PROSPECT HARLAN Robin Lambert, with Residents of Harlan, Kentucky
ABOVE: Proposed Re-Use, Modern Electric Building, Harlan, Kentucky, a Prospect Harlan design proposal.
Community. I was lucky to begin my career working in community—lots of communities, mostly small and of low to middle income, of varied racial/ethnic/cultural compositions, often defined externally by what they did not have. Local residents, working to develop the resources of place. taught me why community matters and how to see possibility where others do not. It was in community that I first practiced design thinking at some scale and in community that I observed how design can shape a specific place, its sense of community, its interactions, and its quality of life. Design. I went to design school with the goal of working with communities wishing to re-imagine their futures and the ways they use their local spaces. I had been living in Harlan County as my adopted home for over a decade. I piloted the process I’ve named Prospect in Harlan. Harlan. Like many communities, Harlan is facing tough times and doing it with a mixed legacy of rich cultures and hard histories. I am deeply grateful to the Harlanites who participated in Prospect. Their insistence that life’s good and bad must be taken together, their creative transformation of worn-out stories and conflicts, their inspiring ideas drove the spaces we designed. It had been my intent to continue this work with them. I wish we could have. It would have been a lot of fun.
PROSPECT HARLAN Designing In, With, and For Community
Copyright Š 2013 Robin Lambert. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form without prior written permission of the author. This document was begun as a thesis project at the University of Kentucky. r_lambert@gmx.com
www.issuu.com/robinpatr
linkedin.com/in/robinlambert1
PROSPECT Prospect is an original public engagement and design process intended to enrich the design of place-specific community and public spaces and to strengthen the overall capacity of communities to improve quality of life for everyone. Prospect was piloted in Harlan, Kentucky in 2012-13.
Robin Lambert ii | iii
COMMUNITY. DESIGN. NEED. Communities need spaces that in natural, everyday ways promote the interpersonal connections that make individual life happy and democratic society possible. Yet many processes for designing such spaces fail meaningful engagement, intensify division, and yield generic alienating spaces.
PROSPECT puts community at the core of its process approach to the design of shared spaces. It activates creative expression of participants to imagine new, reclaimed, and diverse forms of community itself, and it inspires place-specific design responses that support vibrant, democratically-conceived community life.
iv | v
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This project was made possible by the many Harlan residents who participated in the Prospect pilot. Special thanks to Deron Major, Loretta Martin, Peggy Major, and Ron Walker whose commitment, insight, and imagination suffuse this effort and inspire me; to Ann Schertz whose friendship and thoughtfulness about community and good work encourage me always; to Helen Turner, who served as my thesis advisor at the launch of this project; and to all the people over the years who have shared your communities and taught me so much. Deep gratitude to you all.
CONTENTS Build Collective Capacity • Discover Deep Community Goals • Design to Place INTRODUCTION
1
PROSPECT PROCESS Development of the Approach History • Need • Response • Process Summary
4 8
PROSPECT PILOT Testing the Model in Harlan, Kentucky About Harlan • Harlan Prospect Story • Site Analysis
14
PROSPECT DESIGN Design Proposals in Response to Prospect Harlan Community Space Public Space
30
APPENDICES Appendix A: Supporting Documents Appendix B: Endnotes and Annotated Research Bibliography
56 58 60
18
34 44
vi | vii
COMMUNITY The interdependent connections among individuals that nourish the uniqueness of each person as a valued part of the whole, offer geniune belonging, expect and share contribution, and bridge difference so that individuals become freer and more themselves and society becomes healthier and more democratic.
TO CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION “Making things was weird at first, but it was fun and helped us have new ideas. • We talked and thought in ways we hadn’t before. • We made each other better.”
Process matters, and good community process is creative, breaks out of rigid logic, and focuses on what people can do to build connections and devise collaborative solutions to difficult challenges. Prospect is first a community process project. Its framework supports communities to imagine and actualize new possibilities for work, play, and relationships—which supports designers to translate community goals into spaces. In this regard, Prospect builds the capacity of communities to act with integrity toward their futures and of designers to design to place. Community. Creativity. Design Thinking. Designer. Prospect leverages the practices of design thinking to reframe problems and generate new responses. It offers a cohesive process to bring together and amplify the potential of community, the creative abilities of participants, and the skills of designers. Design and Democracy. As a public good, design is a democratic concern. Prospect aims—in process and in resultant proposals for community and public space—to strengthen our democratic enterprise.
