve the history of Murfreesboro.

2. Preserve architecturally and historically important buildings.

3. Boost community interest and civic pride.

4. Control change in the historic district.

5. Use the river and ravines to full potential.

6. Restore many homes to period authenticity.

7. Influence restoration in other parts of town.

8. Involve more people in MHA’s plans.

9. Improve business along Main Street,

10.Eliminate non-historic homes from the historic district.

The historic district and its adjacent environment were then subdivided into target areas,

a particular geographic entity defined by physical and/or social boundaries or certain

characteristics that make one area unique from others directly adjacent. In addition to the

geographic areas, issues such as visual quality, historic district image, and regulation of

development, were pertinent to each of the designated areas. For each geographic area

or issue there were specific goals generated by community members, qualities unique to

that particular area, and alternative plans and policies to achieve the stated goals. The

alternative plans developed by the design team consisted of two parts--the general policy

and suggestions for implementation.

The general policy consisted of a statement describing an ideal future for each particular

area of the town. For example, for the East End Historic District area (Figure 11), the

general policy for the first alternative plan was as follows: “The historic district should be

expanded to include the half-block to the south of Williams Street between Sycamore

Street and Second Street.” The suggestions for implementation consisted of a group of

statements describing the design recommendations for realizing the general policy. For

27

example, for the Williams Street South-Side area, an implementation suggestion was to

“encourage rehabilitation of the commercial businesses on the William Street extension.”

Typically, there were at least two options that could be pursued for each target area. The

policies described an ideal future based on enhancing the target area qualities and satis-

fying the goals. The effects of each policy were predicted in order to indicate the type of

results that would be expected if the policy were to be followed. To further clarify the

process, combining verbs and objects created the general and specific suggestions for

policy implementation. For example, the verb “restore” was applied to an object (s) “the

West main Street group of significant buildings.”

Within each alternative plan the suggestions for implementation were arranged accord-

ing to their own priority system of three categories of importance. For each geographic

target area, specific questions were asked by participants in order to determine which

Figure 11: Sample worksheet describing goals and qualities of the area

28

alternative plan to pursue. Key questions were prepared since the development process

for the town was to be continued for at least twenty years. The questions were intended

to alert community members to the inevitability of changing goals and area qualities that

would require adding to the list of plan alternatives.

A community design workbook, prepared for the residents of the town, identified 15 geo-

graphic areas for Murfreesboro’s continuing preservation efforts to emphasize the town’s

colonial past. The workbook, describing the community participation process as a com-

ponent of the strategic plan, was given a First Award in the Progressive Architecture

awards program. In the past two decades the workbook has been the primary resource

in the development of Historic Murfreesboro. In addition to the restoration and reuse of

many older buildings, vacant buildings in the rural area have been moved to the historic

district (Figure 12), restored, and given new uses (Figure 13).

Figure 12: Building being relocated to the historic district

29

Today, Murfreesboro reflects the commitment of its citizens in creating a major tourist

attraction with tour guides acquainting visitors with the town’s natural and historic assets.

Murfreesboro’s continuing preservation efforts emphasize the town’s colonial past but

extend also to those things revered in living memory (Figure 14). The 1922 Murfreesboro

High School, as an example, has been recently acquired and restored by the Historical

Association to provide auditorium space for cultural events as well as exhibition rooms

for special collections.

Figure 13: Vacant building relocated Figure 14: Renovated law offices

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

Project team members included Greg Centeno, Larry Liberatore, David Polston and Brad Smith

and consultant, Bob Stipe.

An earlier version of this chapter appeared in Sanoff, H. 2000. Community Participation Methods in

Design and Planning. New York: Wiley & Sons.

30

SELMA, NORTH CAROLINA

Every age leaves its mark on a town. Every town is a living history of its own past and re-

flects the economic, social, technological and cultural conditions that shape it. Any town

that fails to respond to the demands made of it will decline, and unless positive action is

taken, will eventually die. Selma was at that point in its history when it needed to take ac-

tion. One of the most significant changes in recent years has been the shift in social val-

ues with regard to change and progress that has taken place throughout America. Much

has been learned from the mass demolition of the past leaving behind stark urban land-

scapes.

In a historical survey of the architecture of Selma done in 1980, it was noted that since the

1930s little of the historic fabric of the town has been destroyed, due in part to a general

lack of capital. This lack of widespread destruction has left Selma with a remarkably intact

physical history. Most of the buildings in Selma were built between the turn of the century

and the First World War. This was a period of growth and prosperity for Selma. At that

time there was a major railroad station, two hotels and an Opera House. The next major

change came in the 1960s and 70s, a period where downtown areas were no longer

suited to changing styles of retail trade. The shopping malls emerged as the answer

whereby the remaining downtown retailers found it difficult to compete. Many downtown

buildings were left empty conveying an image of dereliction and decay. Because money

was not available for major reconstruction, merchants tried to enhance the appearance of

their shops and attract more customers in the cheapest ways possible. One approach was

to simply let the building decay as rent and property value declined. Another was to paint

over the brickwork and board-up the second floor windows, which required only minimal

maintenance. Several older buildings were demolished and replaced with newer struc-

tures.

31

Figure 15: Metal canopies covering shops and original city hall building in downtown (1982 photo)

The measures that most reflected the new technology of the 1960s were aluminum fa-

cades that were erected to cover the buildings behind that were left intact. These together

with the installation of continuous aluminum canopies to replace the older canvas ones

had a great effect on the overall appearance of downtown Selma (Figure 15). None of

these approaches were successful since no amount of cosmetic patching could restore

Selma’s commercial viability.

Recognizing this dilemma, the town leaders contacted Henry Sanoff, director of the Com-

munity Development Group (CDG) at North Carolina State University for assistance. This

group, housed in the College of Design, provides assistance to community groups though

the active involvement of its citizens. The most common method used to encourage com-

munity participation is through workshops, through which all citizens are invited. Prior to

engaging Selma residents in a workshop a Discovering Selma walk was planned with the

assistance of the local newspaper (Figure 16). Important physical features that may go

unnoticed were photographed along with a map of the downtown area. Residents were

asked to locate those features as well as note their observations along key points in the

downtown for a discussion at the first workshop. At the first workshop the aim was to iden-

tify the citizens main concerns and issues related to Selma (Figures 17 & 18).

32

Figure 16: Discovering Selma walking tour Figure 17: Press clipping

Figure 18: Local newspaper informing residents of upcoming events

33

COMMUNITY WORSHOP

To begin, small groups were formed as asked to identify three problems they felt needed

immediate attention and defend their position (Figure 19). Once each group had decided

on their important issues there was a general discussion to reach agreement. One of the

main issues was the general appearance of the town, which participants attributed to the

building facades, canopies, sidewalks, shopping variety and a vast number of vacant

buildings (Figure 20).

Figure 19: Small groups discussing issues in Selma

Coincidentally, the Amtrak railroad, which had bypassed Selma for decades, had pro-

posed to reopen the station so the town planned a celebration called Railroad Days. Rec-

ognizing that this event would attract many residents of the town and surrounding area a

series of activities were developed by the design team to seek additional opinions and

confirm those that were stated at the workshop. Streetscape photographs were taken and

displayed at the celebration to allow citizens to rediscover desirable and undesirable fea-

tures of their town. Special activities were created for youth to participate by creating

games (Figure 21) and drawing walls (Figure 22). Since there were many children and

teenagers attending the celebration it became clear from their input that the town lacked

adequate recreational facilities for the youth.

34

Figure 20: Summary of workshop results

Figure 21: Streetscape photographs of downtown Selma

Figure 22: Town twister game and drawing wall developed for the youth

35

Although several key vacant buildings were slated for demolition by their owners some

Selma citizens were opposed to their removal, the most important of which was a three-

story corner building at the intersection of the main downtown street. To this end, a special

community workshop was held to draw attention to the importance of this building by cre-

ating several restoration scenarios (Figure 23). This exercise increased community

awareness to the importance of saving this building and subsequently applied sufficient

pressure on the owner to withdraw plan for demolition.

Figure 23: Scenarios for renovating the building

There were many vacant buildings in the downtown area and most buildings used the up-

per floor for storage. It was evident to the community that a new vision was needed for the

future of Selma, one in which there would be a long-sighted view towards investment and

the rebuilding of the downtown (Figures 24 & 25). In a visioning workshop about the future

of Selma it was clear that traditional retail development would be in direct competition to

the adjacent shopping malls. The idea that emerged and captured the interest of the par-

ticipants was to develop an antique center. The local Chamber of Commerce initiated an

active campaign for attracting investors in helping to achieve the new vision of Selma. In

less than ten years downtown buildings were restored, the metal canopy was removed,

downtown parks were located on vacant lots and investors came from different parts of

America and Canada to create the vision. Today, the town of Selma is a major antique

center with cafes and restaurants to receive regular busloads of tourists as well as antique

hunters.

36

Figure 24: Drawing of the improved streetscape above photograph of vacant buildings

Figure 25: Restored and renovated building

37

Figure 26: Sequence of development: Top photo (1982), showing a vacant building adjacent to the bank; middle photo (1995), showing a renovated building; bottom, photo showing building removed (2010), to create a drive-in window for the First Citizen’s bank.

38

Figure 27: Renovated streetscape with adjacent vest-pocket park

Figure 28: Removal of metal canopy revealed restored original city hall building (center)

39

CONCLUSION

Today, Selma is a town of 7,500 and described as the major antique center of the South.

A well-devised plan to offer "free rent" of retail space for one year to anyone who would

open an antique or arts store in Selma was put into place. With well-placed newspaper

stories, and advertising in antique magazine publications, the prospective dealers began

calling. Shoppers now find over 100,000 square feet of antiques within walking

distance of each other on a renovated streetscape. The buildings themselves are

important in defining the character of the streetscape. This character is a product of all of

the buildings’ elements; materials, decorative details, windows and the entrance. The spe-

cific elements that were recommended to contribute positively to the historic character of

the downtown included (Figures 27 & 28) included the removal of false facades and the

maintenance of the original brickwork. Where buildings have already been painted, they

should be a color that is sympathetic with the surrounding buildings. Aluminum canopies

were to be removed and decorative features of building were to be restored.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

Project members from the College of Design, North Carolina State University included Neil Gold-

berg, Marilia DoVal, Dianne Pacella, Alvin Lester, and Larry Lovette. The Johnstonian-Sun,

Selma’s weekly newspaper distributed a Sunday supplement entitled, “Downtown Revitalization,”

which described the entire community participation process.

40

TOWNS IN JAPAN People, if given the opportunity and after acquiring the appropriate knowledge necessary

to develop their own strategies, can achieve the ability to determine the course of their

own lives. The sense of self-confidence they develop is in itself empowering.

Empowerment can be looked at as a positive outcome of self-discovery, and the ability to

dialogue with different people. Confidence to engage in group processes is in itself a lib-

erating action (White et. al., 1994). When individuals become self-reliant, their behavior

will change – from dependence to independence and from alienation to involvement. A

community of self-reliant people will be capable of diagnosing its own problems, and of

developing innovative solutions. The recent community design movement in Japan re-

flects the self-determination and confidence of people who unite together to define com-

munity needs. Public participation, however, is a relatively new idea in Japan since plan-

ning decisions are usually made at the national level, leaving citizens on the periphery of

the decision-making process. Consequently, there is increasing interest in applying par-

ticipation methods reported to have been successful in implementing plans that previously

met the needs of townspeople.

Recurring urban problems in Japanese cities led the Nippon Seinenkan Foundation, a

community development organization, to request my design assistance to conduct three

projects that incorporate citizen participation in finding appropriate solutions. Employing

the Design Games (Sanoff, 1978) approach to community participation, design teams

were formed in the cities of Arakawa, Ohya and Nanao based on their request for design

assistance, and led through intensive three-day sessions that began with fact-finding, and

concluded with community participation workshops. Projects varied in size and scope and

included the revitalization of a historic shopping lane in the city of Arakawa, the preserva-

tion and revitalization of the historic town of Ohya (famous for its stone used by Frank

Lloyd Wright in the construction of the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo), and the identification of

appropriate uses for a land-fill area in the resort town of Nanao. This intensive process

involved citizens of all ages and community leaders in rediscovering their community

problems and assets through walking tours, structured interviews and focus group dis-

cussions.

Volunteer architects, planners and interested citizens prepared graphic materials for a va-

riety of workshops that included a streetscape computer simulation where participants

41

could identify key visual features; graphic symbols that depicted spatial activities for par-

ticipants to select and locate on a map; and design recommendations of targeted im-

provement areas. Workshops were conducted with school children, and with community

members in a shopping mall, in a regional museum, and in a city hall. Participation in the

workshops ranged from forty to eighty people. The final step in the participation process

consisted of developing action plans to implement the ideas generated from the work-

shops.

OHYA

Utsunomiya is a city whose historical roots can be traced back to the 17th century. Today,

it is one of the major inland industrial areas of Japan. Utsunomiya is also the home of the

Ohya rock, a soft stone that resulted from volcano eruptions and crust movement. Stone

quarries and stone houses reflect the historic character of the area, however many of the

mines are abandoned and dangerous, while other underground spaces are underutilized

(Figure 29). Although the original stone is still quarried, a poor imitation of the stone is be-

coming increasingly popular. Today, Ohya is in a state of decline.

A local advocacy group composed of architects and planners from government and the

private sector formed since city bureaucracy has not been able to implement any plans

thus far considered. It is also believed that citizens distrust bureaucrats since townspeo-

ple are on the periphery of the decision-making process, and often lose interest in plans

generated by local government. A local leader commented, "The district of Ohya has

been wandering between lightness and darkness, reality and imagination. Though plans

are proposed one after another, the reception from the townspeople is stone cold. There

are many problems in the town, however, there are also many good sights and re-

sources."

This special interest group has entitled this project, "Only the residents can warm the

heart of Ohya." They believe that it is both in the interest of the city and the residents to

have a forthright discussion about what is needed and move to implement plans that meet

those needs. A community participation workshop was identified as an appropriate cata-

lyst to initiate change in Ohya.

42

The three-day process in Ohya began with a meeting of the 35 people, volunteer design

team. Some of the team members came from other cities in Japan with an interest in

learning about the design games approach. The Shiroyama community hall building,

which also functions as an agency of Utsunomia City Hall, served as the home base for

preparation of the workshop and community meetings. A bank of computers and drawing

materials was made available in a large multi-purpose meeting room occupied by the de-

sign team for three days. Since many team members were volunteers unfamiliar with the

area, informing the team about the attributes and problems in the district was the first step

in the process. Volunteer citizens from the Women’s Group in Ohya, led walking tours

throughout the district to inform design team members about the problems and prospects

of Ohya. Team members then conducted a map interview by dividing the district into five

sampling areas, where 100 residents were surveyed. Interviewees located on a map of

Ohya, their favorite and least favorite places in Ohya. Teams then went out to photograph

the problem areas identified during the interviews.

Middle school students from two elementary schools also participated in the design proc-

ess by conveying their ideas through drawings, to the design team. Sixth grade students

drew and described features they would like to see in Ohya (Figure 30). Over 100 draw-

ings were assembled and subsequently covered the walls of the workshop venue. In-

volvement of the adolescents in this process also engaged their teachers in this explora-

tory process. Parents, too, became involved in thinking about the future of Ohya as their

children discussed the school drawing project. This awareness and information gathering

step concluded the first day of the community design process.

Figure 29: Historic building constructed of local stonework

43

An analysis of the children's drawings, interview results, and photographic survey re-

vealed nine types of problem areas. They consisted of vacant buildings, danger zones for

cars and pedestrians, lack of historic markers, lack of recreation areas for young children,

and inaccessibility to the district's historic river.

Figure 30: Student’s drawing ideas for their community

Preparation of workshop materials occurred on the second day of the intensive commu-

nity design process. With the assistance of graduate architecture students from Utsuno-

miya University, design proposals were generated in response to the problem areas. Pho-

tographs of targeted problem areas served as a basis for developing the design alterna-

tives (Figure 31). Design proposals that entailed the removal of debris and other minor

modifications were developed through computer graphics methods. At the same time,

other team members’ brainstormed possible goals and implementation strategies that

might be selected in conjunction with the design proposals.

Figure 31: Sorting photographs of targeted areas

44

The aim of the community design workshop was to encourage participants to select and

prioritize goals, and to find appropriate implementation strategies associated with specific

design proposals. Each participant received a workshop packet that included goal state-

ments and illustrations of design proposals (Figure 32). These allowed participants to re-

cord their decisions for later use by design team members.

Figure 32: Henry Sanoff introducing the workshop process

A typical custom in Japan is for interested citizens to register in advance for the commu-

nity workshop. The City Hall meeting room was organized with sixteen tables, each ac-

commodating five people. This arrangement allowed all participants to voice their opinion

by making and discussing their individual choices. Eighty people, of all ages, from Ohya

and Utsunomiya joined the design team in the one-day workshop. Many children who par-

ticipated in the drawing exercise were present, along with their parents and teachers. Eld-

erly citizens, who had never experienced such a community meeting, felt comfortable in

sharing their knowledge and experience with younger participants.

To familiarize citizens with the events leading up to the workshop, a five-minute video

opened the meeting. It consisted of a series of 60 still images of the walking tour, the in-

terviews, the children's exercise, and the preparation of workshop materials, recorded with

a digital camera during the entire process.

Goal setting was the opening workshop activity that engaged participants in a lively dis-

cussion as they revealed their concerns about the future of Ohya. Work groups devoted

45

two hours discussing community goals and how they may benefit its citizens. Goals that

topped each group’s list of priorities were:

• Places for children to play

• Tourist development

• Preservation of Ohya’s streetscape

• Preservation of the town’s natural resources

• Revitalization of the characteristics of Ohya

Appropriate signage to historic areas and historic markers were described as effective

physical methods for promoting tourism. Street and monument lighting was noted as im-

portant elements necessary to make the town visible and active at night. Revitalization of

the river for fishing and recreation was seen to be equally appropriate for tourists and resi-

dents. Participants also agreed that abandoned mines should be filled and underground

spaces could be developed for theatrical and musical performances.

A traditional lunch prepared by a woman’s group and served by residents of the city, al-

lowed workshop participants to continue their discussions as well as learn more about

each other’s interest (Figure 33). Work groups continued into the afternoon as they re-

viewed nine design proposals developed from the initial resident survey of undesirable

community features. Participants made individual decisions and collaborated to reach

agreement as they prioritized those physical features that would have the greatest impact

on Ohya. Each working group presented their recommendations to the larger group to al-

low the design team to identify issues for discussion at subsequent workshops.

Figure 33: Traditional lunch served at the workshop

46

Figure 34: Project areas and their corresponding design solutions

It was encouraging and impressive to see elderly people, especially women, who rarely

have an opportunity to express their opinions, to actively participate in the discussions. In

local areas, meetings tend to be male-dominated allowing for few occasions for discus-

sions between men and women. Similarly, participants were comfortable in being able to

openly express their agreement as well as their opposition to the design proposals. Work-

shop participants also enjoyed seeing the student’s drawings on the wall and the elemen-

tary school students were equally proud of their contribution. A follow-up community work-

shop consisted of specific design solutions for promoting tourist activities, the highest pri-

ority action issue. Projects were identified that could be accomplished by citizens as well

as those that would require local government support. To build on the momentum of the

community workshops, several citizen participation projects were identified where work

could begin immediately. They consisted of stone markers at designated locations around

Ohya to inform tourists of the key community attractions (Figure 34). A street lighting de-

sign proposal was also developed and presented to local government officials for imple-

mentation. The local design team has effectively aroused the community into participating

in a major revitalization process where citizens have taken a leadership role in effecting

change (Figure 35).

47

Figure 35: Improvements using local stonework: Top left is a new café; top right is a public rest-

room; middle left are stone markers and middle right illustrates children carving the stone.



48

NANAO

The port city of Nanao has historical significance for its cultural assets and traditional per-

forming arts. Fishing villages scattered along the coast of the Japan Sea in the Nanao vi-

cinity lend visual interest to this area in the Ishikawa Prefecture. Nanao is also the Sister

City to Monterey, California, and features a fisherman's wharf, not unlike those settings

found in California.

Recently, the city reclaimed an eight-acre area next to fisherman's wharf that was sched-

uled to be filled by 1998. Originally, the reclamation was part of “Nanao: Marine City Pro-

ject, proposed by the Junior Chamber of Commerce in 1989 as a symbolic “greenland.”

Subsequent research by the Transport Ministry concluded in the authorization of the pre-

fecture to proceed with the reclamation plan, which later became a part of the port project.

The basic plan was prepared without consultation with the citizens; consequently, a citi-

zens group organized and submitted their own request to the mayor of Nanao. With a goal

of motivating people to think about their city, the Nanao Secretariat invited people of all

ages to participate in planning the new uses for this reclaimed area.

A small group of architects and planners from Nanao formed a volunteer design team and

initiated a community planning process. The three-day design process in Nanao began

when a chartered boat tour took the design team, sixty, middle and high school students,

their teachers and several parents around the future edge of the land to visualize the scale

of the site. Adolescents and teenagers were selected to participate in this tour because

they had been excluded from previous discussions about the future of this reclaimed area.

On board, they freely discussed their ideas for this area as they realized the scale of the

area and the type of activities that could be accommodated.

The community participation program in Nanao included a search through previous news-

papers for articles describing the intent of the landfill, a review of previous proposals, and

a public opinion survey conducted during the Noto International Tent Village festival. Such

a review provided insight into possible activities for the new site, which included cultural,

recreational and athletic activities. While the eight-acre site could enhance the breadth of

activities currently available in Nanao, citizens would be required to make trade-offs to se-

lect the most suitable for the community.

49

Recognizing that the workshop would include adolescents, teenagers and adults, an ap-

propriate strategy was needed to engage all participants at their level of competence.

Consequently, a mapping design game using graphic symbols to correspond to land uses

formed the basis of the community workshop (Figure 36). Design team members prepared

over 50 symbols for different spatial activities. While symbols were identical in size, each

corresponded to a specific unit of area (Figure 37). Activity data sheets included the popu-

lation capacity, the area requirement, and the number of symbol units that would need to

be fastened to a large map of the landfill.

Figure 36: Symbols and area requirements for outdoor recreation activities

50

Figure 37: Graphic symbols depicting different recreation activities

The community workshop was held in a central area at the fisherman's wharf shopping

mall on a Sunday morning (Figure 38). This public venue would give the community work-

shop high visibility to members of the community. Adolescent's and teenagers worked to-

gether in small groups of three to five people. In addition to using the symbols to locate

appropriate activities on a map, students used the map as a base to construct a three-

dimensional model of their proposals. Each team was provided with a package of model

making materials including straws, foam pieces, colored paper, a variety of plastic shapes

and glue. Team members collaborated in each step of the process.

51

Figure 38: Workshop consisting of twelve workgroups

Adults began the process by identifying community goals and linking them to appropriate

activities. Key goals included the need for a landscape that included the use of water,

places for recreation, and the need for a place to hold regular events such as concerts or

even a flea market. Activities to satisfy these goals included flower gardens, a landscaped

plaza, a child’s play area, a park with a water feature, a restaurant, and a concert hall. All

groups produced design solutions, at the same scale, for the landfill area (Figure 39). Rep-

resentatives from each group concluded the workshop by a brief presentation of their

ideas (Figure 40). While it was assumed that each group would opt for activities suited to

their age and interests, participants were surprised when students selected activities that

would allow for their parents recreational activities as well as for their interests.

52

Figure 39: Workgroups developing ideas for the landfill

Representatives of each planning team presented their landfill proposals to the larger

community, of about 250 residents at the local art museum. An open question and answer

process revealed a supportive response to many of the ideas proposed and unanimous

agreement about the viability of the community design process (Figures 41 & 42).

Figure 40: Team presentations

53

Following the community presentation, design teams developed charts and models based

on the workshop results for presentation at the local high school for the students’ com-

ments, as well as from resident groups. From the student’s reactions and resident’s com-

ments about the proposals, design models were subsequently exhibited at the Monterey

Plaza, the site of the original workshop. A review of the comments allowed the design

team to develop one design proposal. This proposal reflected the community’s interests,

which was contrasted with that of local government that did not involve the community in

their decisions. A comparison between the two proposals, made by the residents indicated

that the prefecture proposal did not effectively use the view, did not reflect a unified con-

cept, and did not use the open stage area effectively. Two proposals, one developed by

the prefecture and one developed by the community design process were presented to the

residents of Nanao to allow the broader community to select an appropriate solution.

Figure 41: Team presentations to community

54

Figure 42: Questions and answers with the larger community

Through this broad community process the results of the design team were favored and a

citizen’s council was organized by the prefecture government to assure the results of the

workshop were considered in the final scheme (Figure 43). To facilitate this process, peo-

ple who organized the workshop became participants in the citizen’s council.

A formal evaluation of the charrette process revealed it to be very successful. Part of this

success is attributed to the attention to detail and organization typical of many Japanese

events. The spirit of collective decision making, an integral aspect of Japanese culture,

was evident at every stage of pre-planning, and during the charrette process. People typi-

cally registered in advance of the workshop that allowed key logistics problems to be

solved prior to the arrival of the design team. Participants represented all levels of deci-

sion-making and community interests. In all cases the press documented the process and

the major results, informing the public of the events and decisions that had taken place.

Finally, the results of the community workshops were endorsed by the city officials and

implemented (Figures 44 and 45).

55

Figure 43: Design proposal for the park

In Japan, design games workshops are viewed as an important approach for achieving

public involvement in decision-making processes. A growing number of Japanese profes-

sionals and citizens believe it is necessary for the public to share in decisions that deter-

mine the quality and direction of their lives. In the past six years, many benefits have re-

sulted from the design games approach for communities, users, and designers. First, there

are bi-annual national conferences devoted to gaming workshops where participants are

required to present community projects that employed gaming strategies for citizen’s par-

ticipation. Two national conferences have been held since 1993, with over 400 attendees

in each, and about one hundred completed projects to date, all of which were initiated by

local citizens groups. The first national conference was held in Kochi in 1993, and the sec-

ond, two years later in the northern part of Kyushu.



56

Figure 44: Completed recreation area

Figure 45: Amphitheater

57

URBAN NEIGHBORHOODS

Neighborhood growth and change precipitated many explanatory theories, the most

prevalent being Hoyt's sector theory, which viewed the pattern of residential land use as

sectors along the transportation lines with high-rent districts shaping the growth of the en-

tire city in the same direction through normal operation of market forces. Firey (1965), on

the other hand, stressed the role of cultural and social systems in conditioning land use.

Areas, he stated, have certain symbolic qualities related to the cultural system, and activi-

ties are attracted to the space because of the significance of the symbol.

The idea of neighborhood or community or city has traditionally been tied to the idea of

place, where spatial proximity is considered to be a necessary condition, though sense of

belonging, shared values, and social organization are associated with the community.

Webber argues that it is becoming apparent that it is the accessibility rather than the pro-

pinquity aspect of place that is the necessary condition (Webber, 1967).

Lynch (1960) discusses the concept of imageability, which he describes as legibility or co-

herence, wherein environments resist or facilitate the process of image making. The

components of structure, identity, and meaning relate to physical attributes, which contrib-

ute to an environment's imageability. Clearly, there are many people who perceive their

environment in terms of its physical characteristics; however, there are others who com-

prehend their environment in terms of its social characteristics. Spatial meaning is per-

sonal, as is spatial reference and orientation. The spatial field is charged with meaning

from individual to individual and culture to culture. These sources of variance in environ-

mental perception are essential to an understanding of the variation in people’s behavior

in the environment.

Neighborhood-unit theories based on fixed populations and major physical boundaries do

not describe a neighborhood as a socially dynamic entity, nor have residents identified

with their neighborhood as a focus for social relationships. The ecological neighborhood

concept more aptly describes leisure and activity patterns from a socio-psychological per-

spective with a more viable rationale for future intervention via planning decisions. While

58

socially defined neighborhoods tend to be more homogeneous, their manageability is a

function of the resident's mobility or socio-economic status.

Neighborhoods are defined in many different ways. All definitions focus on essential char-

acteristics such as social networks, similar people, and service area for an elementary

school, a housing cluster or a name for that part of the city. So a neighborhood may be

seen as a source of place identity, or an element of urban form (Brower, 2000). The

neighborhoods described in this section satisfy basic residential functions, which include

opportunities for recreation and provision of services. They are active neighborhoods

where people know one another, where there are strong social networks. People interact

informally and participate in organizations that deal with issues at the local level.

Universal rules applicable to all cities have been dropped. Boundaries are related to the

particular aspect of the system under study. Clearly there are political boundaries, eco-

nomic boundaries, auto-commuting boundaries, newspaper boundaries, etc. The extent of

a given network of relationships, rather than the number of participants, becomes the sali-

ent factor.

59

RICHMOND, VIRGINIA NEIGHBORHOOD CHARRETTE

Highland Park is a low-income neighborhood in Richmond, Virginia where Highland Park

Restoration and Preservation Program, Inc. (HP RAPP), a non-profit community based

corporation, has a mission that includes creating and designing model neighborhood pro-

grams (Figure 46). Proposed as a model for future development throughout the commu-

nity, a nine-block “Adopt-a-Block” incubator and the adjacent commercial strip were des-

ignated by the community for total revitalization (Figure 47).

Figure 46: Existing conditions in the neighborhood

The aim of the charrette process was to involve residents, especially skilled community

leaders, and invited architects and planners to share their ideas regarding community de-

velopment. A planned one-day event allowed neighborhood residents to have the oppor-

tunity to select key issues, and identify appropriate goals and strategies for their imple-

mentation. Community leaders and professionals participated in the charrette process as

a resource to the residents to assure that informed decisions would be made.