INTRODUCTION 1
Prospect Process Steps Theory and Rationale What • How • Why • Designer Role CREATE Objects in Response to Meaningful Prompts. Creating helps disrupt habitual thinking, expresses pre-conscious thought, externalizes ideas for exploration, and develops a core skill of innovation. Prospect is rooted in trust in the creative instincts of participants. Outcomes and Designer Role. The act of creating yields unanticipated ideas and unleashes new energy. Designer creates prompts, introduces creativity strategies, gathers supplies, models divergent thinking, and participates by making rapid unpolished responses to prompts. RESPOND To Each Others’ Objects. Participants respond first to what they “see” in objects made by other people, which helps focus attention and listening, builds empathy, and reduces personal attachment to ideas because responses can be more interesting than the maker’s intent. Outcomes and Designer Role. Objects help depersonalize ideas, which frees up interaction, gives rise to new ideas and humor, reveals shared values, diffuses factionalism, and allows sensitive topics to surface. Designer explores emergent ideas that can inform design responses.
TO CONTENTS
CONNECT Ideas and People and REFLECT Together. Participants connect, sift, and reflect on emergent ideas, which builds shared ownership of possibilities and helps those involved to redefine relationships and make meaning together. Outcomes and Designer. Community solidarity begins to coalesce around future directions; designers gain insight into community dynamics and place.
MOVE TO ACTION. A design thinking framework leads to action and equips participants with new skills, common purpose, and an inspired, locally-rooted vision for the future.
CREATE Explore and Play
ITERATE and Deepen
RESPOND Spark Each Other
CONNECT Ideas and People
REFLECT Make Meaning Together MOVE FORWARD To Action
ITERATE With New Prompts. Initial ideas are often improved by further exploration. Iterating expands opportunities to reframe problems and solutions, layers ideas, and identifies important themes. Outcomes and Designer. Residents gain understanding of design practice and outcomes. Designer creates new prompts, tracks ideas, and floats responses.
INTRODUCTION 2 | 3
KEY IDEAS CREATIVITY
Cornerstone of New Possibility
RELATIONSHIPS Happiness and Efficacy
DUAL PURPOSE Grow Community Capacity Enrich Design Outcomes
TO CONTENTS
PROSPECT PROCESS COLLECTIVE CAPACITY + PLACE-SPECIFIC DESIGN Developing a New Approach Prospect builds the collective capacity of communities and designers to co-create happier, more locally-inspired and democratic spaces. Experience. Research. Prospect is born of deep experience in community and is informed by the brain science of design thinking and creativity. Creativity. Connection. The process is grounded in creative expression of participants, who make make object responses to novel prompts, which disrupts old analyses and thought patterns. Participants respond to what they “see” in each others’ objects, connecting and transforming ideas, sharing ownership, and forging common ground and safe space. New. Reclaimed. Options. Relationships. As participants identify new possibilities, old obstructions begin to cede ground to fresh vision and redefined relationships. Conversations about physical space commence after participants have explored experiences they desire, qualities that make their place its own, and values they want to hold moving forward. Principles. Activate creativty. Generate ideas. Build relationships. Explore values and hopes. Re-frame problems and find new solutions. Communities. Designers. Communities grow skill to imagine and enact new opportunities. Designers gain meaningful, place-specific design input.
PROSPECT PROCESS 4 | 5
A NEW APPROACH
PROCESS DEVELOPMENT ROOTED IN DEEP EXPERIENCE IN DIVERSE COMMUNITIES
Because place matters. Because culture counts. Because capacity is dynamic. Because space shapes interaction as well as personal experience.
TO CONTENTS
CALCEDEAVER CAMP HILL COFFEE SPRINGS COLD COURTLAND DOZIER EX FULTON GARDEN CITY GA WATER GREASY GUIN HA LOACHAPOKA LOCKHART MOUNDVILLE MOUNT H NOTASULGA OAKMAN PA PLEASANT HOME RED LE SARDIS CITY SWEET WATE TOWN CREEK WALN
ABBEVILlE AKRON ANNIEMANIE ARLEY ASHVILLE BEATRICE BIG LAUREL BRIDGEPORT BRILLIANT CARBON HILL CEDAR BLUFF COFFEEVILLE SPRINGS COLLINSVILLE COTTONWOOD XCEL FLORALA FRISCO CITY FRIUTDALE YLESVILLE GOSHEN GOODSPRINGS GOOD CKLEBURG HACKNEYVILLE HARLAN IDER MCKENZIE MELLOW VALLEY MILLERVILLE OPE NEWBERN NEW SITE NORTHSIDE ACKERS BEND PARRISH PINE MOUNTAIN VEL REPTON SAMANTHA SAND ROCK R SPRING GARDEN TANNER THOMASTON UT GROVE WATERLOO WICKSBURG PROSPECT PROCESS DEVELOPMENT 6 | 7
COMMUNITY CHALLENGE CYCLE Policies of disinvestment/displacement affect communities burdened by histories of oppression, discrimination, and sanctioned violence.
PROSPECT PROCESS
THE NEED COMMUNITIES
DESIGNERS Many communities need new ways to shape their futures. Designers need meaningful input and agreement from community clients.
HISTORY IN COMMUNITY Non-traditional work in 100+ communities includes arts, health, entrepreneurial, research, and education projects that build on local strengths and to create new opportunities. Previous: Repton, Alabama. Akron; Calcedeaver Incorporation Mtg; Coffeeville festival planning; Pine Mountain quilters; Packer’s Bend distance learning.
TO CONTENTS
VISION Uninspired/ Competing
Challenges Become Mutually Reinforcing
RESOURCES Inadequate/ Inequitable
Vision is compromised by fear, despair, or indifference. Resources harder When As to attract. resources participation are scarce, declines, there competition for is less shared what’s left increases. understanding of People and businesses what people want begin to disinvest. and how to move There is more forward in ways taking, less that benefit Competition, making. all. discouragement, factionalism, and intimidation push some FEAR/ COMPETITION people and groups out; WITHDRAWAL Destructive/ others withdraw.
Escalating
Stifling
PREDICTABLE COMMUNITY PROCESS STRATEGIES AND RESULTS Problem-Centric Frameworks focus on problems or position the community as the problem. Processes tend to misdiagnose issues, encumber ability to identify strength, undervalue existing capacity, and hamstring creative response. Failure to Grow Shared Insight and Goals results when deep groundwork is short-shrifted—or people are simply asked what they want—which often yields external solutions and old ideas, triggers conflicts, and deepens existing divsions.
COMMUNITY CHALLENGE
TYPICAL STRATEGY
INHERENT RISK
FREQUENT AND PREDICTABLE RESULTS
RESOURCES Inadequate/Inequitable
INVEST FUNDS OR SERVICES
Dump design on place. Exclude local input.
Resources are misdirected. Local ability to develop internal resources and external connections is compromised.
COMPETITION Destructive
PRECLUDE / FORCE CHOICES
False Options. Foreclose opportunity.
Pre-set alternatives preclude emergent opportunities and fail to expand relationships and enhance skills.
VISION Uninspiring
VISIONING/SWOT/ CHARETTE ACTIVITIES
Short-circuit imagination. Set up design-by-committee.
Activities happen too soon without support to produce fresh ideas or too late to affect core design ideas.
DISENGAGEMENT Escalating
ENCOURAGE / PROD INVOLVEMENT
Rely on usual suspects. Harden resentments.
Strategies fail to elicit meaningful input across all sectors and reinforce beliefs and realities that some are excluded.
PROSPECT PROCESS DEVELOPMENT 8 | 9
PROSPECT PROCESS VALUES
PROSPECT PROCESS
THE RESPONSE COLLECTIVE CAPACITY
ENRICHED DESIGN Prospect builds collective capacity of designers and communities to create actionable ideas and new spaces rooted in local strengths.
DESIGN THINKING IN COMMUNITY Good community process is creative, breaks out of rigid logic, and focuses on what people can do to build connections and devise collaborative solutions. L to R: Lockhart community-built greenhouse; New Site developmental playground construction; Pine Mountain History Symposium; Student-built solar house.
TO CONTENTS
COMMUNITY Place matters. All places, all communities have strengths. Build on, build up capacity. Enhance relationships. Hope. Celebrate. Dream.
CREATIVITY Everyone is creative. Everyone can be more creative. Extablish a creative context. Use creativity strategies. Make objects DESIGNER and metaphors. Instigate, Generate lots participate, and of ideas. respond. Introduce Have fun. creativity and design Explore. practices. Develop DESIGN Play. prompts and supplies. THINKING Participate. Listen. Model Design thinking catalyzes rapid prototyping. new solutions. Externalize and Float ideas. Ask iterate ideas. Use design practices to questions. Make see possibility. Collaborate. Think in broad great design. ways. Experience the transformation of ideas.