An initial meeting of local leaders, project coordinator, Jeff Levine, and invited consultant,

Henry Sanoff, which constituted the Core Planning Team, resulted in identifying four ma-

jor development areas for discussion at the charrette. They included Business Develop-

ment, Housing, Image and Safety, and Education and Culture. From this discussion, re-

source teams consisting of area specialists in each of the key issue areas generated ap-

60

propriate goals and strategies for their implementation (Figure 48 and 49). Every effort

was made to include goals and strategies for presentation at the charrette that were real-

istic and achievable. This approach allowed area residents to examine a broad range of

possible options from which to make choices. Preparation for the charrette included:

• A promotion campaign including graphics material and banners to announce the forth-

coming meeting;

• Venue selection for the event, including the organization of space, equipment, food and

media coordination;

• Data collection to inform participants about loan programs and the Community Rein-

vestment Act, information on historical development, housing conditions, crime, and area

demographics; and a

• Follow-up report and plan of action.

Figure 47: Adopt-a-block mural

61

Figure 48: Richmond’s major development areas: Housing

62

Figure 49: Richmond’s major development areas: Education & Culture

63

The aim of the workshop was to allow each participant to select three goals with the high-

est priority for each respective key issue, and elect to participate in one of the key issue

groups. The procedure for achieving this was to provide each participant with 12 colored

tabs (3 red, 3 yellow, 3 green, 3 blue) corresponding to the key issues. After hearing the

presentation of key issues by the chairperson of each issue group, participants individu-

ally selected three goals they felt were important to the four key issues, and fastened the

colored tab next to that goal statement (Figure 50).

Individuals then selected a group in which they wished to participate. Group sizes ranged

from 20 to 40 people with a trained facilitator keeping the discussion focused. Each

group received a list of strategies prepared by the resource team along with the goals

achieving the highest priorities. Group discussions focused on matching strategies to

goals, and developing of an action plan for each strategy. Action plans answered the

question of “who, how, and when?”

Figure 50: Participants selecting key goals

Upon choosing the pertinent strategies for implementing a particular goal, a recorder com-

pleted a ‘strategy card,’ indicating the strategy, goal, key issue and action plan. Action

plans identified how to implement each strategy, who would be involved with the imple-

mentation, and the time frame for implementation. Design implications for certain strate-

64

gies required the presence of volunteer architects who provided sketches to clarify the

ideas (Figure 51). Completed cards were reproduced for overhead presentation at the end

of the charrette, and copies distributed to each participant.

Figure 51: Architects sketches at the charrette

The impact of the charrette during the 6 years following the participatory event had a

number of significant achievements. The Business Development goals were:

• To improve and nurture businesses in the main commercial area,

• To provide opportunities for increased employment in the area, and

• To provide for a concentration of a variety of goods, services and activities in the area.

A student and faculty team from Hampton University developed a business plan and a

model of the area showing how businesses could function (Figure 52). The plan was to

create a catalyst for economic development along the main commercial strip. Recognizing

the lack of sufficient business in the area as well as limited funds, a proposal was devel-

oped to seek support from the City of Richmond to establish an enterprise zone. In the

housing development area, the key goals established during the charrette were:

• To rehabilitate deteriorated housing,

• To maintain the present density of the neighborhood,

• To promote home ownership, and

• To create infill housing sympathetic to the Victorian character of the area.

65

Figure 52: Team facilitators at the housing workshop

Through the support of local about thirty houses have been rehabilitated (Figure 53) by

the architectural firm of Shelter Design, and designs for new infill housing have been pre-

pared. A major historic property now houses the offices of HP RAPP. For the Image and

Safety development area, the key goals were:

• To create a distinct and continuous landscape street and open space character,

• To improve maintenance and encourage small-scale improvements to existing buildings

and sites,

• To preserve and improve the distinctive visual and architectural character of the Adopt-

a-Block area in Highland Park,

• To preserve the history of Highland Park,

• To preserve architecturally and historically important buildings, and

• To create a safe neighborhood.

66

Figure 53: Completed Community Center above and Victorian house below (Photo: Jeff Levine)

67

This was achieved by the resident’s creation of a crime watch program, a periodic neigh-

borhood clean up and landscape improvement program, through the adopt-a-block

model. The creation of the arboretum, also outgrowth of the charrette is a neighborhood

park located on a vacant lot supporting a billboard. It was a pro-bono project developed

by landscape architect, Charles Snead with the assistance of Shelter Design.

Key goals of the Education and Culture development area were:

• To sponsor art, cultural, and special events to attract people to the area.

• To promote a racially, culturally, ethnically integrated community.

The achievement of these goals required the involvement of the youth in the community

development process. Operation Architecture, an environmental awareness program, in-

volved middle school students in a process of rediscovering the historical characteristics

of their community. Partnerships between HP RAPP and local schools helped to establish

periodic parent/children festivals as well as a number of ecologically oriented projects

conducted by students in the classroom and in the community.

The citywide effect of the charrette was the adopt-a-block process, the block watch and

the community festivals, where a community coordinator has extended these activities to

other communities. Many charrettes have occurred since the initial event. Exploring such

topics as crime prevention through environmental design, residents and local police met

at Virginia Commonwealth University to explore streetscape and neighborhood watch

strategies. Building Better Communities, a series of inner city neighborhood charrettes

brought participants from different communities to the Museum of Art to discuss various

collaborative approaches.

An earlier version of this chapter appeared in Sanoff, H. 2000. Community Participation Methods

in Design and Planning. New York: Wiley & Sons.

68

EDGEMONT COMMUNITY, NORTH CAROLINA

Edgemont is an old African American community located in Durham, North Carolina,

which originated as a community for workers in the Durham Hosiery Corporation. The

original Durham Hosiery Mill, completed in 1902, consisted of a four story main building

with a six-story tower. Additional storage and service sheds and cotton warehouses were

added along a railroad spur in 1912. The mill closed during the depression and it re-

mained largely vacant until after World War II, when the buildings were used for tobacco

drying and storage until 1960. All of the buildings comprising the Durham Hosiery Mill are

of typical mill construction with brick walls, wood floors and exposed wood ceiling joists.

The most outstanding architectural feature is the six-story tower, which displays distinctive

brickwork on its top story.

In general, the area was plagued by problems of neglect, age, and abuse. Edgemont had

more than its share of poor housing conditions, unpaved streets, inadequate recreational

facilities and vacant lots. Despite these deteriorating physical and social conditions, there

are many positive features, such as proximity to downtown and public transportation that

make Edgemont a convenient residential area for the elderly and the poor. The most

forceful and positive part of life in Edgemont is its social cohesion and sense of commu-

nity. Families of several generations still live in Edgemont. Edgemont’s most important re-

source is the residents’ commitment to revitalize the area into a viable neighborhood.

Members of the Edgemont Community Center sought assistance to facilitate the residents’

participation in a process to develop a neighborhood plan as an integral part of Durham’s

Community Development Block Grant program. Results of a series of community work-

shops revealed the need for new housing that would reflect the character of the neighbor-

hood, and renovating the hosiery mill into elderly housing. Although the first workshop

consisted of sixteen community members successive workshops achieved greater partici-

pation. The process employed in the workshops was the Nominal Group Technique (Del-

becq, et al. 1975), where each participant identified three problems that were noted on in-

dex cards. After the problems had been identified, subsequent workshops aimed at identi-

fying the goals for improving the Edgemont neighborhood, which became an integral part

of the neighborhood plan. They are as follows:

69

• To provide for the continuous participation of the Edgemont neighborhood residents

throughout all stages of neighborhood planning, development and implementation proc-

esses.

• To preserve, improve and develop Edgemont as a primary residential neighborhood,

with supportive public services, commercial development, and job opportunities.

• To provide the adequate circulation of people and vehicles within and throughout the

neighborhood in a way that disruptions are minimized.

• To provide for quality public facilities, such as streets, sidewalks, parks, street lighting

and utilities, which contribute to the well being of the residential neighborhood.

• To make Edgemont a safer place in which to live.

• To preserve the historic character of Edgemont.

• To ensure that sound residential properties and areas are preserved and improved in the

neighborhood.

• To remove uninhabitable structures and provide low density and affordable replacement

housing.

• To make new and rehabilitated housing affordable to the present residents who wish to

continue to live in Edgemont.

• To minimize economic hardships of the Edgemont neighborhood residents, which could

occur due to displacement or rent increases.

• To examine the feasibility of using Community Development Block Grants (CDBG) to es-

tablish a Housing Rehabilitation Revolving Loan Program for the improvement of neigh-

borhood housing.

• To provide for the development of functional and attractive commercial facilities by de-

molishing buildings that cannot economically be rehabilitated.

In addition to the development of plans for converting the mill building into elderly housing,

it was proposed to identify, move and renovate vacant houses and create a residential

area in character with the existing environment Figures 54 & 55). The passage of a bond

provided funds for the renovation of the mill and the vacant houses found in the rural ar-

eas relocated to available sites in Edgemont (Figures 56, 57 & 58).

70

Figure 54: Site proposal for relocated housing and mill conversion to elderly housing

Figure 55: Proposed elderly housing plan for the mill building (Drawing: Graham Adams)

71

Figure 56: Houses relocated and renovated Figure 57: Houses moved from the rural area

Figure 58: Restored houses and hosiery mill renovated into elderly housing

The success of this project was due to the continuous participation of the Edgemont

neighborhood residents throughout all stages of neighborhood planning, development,

and the implementation process, which continued over a period of several years.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT Participants involved in this project included Graham Adams and Joel Chou. An earlier version of

this chapter appeared in Salama, A. M & Wilkinson, N. (Eds.) 2007. Design Studio Pedagogy: Ho-

rizons for the Future. UK: The Urban International Press.

72

Figure 59: Gardens and sitting areas

Figure 60: Interior of mill building converted into elderly apartments

73

Figure 61: Restored mill building

Figure 62: Entrance lobby Figure 63: Tower

74

URBAN BLOCK REGENERATION, CORDOBA, MEXICO (Regeneracion

Urbana de Manzanas) Cordoba is a city with an important natural, cultural and historic heritage, which makes it a

zone of high potential. However, in the city there are deteriorated areas that detract from

its historic image. To improve the urban image of the city support was found through the

national program of Urban Regeneration of Blocks. The project aimed at developing new

communication and agreement mechanisms in order to improve the quality of the urban

environment.

A project was developed in a section of the Historical Center, which is an important place

because it has a strong sense of citizens’ identity and it is a zone where buildings are

catalogued by their architectural style. The project objectives were:

• To regenerate the deteriorated areas of the city.

• To appropriate an investment to improve the quality and furnishing of public spaces.

• To develop a participatory process that engages neighborhood residents.

The approach was to use the methods developed in this project as a model that could be

applied to other neighborhoods. An overarching goal was aimed at the improvement of

the neighborhood image, generating more inhabitable spaces where the citizens have the

opportunity to participate in the transformation of their own space.

An initial diagnosis of the urban blocks revealed the features that have established their

identity, or that could be used to enhance their image. The actions constituted a process

as follows:

• To perform actions by neighborhoods, taking as a basic unit the urban blocks.

• To use the Contrasting Table: Urban Image and Sustainable Development. The objec-

tive is to identify the relation among the elements of the urban image in order to develop

guidelines for sustainable development (Garzon L. 2000).

• To apply a participatory design process based on answering such questions of who,

what, where, how, and when.

75

Through a series of workshops, facilitators leading small groups aimed to help citizens to

identify appropriate public space activities, and how they can be realized, with the help of

plans, photographs, and symbols. This planning process allowed for a two-year period to

perform and implement the project; which consisted survey research, adaptation of the

methodology, performing the participatory design workshops, design development of the

project and implementation.

DESIGN AND PLANNING PROCESS

With the objective of affording citizen participation, the project was presented by the Plan-

ning Coordination Department to the Faculty of Architecture in order to identify a student

team to work on the project. One of the objectives, to link local government, student, and

the community in a project will generate benefits for everybody.

The initial step was to survey the residents of the project area (Figure 64). The object was

to identify:

• The number of people who live in the houses.

• The representative population of children, youth, adults and seniors.

• The form in which they want the public space of their neighborhood.

• The family income to determine the need for public funding (Programas de Apoyo) that

can be made available to low-income families.

Figure 64: Student teams interviewing residents of the neighborhood

76

The project area consists of twelve blocks in the Historical Center, and as a result of an

initial analysis, the area was divided into four sections defined according to their use:

• Housing in need of repair

• Social interest housing

• Mixed housing and commercial

• Commercial zone

The identification of the zone to be regenerated was the result of a participatory workshop

where small groups of citizens developed proposals for each zone. The results obtained

from the first workshop were analyzed and the proposals were elaborated and clarified by

the design team, and presented in the second workshop (Figure 65).

Figure 65: Community residents presenting their proposals

With the results obtained in the second workshop, an architectonic party was elaborated,

which was developed and supervised by the planning coordination. Through the

SEDESOL, the team participated in two programs, which permitted access to the neces-

sary economic resources to develop the final project and the physical exterior and interior

improvement of several houses.

77

The improvement task of the first stage of the regeneration of the selected area, which in-

volves six streets, was completed. The improvements consist of the following (Figures 66-

69):

• Physical improvement of the house with the objective of guaranteeing the permanence

and vitality of the Historical Center.

• Adaptation of the design of sidewalks to give priority to pedestrian walking.

• Underground cable installation.

• Special access for people with different capabilities.

• Participative design.

• Participative management.

• Integration of green areas.

The results obtained up to this date have been positive with respect to the Management

and Promotion of the first stage of the Program of Regeneration of Urban Blocks, as well

as in the advances of citizenship participation that have been reached. Due to the fact that

an important goal was for the implementation of a citizenship participation process, the

success of this experience for the city of Cordoba will be invaluable for the administrations

to follow.

This project achieved national recognition in a program, Premio Habitat 2004, Mexico.

Figure 66: Renovated park and adjacent houses

78

Figure 67: Exisitng office building in need of repair Figure 68: Proposed streetscape renovation

Figure 69: Completed building and streetscape renovation

CONCLUSION

Sustainability is an important societal goal that enjoys public appeal. However, finding a

specific definition of sustainability that is broadly acceptable is difficult because it is about

values that vary among groups and over time. Ultimately sustainability requires decisions

about what to sustain, for whom, for how long, at what cost, and how.

79

Therefore, social sustainability takes a larger worldview into consideration in relation to

marriage, family, parenting, divorce, community, culture, nationality, and globalization. It

asks us to not only think of ourselves and what we want, but to take the whole system into

consideration as well.

Public participation builds on classic democratic theory: that those citizens who are af-

fected by decisions should have a say in decisions that affect their lives because they will

become better citizens. And it is often the physical and environmental projects that citi-

zens see directly affecting their lives. To create a condition in which people can act on

their own environmental needs, in which they can make the distinction between the ex-

perts technical and aesthetic judgment, requires a change in the consciousness of both

people and professionals. Architects and planners who wish to participate in community

building will need to assume a new role by making their solutions less representative of

themselves and more representative of user groups even though difficulties in applying

participation may arise.