PROSPECT STRATEGIES AND AIMS Focus on Strength and Possibility. Challenging circumstances and traumatic histories can be paralyzing. Therefore, affirm strengths. Acknowledge hard realities and their effects. Move beyond logic to creative expression of deep aspirations. Build Relationships and Capacity to Leverage Ideas. Difficult circumstances and histories can set people at odds. Create contexts that draw out shared values and enable participants to enjoy together the collaborative transformation of ideas.
CHALLENGE INFORMS STRATEGY
COMPONENTS & VALUES
STRATEGY TO ACTIONS
SKILL & CAPACITY OUTCOMES
DESIGN RELEVANCE
RESOURCES CREATE
CREATIVITY Activate Local Creativity.
Get out of your head. Make responses to prompts.
Building blocks of innovation. Fresh ideas. Confidence.
Creative expression reveals deep client aspirations.
BAD COMPETITION CONNECT
DESIGN THINKING Catalyze New Solutions.
See what you have. Elaborate and connect ideas and people.
Collaboration. Empathy. Shared ownership.
Core goals are identified. Conflict is managed.
DISENGAGEMENT RESPOND
COMMUNITY Enrich Local Life.
Make meaning. Together. Transform ideas.
Common ground. Shared values. Clearer goals.
Meaningful insight for place-specific design.
VISION REFLECT & ITERATE
DESIGNER Participate And Respond.
Generate and refine ideas. Meet opportunity.
New ability to deploy/attract resources and act together.
Clients understand design process and proposals.
PROSPECT PROCESS DEVELOPMENT 10 | 11
PROSPECT framework applies design thinking to the challenge of uncovering deep issues and goals when the client is a group.
PRE-DESIGN RESEARCH Identify “right” issues.
DESIGNER
PROSPECT SUMMARY The Why. Simply asking groups about their needs often fails to identify real issues, triggers conflict, and rehashes old ideas.
Get to pre-conscious sense.
Illuminate issues. Imagine possibility. Generate ideas.
THE NEED.
The What. A design thinking approach that engages participants in creative expression to discover hidden issues and fresh options. The How. Participants create objects related to prompts, surfacing new ideas. Then they respond to each other, extending ideas and building vision and skills for innovation.
PROSPECT PILOT HARLAN, KENTUCKY 30+ Participants 8 Gatherings New Insight, Fresh Ideas, Clear Goals 2 Design Proposals
TO CONTENTS
Surface core values | needs.
CREATIVE PROSPECTS
Identify Deep Issues. Grow Capacity.
COMMUNITY
COLLECTIVE CAPACITY Build skills of innovation.
DESIGN THINKING Re-define problems. Connect across ideas. Create new solutions.
Practice collaboration. Grow safe space and insight.
The Prospect Pilot. The Propsect model was developed out of years of experience working with communities to develop the resources of place and to create new opportunities for residents. Prospect was piloted in Harlan, Kentucky. About Harlan. Harlan is a small town located in the mountains of southeastern Kentucky. A precipitous decline in coal mining has wreaked havoc in the region, affecting the entire economy, established ways of life, and local and regional identity. New ways forward are needed.
PROSPECT process builds a group’s capacity to leverage its own creativity, grow its skills, and work together for good outcomes.
THE RESPONSE. CREATE
Prospect Process: A Model.
Prospect design goals are addressed
last and grow out of new group insights.
Engage imagination in unexpected ways to gain insight, make meaning, and move forward.
PROSPECT
RESPOND
Novel prompts: place | issues.
Build on each others’ ideas.
Engage Imagination.
Strengthen Community.
Make objects in response.
Spark new ideas.
Leverage Design Thinking.
Build Collective Capacity.
Move beyond logic to creativity.
Discover shared values.
REFLECT
CONNECT
Illuminate insight.
Query emergent ideas.
Make meaning together.
Strengthen relationships.
Sift ideas and keep going.
Notice unexpected links.
ITERATE
Prepare to Innovate.
THE OUTCOMES.
Prospect Design.
Clarity on Core Goals. New Paths Forward.
Create with new prompts, sift ideas, move to action.
In the Prospect model, the design team prompts participants, who make rapid object responses, share what they see in each others’ objects, connect ideas, and reflect on what it all means. Participant Responses. Harlan participants created many interesting objects. Interactions about objects expressed fresh ideas, deeplyheld hopes, and strategies for the future. Fishing Line: “We’re making our own ideas.”