Architects and planners who wish to participate in community building will need to assume

a new role by making their solutions less representative of themselves and more repre-

sentative of user groups.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

The project coordinator was Rossanna Garzon Lopez assisted by architecture students from the

University of Veracruz in Cordoba.

80

COMMUNITY FACILITIES A community design project requires “buy-in” from the user groups who will be most af-

fected by the resulting policies and projects. The feasibility of change is dependent upon

the willingness of participants to accept the proposed change as beneficial and participate

in the process. The decision-makers, be it elected officials, planners, or architects and

owners, have to be willing to accept input and the user groups have to be willing to pro-

vide it. If a neighborhood or community is unable to participate in a meaningful way a

community development and design process may provide a result that does not have

support. When a final policy decision or building is about to be finalized, the discussion will

begin anew, instigated by those who are dissatisfied with the outcome or did not partici-

pate to begin with. The National Civic League uses a “Civic Index” to gauge the participa-

tory social capital of a community. Participatory social capital is a measure of the social

networks of the community, which in turn can indicate the amount of participation that can

be expected in a community-based project. Involvement in a neighborhood planning proc-

ess should therefore draw from the networks such as social clubs, churches, and civic or-

ganizations.

CIVIC INDEX

• Citizen Participation

• Community Leadership

• Government Performance

• Volunteerism

• Inter-group Relations

• Civic Education

• Community Information Sharing

• Capacity for Cooperation and Consensus Building

• Community Vision and Pride

• Inter-Community Cooperation

The quality and quantity of community involvement is aided by the quality of information

exchange from those conducting the project to the stakeholders in the project. The quality

of the information developed will in turn be enhanced by the continuity of participation by

81

stakeholders, and critique of the interpretations of the stakeholders’ input. Consequently,

understanding how to gather, analyze, present and receive information is critical to the

success of projects relying on citizen involvement. Even the “best practices” of community

development and design are dependent upon the development of personal relationships

and a sense of trust between designers and community developers, and the stakeholders

or “clients” of the project. Without this sense of trust, the participants in the process, par-

ticularly those who are used to being under-represented, will be less likely to reveal their

honest opinions.

Without being able to know all relevant information and the opinion of every stakeholder it

becomes necessary to sift through a myriad of sources of information in order to gain a

sense of an urban area, both fact and perception. The inputs for a project can include a

combination of fact and anecdote, expert and layperson, theories and principles, and prac-

tical experience. These inputs can be audio recorded, videotaped, written and collated in

order to formulate cohesive summaries for the purposes of presentations to the partici-

pants and other stakeholders such as the elected officials.

At the same time, site visits, walking tours, door-to-door surveys, daily trips through the

area and spending time working on a physical project in the area provide immeasurable

forms of information. Developing personal relations with neighborhood leaders, conducting

interviews with residents, and visits to neighborhood meetings provide insight that would

be impossible to gather other than through the persons who experience an area in a daily

and sometimes life-long manner.

Because the built environment is a major part of the public realm, it is of significant social

import. Every citizen has a stake in the community’s built environment, especially public

artifacts, because of their scale and immediacy (King, 1983). When indigenous persons

built using the constraints of tradition and the natural environment, this community based

planning and building provided social and environmental benefits. Communal construc-

tion, for instance, reinforces cooperative behavior, and architecture that functions within

the constraints of a regional bio-climate maintains cultural architectural traditions and

place-based ecological knowledge.

82

OWENSBORO, KENTUCKY RIVERFRONT DEVELOPMENT

INTRODUCTION

Waterfront planning and development has become a field in its own right, not unlike his-

toric preservation. Until recently, American cities have neglected the opportunities of their

waterfronts compared to European cities. After World War II, a number of factors came

together to affect the urban waterfront and set the groundwork for the waterfront phe-

nomenon of the present era. The availability of federal urban renewal funds and other as-

sistance programs had a significant impact in the early day of waterfront development.

Grants from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) through Commu-

nity Development Block Grant Programs and later Urban Development Action Grants pro-

vided significant funding for waterfront development. The transformation of urban water-

fronts often plays a major role in ongoing efforts to restore town and city centers to eco-

nomic and social health (Breen & Rigby, 1994). The determination to develop healthy core

areas applies equally to small towns as to big city examples. Community pride is a power-

ful motivator for people of all backgrounds to restore or revive their downtown area using a

waterfront, if they have one, to their advantage.

Owensboro is a relatively compact small town (population 54,000) bounded on the north

by the Ohio River. In the early years, the economic base was distilling and buggy manu-

facturing. Today tobacco and farming are important to the region, which has a diversified

economy.

The downtown is in the north central riverfront section of the city. Downtown Owensboro

has struggled in appearance and vitality since a retail mall opened on the city's south

fringe in 1978. Government, legal, and banking uses are prevalent. Owensboro's riverfront

has primarily been used for industrial purposes with a few exceptions such as a downtown

hotel/convention center, a performing arts center and a small downtown park. Riverfront

events and activities have been limited to festivals and concerts, and seasonal boating.

In 1996, the Public Life Foundation of Owensboro was formed to support citizen action in

tackling community problems, since citizens are often left out of the community's decision-

making process. The Foundation believes that informed and engaged citizens can influ-

ence decisions and public policy. PRIDE, a new grass roots group organized by the Public

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Life Foundation in 1999, was specifically formed to create more public involvement in pro-

jects that impact on the appearance of the community. Reaching more people and getting

ideas from diverse backgrounds, they believe, can help to build more support. The de-

signer or planner’s role in this process is to promote effective processes of public learning,

practical and innovative instances of pubic deliberation, even consensus building in many

parts of the planning process (Forester, 1999, Innes, 1996).

COMMUNITY VISION

Community building is a holistic approach that focuses its efforts on people. It is dedicated

to the idea that citizens must take control of their destiny and that of their communities.

Community building grows from a vision of how communities function normally, where

community members create community institutions, which help to achieve their aspirations

as well as strengthen community fabric. Building social capital is the primary objective

achieved by citizens playing a central role in decision making and believing that they “own”

the process as they move away from being dependent. Many case experiences suggest

that citizen-driven initiatives have a greater chance of success because citizens are more

aware of the realities of their own community than outside professionals. They have a

sense of what will work and what will not work (Sanoff, 2000).

Citizens need to develop a vision of what they want the community to become and how to

get there. To start the process, a positive tone can be set by taking an inventory of com-

munity assets and then finding ways to take advantage of them in creating action pro-

grams. A community's taking initiatives from the perspective of solving problems casts a

negative tone on what should be a positive capacity building process. The community

building orientation should be positive and constructive.

Identifying assets in a community can dramatically alter the planning process inasmuch as

assets occur at different levels, which can relate to their priority in developing programs.

Assets within the neighborhood such as resident’s experience, neighborhood businesses

and citizens and business associations should be acted on first, and assets controlled by

outsiders, such as public institutions, can become assets which requires the community to

devise appropriate enabling strategies.

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Participatory research is seen as the development of communities’ potential; as collabora-

tive problem solving; and as a synonym for ‘user participation’ in design and in the deci-

sion-making process. Participatory research attempts to break down the distinction be-

tween the researcher and the researched, the subjects and objects of knowledge pro-

duced by the participation of the people-for-themselves in the process of gaining and cre-

ating knowledge. (Gaventa, 1993), In the process, research is seen not only as a process

of creating knowledge, but simultaneously, as education and development of conscious-

ness, and mobilization for action.

One of the high profile projects in the community is the riverfront development. Previous

city efforts at urban renewal and development have met with community resistance and

very little action. Renewed interest by the City officials, the Chamber of Commerce, Down-

town Owensboro, Inc., and the Downtown Business Association, in the potential amenities

and income afforded by the riverfront led to the city's proposed plan for developing the riv-

erfront, which was approved by the U.S. Corps of Engineers. City officials say that they

plan to build a riverfront that will enhance downtown, encourage private development and

business and promote Owensboro as a boater's destination. The development proposal

included a boat launch, marina and dock facilities, a floating walkway and garden. The city

has secured $2.8 million in state and federal funds for the development, but it is estimated

that $7 million will be needed. To begin the planning process, the city officials to solicit

proposals for the development of the riverfront formed an eight-member selection commit-

tee. Four teams were interviewed and the consulting firm of EDSA was selected to de-

velop the master plan for the riverfront.

COMMUNITY AWARENESS AND PARTICIPATION METHODS

City officials have subsequently embraced a partnership with PRIDE to significantly ex-

pand citizen participation in the planning and design of the riverfront. PRIDE wanted to

create venues for public discussion about how the riverfront should look and where activi-

ties should be located. PRIDE volunteers took the riverfront project "to the people" through

a variety of activities.

Student projects, including drawings, essays, wish poems, and model building. The PRIDE

Education Committee includes teachers from each local school to represent the ideas of

students. After meeting at a PRIDE get-together for educators, an elementary school

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teacher and a high school teacher joined forces to generate and build ideas for the river-

front. The primary students brainstormed ideas while the high school students set about

deciding which of the children's ideas they could actually build. After exchanging letters

and getting to know their older "co-workers", the students embarked on a field trip to actu-

ally construct a working model of the riverfront ideas. Students were asked to fantasize

what they would like to see available. Ideas included a Worship by the Water community

church, floating playgrounds, a bait shop and aquarium in the shape of a fish, parasailing,

and a "cave" down under the river for children to explore and play. Commitment to create

a unique learning opportunity has enabled collaboration between the teachers and schools

and facilitated involvement in the community outside their walls.

Figure 70: Students’ displaying their models and drawings

Surveys were also conducted at the Daviess County High School where students had the

opportunity to share their ideas for the riverfront. Ninety freshman students generated over

200 ideas for the riverfront. Among them included a homeless center, a farmers market,

an outdoor amphitheater, a casino and a floating shopping mall. Student involvement in

the planning stages is recognized as an important factor in strengthening local economic

conditions for the future allowing graduates to remain in Owensboro (Hart, 1997). Other

student activities included sketches of the riverfront generated by a group of elementary

students after a brief field study while visiting the Riverpark Center (Figure 70).

IDEA SHARING SESSIONS

The goal of these idea-sharing meetings was to gauge the opinions and views of a cross-

section of citizens about the riverfront and its future development. PRIDE hosted a series

of focus group meetings with neighborhood advisory boards. Through the Neighborhood

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Advisory Board Program, city government has become more responsive to citizens. The

boards serve as a vital link between their neighborhoods and city government. In the

twelve focus group sessions PRIDE volunteers asked people:

1. What they now enjoy doing along the riverfront.

2. What they would like to do if facilities and programs were available.

3. What they like about waterfronts in other cities.

From the focus group sessions the most frequently reported activities desired along the

riverfront were to:

• Gaze at the river in a safe comfortable setting

• Attend festivals and concerts

• Eat and drink overlooking the river

• Walk along the water's edge

• See arts and crafts activities

• Walk from Smothers Park to English Park

Suggestions for how the riverfront could be made more attractive included gardens, ter-

raced riverbank, special lighting, more commercial development and public space, and

new development along Veteran's Boulevard (First Street). Along the riverfront participants

in the focus groups would like to see restaurants, an entertainment district, retail shops,

condominium apartments, and mixed use development.

Newspaper feature stories, columns, and survey. A newspaper survey was conducted with

the following questions:

1. What two features do you like most about Owensboro-Daviess County's riverfront?

2. What two features do you like least about Owensboro-Daviess County's riverfront?

3. What do you enjoy doing now at the riverfront?

4. What would you enjoy doing if facilities were available?

5. About how many times a year do you visit the riverfront?

Survey results indicated that the parks, boat ramp and Riverfront Center were the features

most liked, while the river view, boat watching and the peacefulness of the area were its

attributes. Attending festivals, concerts and river watching accounted for the most sources

of enjoyment. If facilities were available, a riverwalk would be most preferred, although

87

boating, dining, and picnicking were also identified as important considerations. Features

liked least included a lack of walking path near the water, insufficient access to water, lack

of proper maintenance, and unattractive buildings and parking lots along the riverfront. A

series of newspaper feature stories included such topics as “What kind of community do

we want? Resident’s input on riverfront important, Forums to give public voice in deci-

sions, and PRIDE to focus its efforts on riverfront.

RIVERFRONT DEVELOPMENT WORKSHOP

A community workshop is based on the viewpoint that professionals have an expertise that

is different from that of citizens. Citizens have an expertise in identifying problems not

necessarily solving problems. Collaboration is effective when all participants in the process

share their areas of expertise with one another (Sanoff, 2000). Participation does not imply

that there is no longer a role for institutional leaders. It only means that a dialogue is nec-

essary between grass roots citizenry and government leadership regarding needs and re-

sources to meet needs.

Consequently, the riverfront development community workshop provided citizens with an

opportunity to share their views with representatives of the planning firm before developing

the master plan. The workshop, held at the Riverfront Center, was an open invitation to

citizens of Owensboro-Daviess County to begin a planning process by clarifying objec-

tives, identifying appropriate activities, and locating desired activities on a base map of the

riverfront. One hundred and thirty people attended the Saturday morning workshop. The

workshop opened with welcoming remarks from the mayor and key officials. Participants

then revisited the riverfront through a narrated photographic tour, followed by a presenta-

tion of the students' vision, and ended with a video summary of the focus groups. The

"hands on" planning aspect of the workshop consisted of twenty-two workgroups consist-

ing of five people each, identifying appropriate objectives for various sections of the river-

front (Figure 71). Objectives were key factors in allowing participants to generate appro-

priate riverfront activities, which they located on a base map of the riverfront through the

use of graphic symbols.

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Figure 71: Workshop setting

The riverfront was divided into four sections starting at the Riverfront Center and extending

to English Park (Figure 72). Workgroups were asked to individually select the three most

important objectives for each section, and then through discussion arrive at agreement to

those most important. When agreement was reached, the groups then matched activities

to each objective, then locate the activity, represented by a graphic symbol, to the appro-

priate location on a base map of the riverfront. At the completion of the exercise a repre-

sentative from each workgroup presented their proposal (Figure 73). A summary of the

most frequently cited objectives for the entire riverfront were:

1. Establish a continuous riverfront walkway

2. Create a visually pleasing order to the river's edge

3. Attract people and investment to the riverfront

4. Develop an arts/entertainment district

5. Expand leisure and recreational use of the river and riverfront

6. Emphasize pedestrian streets that connect to the riverfront

7. Provide housing for people in a wide range of income categories

8. Accommodate outdoor performances

9. Provide opportunities for boat launching and storage

10. Retail shops

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The first two objectives received the largest number of votes and were identified as impor-

tant in three of the four-riverfront sections. Riverfront activities receiving the most agree-

ment among participants were:

1. Restaurants

2. Riverfront walkway

3. Bicycle trail

4. Jogging trail

5. Boat launch

6. Picnic area

7. Preserve historic building (jail)

8. Garden

The listing of priorities for each section of the riverfront is as follows:

OBJECTIVES ACTIVITIES AREA ONE

Attract people and investment to the riverfront Arts and Crafts

Create a visually pleasing order to the riverfront Retail shop

Develop an arts/entertainment district Restaurant

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OBJECTIVES ACTIVITIES

AREA TWO

Create a visually pleasing order to the riverfront Riverwalk

Establish a continuous riverfront walkway Marina

Expand leisure and recreational use of the river Jogging

Retail shop

Historic Preservation

OBJECTIVES ACTIVITIES AREA THREE

Establish a continuous riverfront walkway Bicycle trail

Provide housing for people in a range of incomes Jogging

Create a visually pleasing order to the riverfront Riverwalk

Emphasize pedestrian streets that connect to the Picnic area

riverfront Garden

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Park

OBJECTIVES ACTIVITIES

AREA FOUR

Accommodate outdoor performances Marina

Provide opportunities for boat launching Water sports

Establish a continuous riverfront walkway Picnic area

Expand leisure and recreational use of the river Boating

Park

Playground

Outdoor amphitheater

Fishing Figure 72: Proposals for each of the four areas along the riverfront

The locations of the activities most frequently cited are shown on the base map of the riv-

erfront (Figure 75). It can be observed from the placement of activities on the map that

several key privately owned properties were identified for alternative uses. Since many key

properties along the riverfront are privately owned further discussions are necessary with

property owners as the master plan unfolds. Lessons learned from other riverfront devel-

opment projects suggest that to achieve success requires a community building effort

based on public-private partnerships (Figure 76).

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Figure 73: High school students presenting their proposal

Figure 74: Typical group solution

Figure 75: Summary diagram locating all activities proposed in the workshop

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POST RIVERFRONT WORKSHOP ACTIVITIES

The firm of EDSA was selected by the city to develop a master plan for the riverfront. To

initiate this process, EDSA brought in The Waterfront Center, a nonprofit organization with

experience in waterfront development, to conduct community forums with different groups.

The first group forum was held with ten PRIDE members. Other forums were held for

boaters, residents, and retailers. Two facilitators from the Waterfront Center conducted the

forum- one for visual aids and assisting the group in plotting out a map, the other to en-

gage the participants in a discussion. The session began with a slide show of riverfront

developments from all over the world. It was apparent to the participants that the facilitator

had used all the material accumulated from surveys, focus group sessions and from the

riverfront workshop. Elements where chosen to illustrate different features and activities

identified in the previous workshop. A large map of the riverfront was used to graphically

discuss obstacles, needs, and dreams. Obstacles cited were key properties along the riv-

erfront that were privately owned as well as a State Department parking lot. Dreams in-

cluded a multi-level riverwalk, small parks or outdoor living rooms, a floating stage and a

full service marina, which could not be accommodated, within the scope of the project be-

cause of the lack of available acreage. When the forums were completed, a preliminary

plan was developed by EDSA and presented to the participants for a critique (Figure 77 &

78).

ACKNOWLEDGMENT Project team included Dr. Celen Pasalar and Dr. Dilek Yildiz

An earlier version of this project appeared in CoDesign, Vol. 1, No. 1, 2005, 61-78.

Figure 76: Riverfront activities adjacent to the arts center

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Figure 77: Proposed Riverfront Park proposed as the cornerstone of downtown redevelopment

Figure 78: Plan of riverfront walk (EDSA)

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CAp SCHOOL, RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL

INTRODUCTION

Although there is general agreement about the importance of the designer reaching out to

include client/user needs (Baird, Gray, Isaacs, Kernohan, McIndoe, 1995), or to engage

their participation in the design process (Hatch, 1984), very little progress has been made

in answering key questions such, who should get involved, how to participate, and at what

stage of the process (Sanoff, 2000). Generally, people who will be affected by the design

decisions should be involved in the process of making those decisions. Appropriate par-

ticipation methods need to be matched to purposes to allow for diverse interests, and par-

ticipation can occur in the development, implementation, and evaluation stages of the de-

sign process. Participatory, or collaborative decision-making encourages creativity and

open communication (Godschalk. et al., 1994), while working together to share informa-

tion and reach agreements also requires a clear process.

Far from denying the role of the designer, it is necessary to develop appropriate research

strategies and methods, as well as to develop a new professional ethic- one that reflects a

participatory democracy (Pateman, 1970), and open to the knowledge, value systems,

and expectations of clients and users alike. The user group -- parents, teachers, students

and staff are assumed to be the non-paying client (Zeisel, 2006), yet they are as important

as the paying client is. The non-paying client group is a source of wisdom and information

about local conditions, needs, and attitudes and thus improves the effectiveness of deci-

sion-making.

Therefore, the potential participation of the non-paying client in all stages of the design

process is enormous, but particularly in the programming or the predesign stage, since it

permits the gathering of a wide and appropriate data-base for defining functional, technical

and behavioral objectives, for identifying design components, and guidelines for integrat-

ing the components into a spatial organization (Sanoff 1992).

Confirmation of these viewpoints and their consequences were apparent through an in-

tensive design workshop at the Graduate Program in Architecture – PROARQ, School of

96

Architecture and Urbanism of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Coordinated

by visiting Professor Henry Sanoff, the workshop dealt with the case study of a primary

and secondary school managed by the university, and concluded with a report discussing

all stages of the design process, and the resulting program including proposed alterna-

tives for the new school.

WORKSHOP DEVELOPMENT

The twenty participants that formed a design team were involved in the workshop, full-time

for four weekdays. Some participants came from a graduate course on design methodol-

ogy aimed at preparing them for the workshop with pertinent readings and discussions, as

well as initial contact with key officials at the school (Hester, 1990; Sanoff, 2000). Most of

the design team consisted of faculty members from a variety architecture schools in Rio.

The CAp (Colégio Aplicação) is a public school run by the university, offering quality pri-

mary and secondary education. It is located in an upper middle-class neighborhood in Rio

only a short distance away from the mountains and a surrounding lake, easily accessible

to the upper income district of Rio de Janeiro.

The CAp was elected as case study as a result of an analysis of the school facilities con-

ducted by the school officials. The analysis indicated that the existing facilities were seri-

ously inadequate for present pedagogical requirements and in need of some form of

physical intervention – either for the total refurbishing of the building or for the construction

of a new building on a larger site. The school's board of directors was eager to participate

in the design process because they were interested in exploring options, since they were

confronted with the building’s limitations and poor maintenance conditions.

Initially, the design team gathered basic information about the school from interviews with

school board members and evaluation walkthroughs of the building (Preiser, Rabinowitz,

White, 1988). Existing drawings of the school were corrected and then digitalized into a

CAD base. The school’s population was as follows:

93 teachers

35 managerial and maintenance staff persons.

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500 teaching students (supervised trainees)

740 students (540 students in the AM shift (7:00 to 12:40): 5th t 8th grades and secondary-

education, and 200 students in the PM shift (1:00 to 5:40): 1st to 4th grades)

The workshop had the total support and participation of the school board, and involved par-

ents, teachers, students and staff at different stages in the process. Methods that were util-

ized by the design team that included:

Environmental inventory of existing data and building floor plans

• Student wish poems

• Exploratory drawings

• Building performance survey and field observations

• Parent-teacher design workshop

• Workshop results and design recommendations

ENVIRONMENTAL INVENTORY

The walkthrough that the design team performed generated a preliminary physical and

spatial inventory of the building’s performance, which included furniture conditions, zoning,

accessibility, circulation, working conditions and environmental comfort (lighting, acous-

tics, ventilation and temperature). Based on existing literature and prior experience of the

team members, two data-sheets for a primary environmental assessment were created

and utilized for each space. One of the sheets was designed for information on layout and

dimensions of room/space, number of occupants, furniture, and additional comments. An-

other data sheet contained evaluative information on the appropriateness of finishes, light,

acoustics and room temperature, aided by photos and/or sketches (Figure 79).

98

Figure 79: Design Assessment Scale

In order to verify students’ judgments of functional, programmatic, and aesthetic aspects,

as well as their expectations for an ideal school, the method of a “wish poem” was utilized

(Sanoff, 1994). It consisted of exploring the respondent’s imagination by asking them to

complete the single statement “I wish my school...” on a blank sheet of paper (Figure 80).

Respondents were allowed fifteen minutes to answer freely in either written or drawing

form. Distribution of responses was even among classes of the two school shifts, though

teachers and staff members also responded by offering their wishes. Examples are as fol-

lows:

99

• I wish my school had a swimming pool

• I wish my school had a computer room

• I wish my school had more extra-curricula activities

• I wish my school had a bigger library

• I wish my school had rooms without leaks

• I wish my school were more beautiful

• I wish my school were more colorful

Figure 80: Students’ developing their wish poems

Most teachers, but only some students did not express themselves through drawings,

which confirms existing literature (Hunt, 1985) that suggests a high degree of inhibition

and/or difficulty for adults in graphic expression. A content analysis of the most frequently

cited items in the students’ responses were summarized into ten categories, such as ap-

pearance, maintenance, recreation, function and pedagogy. The statements were written

onto large sheets of paper that, together with some of the most representative drawings,

were hung in the school’s patio to allow the entire school community to see during breaks.

This was perceived of as an exercise in self-recognition (Figure 81).

100

The wish poems revealed rich and useful information that was later used to assemble a

list of basic requirements for an ideal school. These results may be largely attributed to

the fact that the written responses were not only objective, but indicated where there was

agreement about certain needs and expectations –independent of the shift or grade of the

respondent. Responses were consistent with traditional school programs in Rio.

Figure 81: Display of wish poems in the school patio

Although the drawings represented extremely rich material, the design team was unable to

explore them sufficiently because of the limited time available for the workshop. However,

it was apparent that many drawings illustrated multi-story buildings– undoubtedly an influ-

ence of the high-density urban milieu of Rio de Janeiro – as well as child and teenager

icons such as the wish for a Mac Donald’s in the school building. The richness of the stu-

dents’ imagination was apparent in their use of typical residential images that included cur-

tains, towers, pitched roofs etc., to soften the institutional character of a public school.

BUILDING PERFORMANCE

A questionnaire was developed and administered to approximately twenty-five teaching

staff for them to evaluate the buildings’ function. Six categories of building features were

101

identified, such as quality, adequacy, security, function, homogeneity, and appearance

(Sanoff, 1994). Teachers' responded to the questionnaire by a walkthrough the school

with members of the design team. To complement the teachers’ assessment, twenty de-

sign team members also recorded their impressions of the school building during the

walkthrough to familiarize themselves with the building as well as to compare their obser-

vations of building performance with those of the teachers.

Respondents rated school-building performance on a 10-point Likert scale according to

satisfaction. Groups of respondents – the design team, and teachers in the morning and

afternoon shifts - were analyzed independently and their results were then compared to

each other using descriptive statistics. When all items are considered, responses of

teachers in the afternoon shift revealed a more positive assessment of the school in com-

parison to their colleagues in the morning shift (Figure 82). This may have occurred be-

cause the number students in the morning shift (540) more than doubled those in the af-

ternoon (200). This difference tends to generate all sorts of environmental conflicts.

Figure 82: Comparison between morning and afternoon teachers

A strong difference of evaluation was noted between the design team members and the

teacher’s responses to the issue on modular/pre-fabricated design. While the first ranked it

very low (2.60) the later gave it a more positive answer (4.97), but not very satisfactory.

Generally, all items that pertained to assessments of the quality, adequacy, and security of

present facilities were ranked poorly – the average between 3 and 4 - with the exception of

the height of floors, which ranked over 6 points on a scale where 10 was satisfactory.

While the survey results confirmed earlier assessments made by school officials, the sur-

102

vey items included many environmental factors that teachers were unaware of, or that they

had adapted to and were required to adjust their teaching methods. Consequently, the sur-

vey items provided information about environmental features to the teachers as well as

yielding insights into their perceptions.

PARENT- TEACHER DESIGN WORKSHOP

In the final evening, a design workshop was conducted where parents and teachers were

invited to participate in what was a highly dynamic and interactive process that produced

different programs translated into plan alternatives for an ideal school building (Figure 83).

Forty participants were divided into seven smaller mixed groups with at least one member

of the design team in each. Each group received a kit of parts for the school planning

game: a stiff board representing the site, covered with graph paper, scaled colored paper

rectangles and squares that represented all spaces (blue rectangles represented existing

spaces, and the red rectangles represented for new spaces), extra colored paper, ruler,

scissors and glue.

Each work group had access to all the information already gathered, and was allowed one

hour to discuss and develop an ideal program and school plan. Each group arrived at a

design proposal by organizing the colored pieces into a plan. When group agreement was

reached, the pieces were pasted on stiff board. Considering the workshop objectives, a

specific site was not determined for this exercise. Rather, it was assumed to approach an

ideal spatial layout for a single story school building with no area restrictions. Design team

members participating in the groups served as technical resource people and resisted in-

fluencing any decisions. Each group elected one member to present their ideas and pro-

posal to the others in plenary discussions that concluded evening workshop (Figure 84).

Although this exercise resulted in seven different alternatives for the school, there were

design elements common to all of them, such as public access to sports facilities and to

the theatre, intense tree planting and landscaping in all school’s open areas. There was

also a general tendency to create distinctive sectors according to different age groups.

Many of the ideas resulting from the workshop are unique when compared to the typical

Brazilian school. The collaborative discussions between teachers and parents reaffirmed

the importance of the school building in enhancing the educational goals. Another effec-

103

tive result of this workshop was to make teachers and parents aware of each other's

ideas, of the role of the architect, the potential inherent in such a participatory design

process, and of each individual’s capacity to contribute positively.

Figure 83: Teamwork between parents and teachers

WORKSHOP RESULTS AND DESIGN ALTERNATIVES

On the following morning, the design team was divided into three groups in order to ana-

lyze the similarities and differences present in the seven design workshop proposals (Fig-

ure 85). After discussing and preparing diagrammatic representations for each proposal,

each group agreed to the two or three basic schemes that best represented all alterna-

tives generated by the parent/teacher workshop. Finally, team members discussed the in-

terpretations and basic schemes until a decision was made to present two concepts that

best reflected the aspirations of the parents and teachers. The basic difference between

the two resulting schemes was the organization of a central core: one proposed it as a

large communal area (with open and roofed recreation areas), the other evolved around

what was described as the research core, with different recreation areas according to

grades and age groups.

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Figure 84: Team presentation of design proposal

Both proposals set the main lobby in a strategic location, in relation to parking, and set

high value on sectors devoted to arts and music, and the labs, locating them either as in-

dependent entities, or adjacent to each other, but always in a position of easy access to

other school functions. Auditorium and sports facilities were sited for access from the out-

side of the school– close to the main entrance or to the service gate – so that the sur-

rounding residential community could take advantage of the school’s infrastructure. Green

areas were located for the ease of wayfinding, for outside classrooms, or for environ-

mental and noise filtering, in addition to their role for recreation and for serving eventual

building expansion.

The two alternatives developed by the design team were presented to the school’s direc-

tors, teachers, and parents – approximately forty people attended the session on the af-

ternoon of the fourth and last day of the workshop (Figure 86). The session was produc-

tive and the climate very positive with food prepared by teachers and parents.

105

Figure 85: Drawings summarizing plan alternatives

Figure 86: Design proposal

106

CONCLUSION

The workshop was successful from two viewpoints. First, it clearly demonstrated the effec-

tiveness of a participatory design process not only for developing an architectural pro-

gram, but also for enhancing the creative process itself, something that is yet to be ex-

plored in the Brazilian context. Second, through a participatory approach the workshop

proved to democratize architectural knowledge and to set foundations for a true participa-

tory process in shaping of the school environment (Figure 87).

In reaction to the more traditional manipulation of community meetings, and from design-

ers legitimizing their ideas through pseudo-participation, the workshop experience pro-

vided opportunities for users to participate, to engage in the use of different methods of

environmental awareness and discovery, and to resolve conflicts. People find themselves

in conflict because they have different values, because they have different information, or

because they process information differently (Lozare, 1994). Cooperative problem-solving

procedures, such as small group workshops allow disputes to be positively resolved.

A designer’s professional knowledge should not be used to fulfill personal objectives con-

fusing his/her role in responding to the needs of the building users. Participatory design is

not a simple functional design process, but one that allows for useful insights into behav-

ioral and cultural needs, as well as social and individual expectations. Participatory meth-

ods also permit laypersons to become aware of their own capacities to contribute to the

design process. This is based on the belief that by divulging knowledge about architecture

that we add value to it. The feeling of being able to participate in the decision making

process in the production of the built environment is a crucial step to value the results.

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Figure 87: Cartoons depicting the process

In the case of the design workshop, a significant contribution was made to the political and

institutional processes currently present at the CAp School. In addition to the transparency

of the process where workshop methods and results were open to all participants, the final

meeting placed directors, teachers and parents in direct contact with the design and pro-

gram alternatives previously discussed by a larger body of users. A final report, presented

to the board of directors, aimed at improving design decisions as well as attracting funds

to rehabilitate or relocate the school. The report was extremely well received by the school

board as an important contribution for future planning decisions and/or requests for fund-

ing.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

Responsible for the workshop: Visiting Professor Henry Sanoff (North Carolina State University) Local coordination: Professors Dr. Vicente del Rio and MSc Paulo Afonso Rheingantz. Design Team:

- PhD students: Professors Giselle Azevedo e Maria Cristina Henning Sampaio

- MSc students: Professors Eduardo Rocha, Helenita Bueno and Paulo Jardim, and Architects Ana Beatriz Rocha, Beatriz Chimenti, Eurico Calvente, Gilson Santos, Leila Monteiro, Marcelo Peçanha, Marco Leão, Marcos Fávero, Mário Saleiro, Mírian Pérez, Nara Iwata and Paulo Aguiar. Undergraduate student: Laura Monteiro

Financial Support: FAPERJ – Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa no Estado do Rio de Janeiro (Foundation for the Support of Research in the State of Rio de Janeiro) CAPES – Coordenação de Apoio ao Ensino Superior, Ministério da Educação e do Desporto (Coordination for the Support of University Education, Ministry of Education and Sport) UFRJ – Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (Federal University of Rio de Janeiro

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COMMUNITY ARTS CENTERS, NORTH CAROLINA

INTRODUCTION

According to a 2007 study commissioned by the North Carolina Arts Council (2007), the

state’s emerging knowledge economy requires creative professionals. Data revealed that

North Carolina’s core creative enterprise cluster employs more people than any of the bio-

technology, computer and electronics, machinery, or transportation equipment manufactur-

ing industries in the state. Creative industries are providing a new high growth economic

sector and drive dynamic place-based economies. Creative economies, in turn, spur

community revitalization and creative products provide a competitive edge and entry to

global markets in both manufacturing and service sectors. Not only do creative economies

provide induced economic benefits, they also discovered that arts-related industries could

be catalysts for high-skill employment in sectors such as technology. “At the present rate

of increase, creative jobs alone will soon eclipse the total number of jobs in all of manufac-

turing.” “The other area of rapid job growth in the U.S. economy is in the service sector

however, those jobs, pay a third of those in the creative economy and half of what manu-

facturing workers make (Florida, 2006).”

Currently many rural counties have limited resources for and access to visual and perform-

ing arts education. Performance venues may be found among several educational institu-

tions, however, dedicated performance space, public studio, gallery and workshop space

is practically nonexistent and there are currently very few programs designed to develop

artists as entrepreneurs. Therefore, to address the lack of creative assets in economic de-

velopment, the educational needs of students and workers, and the lack of access to or

instruction in the visual and performing arts in rural counties in North Carolina, a place-

based economic development plan was created that focused upon arts education. The aim

is to create community arts centers to address arts education and to identify vacant facili-

ties suitable for the arts in locations that could enhance downtown revitalization.

To this end, the North Carolina Arts Council funded the development and implementation

of a participatory planning process for creating community arts centers, particularly in

downtown areas. Henry Sanoff and The Adams Group Architects were selected to develop

the process and design proposals. The process consisted of several steps including a

downtown walkthrough, interviews with all visual and performing arts groups, and the de-

109

velopment of a space needs program. This information provided the basis for conducting a

community space-planning workshop, and subsequent planning proposal. The community

workshop was organized by divided participants into groups of five people each, with base

plans of the vacant facility where they manipulated graphic symbols corresponding to each

function until they reached agreement about their appropriate location.

Two communities participated in the first round of the annual program, with a total of 160

community members participating in the workshops. A second round of funding from the

North Carolina Arts Council was made available to both communities to develop a fund

raising plan and to further develop the design ideas.

STRATEGY FOR DEVELOPING COMMUNITY ARTS CENTERS

Lumberton (pop. 20,000) is part of the North Carolina Main Street program, which focuses

on downtown revitalization, because the downtown is important to the community’s image,

to its economic development, to its potential for continued community growth in jobs and

businesses and to its quality of life. A quality community requires a quality built environ-

ment: buildings, streets, and parking; parks, plazas and walking trails; public and private

properties. The development and maintenance of all these elements will create a vital

downtown that people will find appealing and will return to repeatedly (Figure 88).

Figure 88: Main Street walking tour

Lumberton is the county seat and thereby houses the county courthouse and supporting

service businesses and offices. It houses a diverse mix of institutions: the African-

American Cultural Center, the Library, Exploration Station, Robeson County Heritage Mu-

110

seum, the future Fire Station Museum, Carolina Theater and the future home of the

Southeastern Waterworks Community Arts Center.

The aim of the Southeastern Waterworks Community Arts Center is to promote the arts in

Robeson County for the benefit of its entire citizenry. Workshop and classroom space will

be made available for artists, beginners, and producing artists. Artists from the county will

be gathered to collaborate on providing regular exhibits, demonstrations, and opportuni-

ties for adults, school children, and each other, expanding the county’s cultural awareness

and productivity.

Rotating exhibits will be solicited for the education and inspiration of the community and

visitors. A permanent collection will be developed from donations of private and public col-

lections. The main gallery will be designed to host large community gatherings that will be

charged rental fees.

To achieve these goals the Water Filtration Plant that has been vacant since 1990 will be

renovated and serve as a hub of the downtown revitalization.

COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION

Vital to the success of this project was a community participation process that was initi-

ated through the support of the North Carolina Arts Council. The aim of this process is to

identify critical project needs and challenges, site opportunities, and functional require-

ments for the project.

The City of Lumberton was awarded a $6000 facility feasibility study grant in conjunction

with the Robeson Arts Council in proposing the Water Filtration Plant’s new use as an Arts

Center. The proposal was the result of numerous community meetings exploring the pur-

pose of a community arts center. Henry Sanoff and Graham Adams, Architects, were se-

lected as consultants to direct the community participation process.

The first step in the process consisted of a walking tour of downtown Lumberton followed

by a visit to the Water Filtration Plant (Figure’s 88, 92, 93). In order to clarify the program

needs identified in the initial proposal submitted by the City of Lumberton, the consultants

conducted a series of interviews.

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A typical interview data sheet was distributed to a variety of community members affiliated

with the arts to identify key functions to be housed in the arts center (Figure 89). The data

sheets served as the basis for the interviews, which provided additional detailed informa-

tion about desired center functions (Figure 90). These data sheets were compiled into an

initial list of center functions and their space requirements. This information served as the

basis for the community workshop, which was open to all individuals and groups inter-

ested in participating in space planning the arts center (Figure 91).

Figure 89: Interview sheet Figure 90: Interview schedule

More than forty people participated in the Arts Center Planning Workshop, held at the

Lumberton City Hall. Robeson County Arts Council members, local artists, merchants,

public officials including the mayor, and arts faculty from UNC Pembroke joined together

to share their views about the ideal location for the centers’ functions. Ten groups of four

or more people were seated at tables, each having building plans and graphic symbols

Time Event Location 10:00 am Walking tour of down-

town Lumberton

Begin at Old Post Office

11:00 am LEAD meeting (Lumberton Economic Development for Down-town)

Board Room, BB&T Bldg. Walnut St.

11:30 am Walk-through Water Filtration Plant

Water Street

12:30 pm Lunch Introductory meeting

Black Water Grille

4:00 pm Interviews Sandra Carter (Studios) Susie Brady (Classroom/ Workshops) Katherine Hewitt (Studios/ Pottery)

Community Room, Lumberton City Hall

4:30 pm Interviews Richard Sceiford (Public Events) Ruth Ann McLellan (Cater-ing/ Food Service Dr. Richard Gay (Gallery Spaces)


5:00 pm Interviews Bob Fisher (Adminstrative Areas) Mary Ann Masters (Of-fices/ Volunteers) Don Metzger (Public Areas)


5:30 pm Robeson County Arts Council meeting


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corresponding to each building function. Each graphic symbol corresponds to 100 square

feet, therefore the 20 Gallery symbols, for example, represents 2000 square feet. The

symbols are grouped according to the space requirements of each of the buildings’ func-

tions (Figure 94).

Figure 91: Newspaper article describing the project process

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Figure 92: Existing waterworks building

114

Figure 93: Walking tour of waterworks interior

115

Figure 94: Graphic symbols corresponding to spatial activities

Figure 95: Small group planning process

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Figure 96: Typical workgroup proposals After a lengthy discussion, workshop participants cut and pasted the symbols in their de-

sired location on each floor of the three-story building (Figure 96). A review of the 10 plan

proposals revealed a similarity in the location of the major functions, such as the gallery

and café on the ground floor, and the artists’ residences on the main floor (Figure 97).

Many groups proposed an extensive use of the outdoors including a sculpture garden,

children’s outdoor garden, and a café and terrace, all of which are included in the design

proposal (Figure 98).

Figure 97: Presentation of ideas

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Figure 98: Consensus planning proposal

118

Figure 99: Final design proposal The design proposal reflects the general sentiment of the workshop participants (Figure

98). From the main entrance there is a view of the gallery/ reception area below with the

artists’ residences in full view from the entrance and adjacent to an outdoor sculpture gar-

den. For visual control of the arts center, a staff office at the main entrance is housed be-

119

hind the existing glass block wall and adjacent to a meeting room and youth classroom. A

kitchen and café are located on the ground floor surrounded by a south facing outdoor

café serviced from the kitchen. The second floor lobby overlooks the main entrance with

additional classroom and studio space adjacent to an outdoor terrace on the roof of the

main floor (Figure 99).

Figure 100: Sketch of proposed interior compared to existing conditions

Figure 101: Proposed waterworks design

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CONCLUSION

Today, arts facilities have become a focal point of cities throughout the world. In part, it is

based on the recognition that the arts symbolize the culture of a community. Lumberton,

too, is in a position to reaffirm its’ commitment to the arts in the development of the vacant

waterworks building as a setting for an arts center. Through exhibitions, educational pro-

grams, and subsidize studio spaces, the arts center will serve as a bridge between artists

and the public (Figure 100). The goal is to increase awareness, appreciation, perception,

and involvement in the visual arts for the public in Robeson County. The site of the water-

works building located adjacent to the Lumber River offers the community opportunities for

a variety of outdoor arts activities not available in other locations. As a major contribution

to the development of the Main Street program, the waterworks building offers a signifi-

cant presence and a testimony to the importance of the arts in Lumberton and Robeson

County (Figure 101).

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

Support for this project came from the North Carolina Arts Council, The City of Lumberton, Re-

bekah Thompson and the Southeastern Waterworks Board

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Figure 102: Local newspaper headline announcing Reidsville project

The vision of the Reidsville Downtown Corporation (RDC) is to enhance and creatively

manage the development of Downtown Reidsville as the cultural, historic and economic

center of the community while keeping within the context of historic preservation (Figure

102). Area artists have discovered that these beautiful old buildings provide the perfect

settings for galleries, studios and classrooms. A downtown 'arts district' is emerging (Fig-

ure 103). The RDC has recognized the rich heritage of the visual and performing arts in

Rockingham County and the impact the art community can have on downtown develop-

ment. To that end, the RDC partnered with the Fine Arts Festival Association (FAFA) of

Rockingham County, who has been supporting artist and art education in the community

for more than sixty years. (FAFA) has a membership of visual and performing artists, writ-

ers, musicians, students and teachers from across Rockingham County. The membership

includes representatives from all artist guilds and studio groups. The "Fine Arts Festival"

held each spring, began in 1945 and last year, there were over 400 entries and 5,000 at-

tendees. In addition, the FAFA has a yearly "Emerging Artists Show", highlighting the work

of local art students.

The Reidsville Downtown Corporation (RDC) partnered with FAFA to request support from

the NC Arts Council to invite an architectural consultant (Henry Sanoff and The Adams

Group) to facilitate the planning process of converting an empty McCrory’s Department

Store in downtown Reidsville into a cultural arts and community learning center. The build-

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ing is 23,700 square feet, including main floor, full basement and mezzanine. There is an

adjacent parking lot that is also available. Built in 1920, it was last occupied in 2001, yet

the building is structurally sound.

The Reidsville City Council chose to become a major contributor to the FAFA since it was

impressed by the Association’s educational emphasis and long history of support for the

arts. The Council supports this effort participated in the planning workshop. The Reidsville

Downtown Merchants Association also understands the economic impact the cultural arts

center will have on their community. They are united in their support and are committed to

being active participants in the planning process. The Chamber of Commerce Board of

Directors has committed their support. Representatives will attend the planning meetings

and work to bring in the rest of the business community. As a major stakeholder, the RDC

knows that a community arts center in the downtown will be a major contributor to contin-

ued growth and development.

After discussion with the art community a place to showcase their work and talent is im-

portant to them, so is the opportunity to develop a cultural arts education program for chil-

dren and adults. This educational program would have an outreach component to seek

those who otherwise may have little opportunity to participate in the arts. A new facility

would include a main gallery, an interactive, hands-on children’s education gallery, class-

rooms for continuing art education for adults and children, “mini” galleries, a recording

studio and practice rooms, a small performance theatre to showcase local musicians,

writers, poets and actors, and banquet facilities and meeting space.

The planning process is aimed at supporting current downtown development plans. The

emerging downtown arts community will soon include a coffee house with a small per-

formance venue to feature local performing artists. Construction on a new downtown park

with a farmer’s market pavilion and a band shell will start later this year. New street-

scapes, wireless internet, residential development and a second downtown park are all in

stages of development. A future downtown planning process will include the cultural arts

and community learning center as a vital component to the town’s development goals.

The first step in the process consisted of a walking tour of downtown Reidsville followed

by a visit to the vacant McCrory’s building and adjacent theater (Figure 103). In order to

clarify the program needs identified in the initial proposal submitted by RDC, the consult-

123

ants conducted a series of interviews (Figure 104). A typical interview data sheet was dis-

tributed to a variety of community members affiliated with the arts to identify key functions

to be housed in the arts center. The data sheets served as the basis for the interviews,

which provided additional detailed information about desired center functions.

Figure 103: Walking tour of downtown Reidsville

Figure 104: Small group interviews with consultants

More than 100 people participated in the Arts Center Planning Workshop held at Café 99

in downtown Reidsville. Council members, local artists, musicians, performers, merchants,

citizens and public officials joined together to share their views about the most appropriate

functions and their location. Twenty groups of four or more people were seated at tables,

each having a building plan and graphic symbols corresponding to each building function

(Figure 105). Each graphic symbol corresponded to 100 square feet; therefore eight studio

symbols corresponded to 800 square feet. The symbols are grouped according to the

space requirements of each of the buildings’ functions.

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Figure 105: Community workshop

After a lengthy discussion, requiring group consensus, the symbols were cut and pasted in

their desired location on the plan drawing (Figure 106). A representative of each group

presented their vision of the future arts center. A review of the twenty proposals revealed

a similarity in the location of the theater. Although there was some variation in the location

of the exhibition most groups agreed that it was to serve as a focal point for the arts center

(Figure 107).

Figure 106: Typical solutions from workgroups

Figure 107: Group representatives presenting their ideas

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Figure 108: Proposed plan of the arts center based on consensus solution above

The design concept is based on developing the main entrance to the arts center through a

sculpture courtyard on Market Street in an effort to enhance the image of an arts district.

The aim is to alter the character of backstreet to be more consistent with the recent devel-

opment of The Gallery and crafts shop. The exhibition gallery can be entered through

Scales or Market Streets, although the theater lobby is only accessible through Scales

Street. This allows direct access to the arts center from both streets with studios and

classrooms opening into the exhibition area (Figure 108). The goal is to increase aware-

ness, appreciation, perception, and involvement in the visual and performing arts for the

126

public in Rockingham County. As a major contribution to the development of Reidsville’s

Main Street program, the McCrory building and adjacent theater offers a significant pres-

ence and a testimony to the importance of the arts in Reidsville and Rockingham County

(Figure 109).

Figure 109: Existing facility above and design proposal below

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GOVERNMENT CENTER, ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA

INTRODUCTION

Recently, pre-design studies have become an integral part of the design process. Pre-

design is a phase that precedes the architectural programming and space planning

stages. However, a pre-design phase normally includes a strong programming compo-

nent. It may include tasks and activities that range from defining functional needs and ad-

jacency analyses to establishing design imperatives and prioritizing design recommenda-

tions, and from cost analysis and financial modeling to establishing urban design criteria

for locating new buildings. However, as an emerging field of specialization, pre-design is

still considered to be a relatively novel part in architecture and planning disciplines. Now,

large organizations are increasingly recognizing the need for pre-design studies that result

either in new construction or in managerial improvements, changes or reorganization of

existing space.

Efforts were undertaken by several government agencies and professional organizations

to make pre-design an integral part of their building delivery process (Preiser, 1985). As a

result, pre-design studies are taking place now as part of design and space planning prac-

tices, especially with the current complexities of building functions and activities.

Municipalities, state governments, and private corporations in North America occupy mil-

lions of square feet of work environments. In many cases, however, insufficient care is

taken initially to define clearly the specific requirements these work environments must

fulfill. Recent literature on work places (Davis, G. et al, 1993; Duffy and Powell, 1997;

Worthington, 1998; Duffy and Tanis, 1999) corroborates that the result is a large capital

investment in facilities that do not enhance and often hinder efficient office operations,

while also not supporting health, safety; functional performance, and employees' produc-

tivity and satisfaction. The importance of workspace has been shown by Duffy (1997,

1998) who studied an extensive number of work organizations from different countries and

illustrated that facilities costs (i.e. construction, maintenance and utilities0 amount to

10%whereas human costs (i.e. salaries) amount to 90% of all costs of an organization. A

more recent study by Brill (2001) has shown that over a period of ten years, operating and

maintenance costs of an organization remains close to8%, whereas human cost remains

128

close to 85-90%. Consequently, the major expenditure of work organizations is for the

people.

Workplace satisfaction has been studied through subjective evaluations by employees by

Marans and Spreckelmeyer (1986), Ferguson and Weisman (1986), and Cherulink (1993).

Common attributes evaluated in these studies covered satisfaction about such issues as

environmental factors and office layout, however they have been linked to job satisfaction

and performance. The importance of workspace has been shown by Duffy (1998) who

studied an extensive number of work organizations in different sectors and countries and

illustrated that facilities costs (i.e. construction, maintenance, utilities, etc.) amount to 10%

whereas human costs (i.e. salaries) amount to 90% of all costs of an organization. More

recently, Brill (2001) has shown that over a period of 10 years, operating and maintenance

costs of a work organization remains close to 8%, whereas human cost remains close to

90%. Consequently, the major expenditure of work organizations is for people.

More recently, workspace research has focused on workspace-work pattern relationships,

such as work and information flow. Conventional working patterns are changing dramati-

cally and thus new patterns are emerging as the opportunities provided by new technolo-

gies verge on every aspect of workplace environments. Designers, facility managers, and

top management in many organizations have already started to investigate whether the

conventional work environment helps or hinders opportunities for business development

and growth. It is increasingly acknowledged that requirements for workplaces have be-

come very demanding in recent years. Many factors related to information and communi-

cation technologies, energy codes, environmental quality; and employees' productivity

were of little concern or oversimplified a decade ago, but they have recently become of

vital importance.

Thomas Peters (1992,1997) argues that space management may well be the most ig-

nored, yet the most powerful tool for inducing cultural change, speeding up innovation pro-

jects, and enhancing the learning process in far reaching organizations. In this respect,

many authors argue that office buildings and office interiors must be designed to be used

in ways that add value to the employees' work while simultaneously drive down occu-

pancy cost.

129

The objective of this chapter is to describe a pre-design approach toward the development

of work environments. The paper reports on a pre-design study conducted over three

years for the Minnesota Departments of Agriculture (MDA), Health (MDH), and Human

Services (DHS), for developing new office facilities and laboratories. The approach of the

study is based on establishing a collaborative process that includes five major procedures.

These are:

• Analyzing the existing condition, problems and needs definition; conceptualizing chal-

lenges and opportunities;

• Developing and establishing mechanisms for understanding agency needs while devel-

oping consensus in decision making;

• Envisioning solutions and establishing guidelines.

The major components of the study are programming the workplace environment, defining

functional needs and relationship analyses, establishing principles for urban intervention,

and developing financial modeling. The paper concludes by outlining how emerging op-

portunities can be stemmed from pre-design studies, how employees' productivity and

comfort can be addressed, and how urban and environmental resources can be preserved

and conserved.

THE TWIN CITIES PROJECT

In 2000, the Departments of Agriculture (DA), Health (DH), and Human Services (DHS)

received funding to develop a pre-design study and investigate the feasibility of restructur-

ing the workplace of their agencies and divisions and of co-locating the Departments of

Health and Human Services program offices, and the Departments of Health and Agricul-

ture laboratories. The broad goal of the Minnesota State Administration was to minimize

long-term costs of government facilities, and to increase access, and most importantly, to

consider ways in which agencies can best serve their customers.

The concerned departments viewed the project as an opportunity to look carefully at the

relationships between their programs to provide better customer service. Currently, those

departments allocate their program facilities and staff between St. Paul and Minneapolis.

Current facilities are inadequate to meet the needs of the agencies, and in fact threaten

their ability to accomplish their mission and to maintain skilled and experienced staff.

130

Through a collaborative team approach a process was established to analyze the existing

conditions, and to develop mechanisms for understanding agency needs through a proc-

ess of consensus decision-making. The approach was participatory, intensive, and com-

prehensive in nature and employed several techniques. The first step for creating an em-

ployee responsive work environment is to develop the most reliable methods for collecting

information from Minnesota State employees. In fact, one of the main reasons for the con-

tinuing debate concerning ways to improve personnel productivity and their satisfaction of

their work environment is the lack of simple, reliable, and comprehensive methods.

Concomitantly, a number of methods and techniques were conceived. These include

visioning sessions, workshops, working meetings, survey questionnaires, interviews, and

web-based surveys. Since the project has included several components, the detailed de-

scription of the process and methodology might go beyond the scope of this paper. How-

ever, a brief outline of the major procedures and their findings is framed within the analy-

sis of the project development process.

EXISTING CONDITIONS AND NEEDS DEFINITION

Work meetings have been conducted as exploratory and discovery events to identify the

needs of the agencies and state the challenges that the project consultants together with

the client would face throughout the process. With the Minnesota Department of Admini-

stration leadership, and the guidance of the Minnesota Department of Finance, the exist-

ing condition was conceptualized. The results of this procedure have been clearly stated

and framed as representative problems as follows:

• The existing facilities of the agencies do not meet current and future needs.

• The agencies operate from multiple metro locations within the twin cities and this hinders

their ability to effectively carry out their business and service plans.

• The agencies continue to grow in terms of staff and services in response to mandated

programs. As a result, they have expanded into available leased spaces.

• The agencies have not always been successful to strategically locate programs having

close functional relationships or similar service programs.

• Many spaces pose critical environmental issues that pertain to life safety and space defi-

ciencies.

131

In this phase of the project major critical issues have been identified and classified into

four categories. These are: functional, psychological and organizational, utility and serv-

ice, and technological issues. In order to address the preceding issues a set of challenges

has been devised as driving forces and objectives for the overall process. These are:

• Community partnership and participation are a necessity to accomplish a project of this

magnitude.

• The larger community needs to be engaged in an open process leading to shared- solu-

tions, thereby sensing its ownership of the project.

• Non-traditional financing methods need to be explored.

• Use of state-owned sites need to be considered and surveyed.

• Setting priorities and developing a phasing plan for meeting the agencies space needs

requires involvement and assistance from the Department of Administration.

Based on investigating the existing condition major concerns have been defined to replace

previous conventional approaches adopted by the State. The traditional approach to meet-

ing the state agency facilities' needs has been to build or lease space to accommodate an

agency's staff growth. The concern here was to allow the agencies to operate in a func-

tional, productive, and healthy environment with minimal growth. The major critical con-

cept introduced was collocation that provides opportunities for shared spaces and facilities

between the agencies, while improving customer service delivery. As a result, the concern

was to utilize technology in well-situated facilities that permit inter-agency and intra-

agency cooperation and sharing of common spaces. These facilities need to be energy

efficient, cost effective, and flexible to serve as an integral part of broad based community

re-development efforts. With these new facilities, additional opportunities emerge to forge

and enhance partnership between state agencies, federal institutions, and different county

departments.

A USER CENTERED PROGRAMMING PROCESS

Programming is intended to facilitate communication among the designers, clients, and

eventual users. According to Sanoff (1992), it is a process of problem identification, infor-

mation collection, and information organization resulting in a communicable statement of

design intent. One of the important purposes of programming is to integrate human activi-

ties into space and time. Its aim is to tap the building occupants for information on what it

132

is they need in a building, a source that was largely ignored in the past. In this regard, the

authors argue that the process of involving those most affected by design decisions and

thus the built environment in the programming process promises better need definition,

morale, responsibility, and foster the development of a sense of belonging and ownership

on the part of users after building occupancy.

A typical approach to workplace programming and design is to define and then analyze

tasks and requirements of the individual and workgroups. However, the most ideal situa-

tion to assure a good fit between the workplace and the nature of work being performed is

to have each workplace custom designed for the tasks of each individual employee. It has

been generally assumed that this would create large number of workplace designs, often

referred to as "footprints", that are categorized by shape and floor area they occupy.

These in many cases appear too as not cost effective and may result in higher initial

costs. Therefore, designers used to identify a limited number of workplace types.

The current workplace of the three concerned departments is characterized by limited

technological capacity, poor environmental quality, and inflexibility. The approach under-

taken in the programming process recognizes the fact that there are misfits between the

current workplace and the nature of work. It is believed that a larger number of workplace

types are available than presently utilized. In order to resolve these misfits, and develop

new workstations responsive to agencies' needs, a participatory strategy was devised to

allow all employees to identify the workplace types best suited for their tasks. An exten-

sive research process resulted in the identification of square footage, visual character, and

work types of fourteen workplace variations found in recent literature and in the market-

place. A major part of this process was to analyze these types in terms of flexibility, com-

mon areas, shared spaces, teaming areas, and other factors. Three-dimensional modeling

for each type was developed to facilitate employees understanding of the key issues.

The approach undertaken in this project recognizes that there may be misfits between

work and the workplace, and a larger number of footprint options are available than pres-

ently utilized. Similarly, narrowly defined office standards tend to limit range of possible

workplace types. To resolve the workplace misfits, a strategy was devised to allow all em-

ployees of the Departments of Health, Human Services and Agriculture to identify the

workplace type best suited for their tasks. An extensive study of workplace types actually

revealed fourteen variations, many more than are usually considered in workplace design.

133

All fourteen workplace types recognize the current and future tasks and space require-

ments such as the hive and commons, as well as mobile office workers using hotelling, or

the free-address system.

A Workplace Types survey form was created to allow employees to identify the spatial ar-

rangement best suited for their task. A planning workshop with management representa-

tives of the State Departments of Health, Human Services and Agriculture engaged the 80

participants in familiarizing themselves with the survey task (Figure 110).

Figure 110: Management planning workshop

134

Each participant subsequently served as a liaison to their administrative unit to ensure that

the survey forms were distributed and completed. Generally, the results from the Depart-

ment of Health's 1,268 employees for example, indicate that 223 respondents required

private offices and the remaining 1,036 employees required a variety of workplaces.

Workplace type "D," the open plan was preferred by 50% of the employees, while "C" was

identified by 25% of the respondents (Figure111). From the Department of Human Serv-

ices, 2,205 employees responded and 447 required private offices (Figure 112).

The development of the architectural program was based on the workshop and survey re-

sults. It included the identification of activities, description of the spatial environment that

accommodates these activities, and a statement of design intent. Program data sheets

were developed to record requirements for the primary office activities. The information

contained includes: user information, range of activities, workplace objectives, spatial re-

quirements, workplace type, design requirements, and equipment needs.

The programming process of the lab facilities addressed the space requirements of the

Department of Agriculture and Health based on the number of personnel and space

needed for scientific equipment. A number of criteria have been considered while develop-

ing the program. These were: flexibility, and adaptability of space to accommodate change

in use and future needs, hours of operation, individual workstation and health and safety.

Working meetings with the section managers were held to review room data sheets and to

comment on the preferred distribution of functions. The overall participatory programming

process resulted in area requirements of each division in the department, definition of re-

quirements, functional requirements, and common space requirements.

135

Figure 111: Individual workplace types (developed by Umut Toker)

136

Figure 112: Workplace settings (developed by Umut Toker)

137

A visioning workshop with the management representatives engaged over 80 participants

in an exploratory process while familiarizing themselves with the survey tasks. Each par-

ticipant served as a liaison to his or her administrative units. The objective of the survey

was to gather information and record the divisions' responses to desired workplace types.

Major results were: From the Department of Health's 1268 respondents, 232 required pri-

vate offices, 1036 required variety of workplaces. The open plan type "D" was preferred by

50%, while type "C' was preferred by 25%. From the Department of Human Services 2113

respondents, 390 required private offices and 1723 required variety of workplaces. Nota-

bly, workplace preference percentages were similar in the agencies. Summary survey

sheets were developed showing area requirements of each division, and concluded with

comprehensive agency requirements including circulation and shared spaces.

COMMUNICATION AND RELATIONSHIP ANALYSIS

In order to improve the delivery of services to citizens of Minnesota, a social network

analysis of the information flow between divisions within the departments as well as be-

tween the agencies was envisioned. This analysis presumes that divisions within a high

frequency of information and communication flow between them would function more effi-

ciently if they were located within close proximity to each other. To identify the most impor-

tant connections between the Departments of Agriculture (DA), Health (DH), Human Serv-

ices (DHS), Corrections, and Public Safety, a database was developed with the aid of a

self-administered survey and face-to-face interviews with division managers and person-

nel. The survey required division managers from the five departments to identify the ad-

ministrative units with which that they are in frequent contact.

The relation between the social entities is graphically presented where a dot and a rela-

tional tie represent each social entity by a line. Depending on whether the tie is directional

or non-directional, this line may be an arrow or a line. The survey results indicated that

certain divisions identified a one-way communication while others were characterized as

having two-way or reciprocal connection or relational tie. Decisions regarding proximity

importance between divisions were based on those identifying the highest number of rela-

tional ties. Establishing a frequency procedure of these ties was necessary to develop a

threshold of importance.

138

From the ties identified in the survey, the Department of Human Services (DHS) is the

most centrally located within the five departments due to the number of reciprocal rela-

tions it has with the Departments of Corrections (DOC), Health (DH), and Public Safety

(DPS). With one hundred and thirty-one relational ties, the connections between DHS and

DOC represents the highest need for proximity followed by the link between the Depart-

ments of DH and DHS (Figure 113).

Figure 113: Network analysis of existing organizational relational ties

There also appeared to be a high degree of interaction reported between the DHS, Child

Services Administration and the DH, Family and Community Health Division, which re-

corded forty-eight interactions. Results also revealed that the Health Protection Division

within the DHS had minimal inter-departmental connections but a high level of relational

ties within its own division and with DA labs.

139

SITE SELECTION PROCESS

Site selection was one of the key components of this study. The process of selecting sites

for locating new facilities for the state departments involved an extensive literature review

and a collection of methods to assess the most appropriate procedure for establishing cri-

teria for site selection. An analysis of employee travel time to work to the five departments,

revealed six possible locations for a new facility. Each site offered different amenities and

required employees to make trade-offs between geographical locations based on their

preferences (Figure 114). In a workshop with agency managers, each were asked to

evaluate the six geographical locations within the metropolitan area and indicate how each

site would contribute positively to the employees’ daily experience and stage in their life

cycle. In addition to this workshop, an electronic web based survey of departmental s em-

ployees was conducted to assess site attributes and their preferences (Figure 115). Em-

ployee preferences were primarily transit, transportation and parking since more than 80%

drive to work, and most commute less than 20 miles. Strikingly, 70% of the respondents

expressed interest in telecommuting. As a result of this process, the consulting team to-

gether with Minnesota State administrative representatives selected three possible sites

for the new facilities.

In order to investigate environmental issues and the impact of development on the natural

environment, a comparative analysis of the three preferred sites was conducted by rating

each site according to specific criteria that included site-biodiversity, watershed protection,

potable water consumption, energy, air pollution, indoor environmental quality, and waste

management. The results revealed varying degrees of environmental eco-friendliness and

provided criteria for the final selection as shown in Figure 116.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

Acting as principal investigators, The Adams Group, Henry Sanoff, Umut Toker and Hokan-

son/Lunning/Wende, have developed the pre-design study of the three agencies. The project team

also included specialists in strategic planning and, financial analysis, and sustainable design,

namely Art Pearce of Idea Works, Teresa Stems of Sterns & Associates, John Carmody of the

Center for Sustainable Building Research of the University of Minnesota, and Lisa Wilson of De-

sign Collaboration.

140

Figure 114: Site location map of St. Paul

Figure 115: Site preferences survey form

141

Figure 116: Area requirements to meet space needs of all departments of the preferred site

142

APPENDIX

URBAN PARTICIPATORY GAMES

Participation can take place through many types of involvement, such as design and

planning games for organizing group decision-making. Jerome Bruner (1967) suggests

that one of the key factors in the learning process is participation----particularly by the

use of games that incorporate the formal properties of the phenomena for which the

game is an analogue. A game is a simulation of a real situation, allowing participants to

act out situations and experience the interactions of a community activity. Games are

educational because their purpose is to create an environment for learning and prepare

people to act (Duke, 1974). Gaming is a participatory approach to problem solving that

engages a real-life situation compressed in time so that the essential characteristics of

the problem are open to examination. This technique permits learning about the process

of change in a dynamic environment requiring periodic decisions. Essentially, a complex

problem is identified, its essence is abstracted, and the end result is a process referred

to as a simulation. Games consist of players, placed in a prescribed setting, with con-

straints within this setting represented by rule systems and methods of procedure.

Games used for teaching in the academic community produce outcomes such as learning

of principles, processes, structures, and interrelationships; empathy and understanding for

predicaments, pressures, and real-world problems (Abt, 1970). Game use in social plan-

ning is helpful when players try out different forms of social structure, resource-allocation,

and communication within a simulated environment, to test the effectiveness of ideas,

costs, and rewards of options (Duke, 1974). The use of games by groups to explore val-

ues, ideas, and behaviors as a communication function gives participants a better under-

standing of themselves and others. Games used in conflict resolution facilitate communi-

cation between dissimilar or opposing groups (Greenblat & Duke, 1981). Design games

get people involved in their play and in their design and planning results. There are sev-

eral reasons for this, but three are central:

1. Participants take a role and argue the problem from that posture.

2. Games organize complex details into an overview model. This allows the player to

grasp details that might otherwise be lost.

143

3. Games require trial decisions, and this commitment sharpens the thought processes of

the participants who are required to act.

Gaming methods aim to accomplish specific tasks ranging from increasing people’s

awareness to particular environmental design issues, to teaching concepts and relation-

ships, to clarifying value differences between decision makers. Values are those beliefs

we hold to have some intrinsic worth. Value differences between individuals often account

for their inability to achieve agreement in group problem-solving situations. Quite often

so-called differences of opinions result from basic value differences not made explicit.

Values clarification methods encourage people to examine their own beliefs.

Each of the following design games provides a variety of materials, including lists of objec-

tives, activities, activity symbols, and environmental settings. Games help to facilitate an

understanding of strategies for solving a variety of environment design problems and im-

parting information in a meaningful way.

URBAN INFILL

At the core of urban design is the streetscape. What we describe as infill is also referred

to as redevelopment, which is a renewal or recycling process. Infill requires less energy

to build and maintain and denser development conserves energy and building materials.

Infill is also good for communities because fuel, pollution and travel time caused by

commuting are reduced.

Today, neglect and rapid decay have placed many streetscapes in need of replacement

or repair. Also, an empty sight is often a blighted site. Often, however, when action is

proposed in communities without the support of historic-district or similar regulations, the

visual impact of a proposed action does not lend itself readily to analysis, and recognized

guidelines are lacking to evaluate their significance and to weigh their beneficial or det-

rimental consequences. These problems have led to charges of insensitivity and even

litigation against those responsible for urban development projects.

In order to insure that there is some continuity in the process of restoring older street-

scapes, it is necessary to evaluate new building proposals very carefully. This is best

achieved by comparing each new proposal with design guidelines to insure the preserva-

144

tion of those unique qualities that make older buildings visually distinctive. Compatibility

in a streetscape can be attained if certain characteristics are maintained through the col-

lective development of design guidelines. Such features include:

• Setbacks

• Character

• Scale

• Building use

• Roof silhouette

• Surface variation

• Use of Ornamentation

• Proportion of window and door openings

• Relative height

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BEST-FIT SLIDE RULE

This is a discussion tool developed to examine streetscape infill solutions and their con-

sequences (Sanoff, 1990). It is a visual guide for determining compatibility by identifying

those factors to be considered when contemplating new construction. As a strategy for

discussion, it can bring together professionals, public officials, landowners, and citizens’

groups to explore the consequences of various infill alternatives prior to construction.

Developing an awareness of the complex issues related to streetscape infill, through a

hypothetical exercise, can enable community members to focus on the social, economic,

and visual implications of changing the fabric of an existing streetscape. Since partici-

pants respond to a design situation with different values and beliefs, the exercise offers

the opportunity for participants to share those differences and learn from each other.

The slide rule is most effectively used in small group settings where participants make

individual choices, defend their decisions, and reach consensus about the most appro-

priate fit. The process requires each group member to select one of thirteen options for

the infill of the residential streetscape (Figure 117). Participants then try to maintain their

positions and debate them, but the final goal of the exercise is a solution that is accept-

able to the group.

The process requires each participant to select one of the thirteen options for the infill

site located in the center of a hypothetical urban residential street. The choices include

alternative building uses as well as visual appearance Figures 117a & 117b). Typically,

the issues participants discuss are related to the impact of changing uses depicted by

business or commercial additions and their corresponding parking requirements, and in-

creased traffic. Similarly, concerns about residential stability are as integral to the dis-

cussions as is architectural style.

Since people respond to a design situation with different values and beliefs, the exercise

offers the participants an opportunity to share those differences and learn from each

other. Participants use the game props to clarify and reconcile differences.

Developing an awareness of the complex issues pertaining to infill, through an abstract

exercise, can enable community members to focus on the social, economic, and visual

implications of changing the fabric of an existing residential streetscape. The technique

146

of using a hypothetical street as a stimulus for generating a discussion of important is-

sues permits all participants to learn from each other without being encumbered with and

confounded by the personal, political, economic, and site constraints of a real situation.

To follow-up on the discussion generated by the participants in the Best-Fit Slide Rule

exercise, the actual streetscape under consideration could be presented in a similar way,

together with alternative infill proposals. At this point, participants may already be aware

of such issues as building use, ornamentation, roof silhouette, relative height, proportion

of door and window openings and surface variation, so the discussion can also include

issues related to the streetscape. The visual impact of a building’s image is significant in

conveying connotations associated with building alternatives.

Figure 117: Typical streetscape

Figure 117a: Alternative infill building types

Figure 117b: Example of an infill alternative

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Figure 118: Melbourne, Australia best-fit slide rule showing the original streetscape at the top,

with alternative infill options below

148

Figure 119a: Assembly instructions for making the Best Fit Slide Rule

149

Figure 119b: Assembly instructions

150

KNOWLEDGE OF EMERGING ENVIRONMENTAL STRATEGIES (KEEPS)

This game is designed to provide groups interested in preserving the many environmental

qualities unique to older neighborhoods, districts and towns with an understanding of the

strategies open to them (Figure 120). Organizing and planning for the preservation of the

qualities identified relies upon the consideration of (Sanoff, 1978):

• The environmental qualities the group seeks to develop

• Individual goals

• The strategies the group can use to accomplish their goals

To begin, each player reviews the three diagrams and identifies and records those neigh-

borhood or town qualities that were lost or need to be retained as the town changed from

image one to image three. Group members should record and discuss the qualities each

has identified. Next, from the goal list provided, each player should select no more than

four goals that seem to be important in developing the environmental qualities the group

has decided upon. When all the members of the group have made their individual

choices, the individual lists are pooled. Through discussion the group must choose a total

of four goals, with the additional constraint that the four statements must be incorporated

into a unified conservation program. Players are urged to forcefully support their individual

choices, even if other members of the group differ. Discussion should continue until group

members persuade or are persuaded to include four goals that reflect the group’s priori-

ties. This may require considerable discussion.

When consensus is reached, the group enters its choices on the record sheet. Next, using

the strategies list, each player selects no more than four strategies to accomplish each

goal. Some strategies may relate to more than one goal. After all group members have

made their strategy selections, the lists are pooled to arrive at the final group choices.

The completed record sheet now contains a framework of a collaboratively generated ac-

tion program. If several groups are engaged in this exercise simultaneously, the results

should be combined and used as a framework for future discussions.

151

Figure 120: Knowledge of Emerging Environmental Preservation Strategies (KEEPS)

152

When consensus is reached, the group should enter its choices on a record sheet. Next,

using the strategies list, each player should select no more than four implementation

strategies that can be used to effectively accomplish each of the goal choices. Each goal

should be worked through completely before starting a new one. Some strategies, how-

ever, may relate to more than one goal. After all members of the group have made their

strategy selections, the lists should be pooled to arrive at the final group choices.

The completed record sheet now contains the framework of a collaboratively generated

action program. If several groups are engaged in the exercise simultaneously, the results

should be combined and used as a framework for future discussions.

Urban Improvement Visual Alternatives

Figure 121: Web based survey to identify priority improvement projects

Based on the ideas presented in the Japanese small town projects and the community

arts centers, the Public Life Foundation of Owensboro, developed a series of before and

after images of various features of the town needing improvement (Figure 121).

153

ARTS CENTER GAME The basic format of this process is people working together towards group consensus de-

cisions. The arts center space planning game is a small group activity where participants

make choices, hold positions, and debates them, but the final goal of the game is a plan of

action for the entire group. Participants individually select from the list, four objectives and

by consensus agree to a final list of four (Figure 123). Participants, then, match each ob-

jective with four corresponding activities and their representative symbols. Objective and

activity consensus choices should be entered in the record sheet (Figure 124). When

agreement is reached about the appropriate activities the symbols can be selected and

then fastened to a board (Figure 122) or within the footprint of an existing building. This

exercise can be adapted for use in the planning other facilities, such as senior centers.

Figure 122: Sample layout game board

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Figure 123: Example of objectives and activities lists

155

Figure 124: Record sheet

Figure 125: Activity symbols corresponding to their relative size

156

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Democratic Design: Participation case Studies in Urban & Small Town Environments

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