CREATE Explore and Play
PROSPECT Process Steps
RESPOND Spark Each Other
ITERATE and Deepen
CONNECT Ideas and People REFLECT Make Meaning Together MOVE FORWARD To Action
PROSPECT PROCESS DEVELOPMENT 12 | 13
KEY IDEAS PLACE
A Spot on Earth
VALUES & HOPES Deep Concerns
POSSIBILITY Options and Meanings
TO CONTENTS
PROSPECT PILOT TESTING THE MODEL Harlan, Kentucky Some 30 residents of Harlan participated in interviews or in the Prospect process, which included eight gatherings over several months. Know Where You Are. Community-oriented design respects specificity of place and its residents. Harlan is rich in culture and natural beauty and has been dogged by histories of violence and poverty. Precipitous declines in the coal-related economy has forced a crisis situation. Getting Started. The first gathering introduced the process, prompts, and creativity strategies, which people were invited to try if they felt blocked. Initially some participants were hesitant. But soon everyone joined in, enjoying the surprises piling up on the tables and the insightful, funny observations and conversations generated in response. Surprises and Insights. The creation of objects helped depersonalize sensitive issues and enabled participants to craft space for exploring difficult topics. Participants spontaneously applied creativity strategies to tense or stuck conversations with positive inspiring results. Outcomes and Goals. The process surfaced deep values and shared hopes that, in turn, guided design proposals. “We found out we wanted a lot of the same things,” and “Together we made ideas better.” Participants named “Places and activities that bring people together in real conversations,” as their primary goal.
PILOT 14 1 15
PROSPECT PILOT
DOWNTOWN HARLAN 30+ PARTICIPANTS TEST THE APPROACH
America’s most famous rural county. A national treasure. A beautiful setting. Facing an uncertain future.
TO CONTENTS
PROSPECT PILOT 16 | 17
NATURAL AND CULTURAL RESOURCES Harlan County is located at the headwaters of the Cumberland River in the mountains of southeast Kentucky. It is framed by Black and Pine Mountains, the state’s highest peak and longest ridge. The County is home to two state parks; Blanton Forest, one of the largest old growth forests in the eastern U.S.; Pine Mountain Settlement School; Portal 31 Mine Museum; Little Shepherd Trail; and numerous ATV and horse trails.
HARLAN
NOTORIETY. DEMOGRAPHICS.
PROSPECT PILOT
ABOUT HARLAN POPULATION, 2012 Harlan: 1,754 • Harlan County: 24,575 ECONOMICS
Harlan Co.
Per Capita Income: $15,224 Retail Sales: $ 6,793 Median Housing: $53,500
U.S. $ 27,334 $ 12,990 $188,400
DOWNTOWN HARLAN A Mountain Jewel
Harlan’s lovely setting, walkable streets, and beautiful buildings are core assets. L to R: Harlan Water Works sign; Morning mist on the mountains; Main Street; Poke Sallet Festival; Kentucky Mine Supply and Harlan Depot
TO CONTENTS
As the most famous of America’s rural counties, Harlan has been immortalized in the the Darrel Scott/Brad Paisley country hit, You’ll Never Leave Harlan Alive; the Academy Award documentary Harlan County U.S. A.; the folk and labor anthems Shady Grove and Which Side Are You On; Malcom Gladwell’s Outliers; the award-winning FX series Justified; and numerous academic and art works. In the 2012 U.S. Census, Harlan County lagged the state and nation in all economic indicators. Per capita income and retail sales were about half the national average, and housing values less than one-third.
COAL
It is impossible to understand Harlan County without knowing something about the history of coal—the county’s core economy for a century. Although coal employment fell after hitting a peak in the 1940s, coal remained king.
THE BIG STORY
As late as 2009, coal mining remained the primary form of local employment, accounting for 47% of all wage income in the county and supporting retail, education, and health care jobs.1
In 2009 coal mining was 47% of all wage income.
47%
ECONOMIC CRISIS. In 2012, oil and gas prices fell by nearly 50%, dramatically decreasing global demand for coal. U.S. clean air provisions reduced demand further. Most mining jobs were eliminated and the county, which was already struggling, found itself in the throes of an economic and identity crisis.
POPULATION TRENDS AND COAL PRODUCTION, HARLAN COUNTY
POPULATION
50,000 40,000
10,000
POP. YEAR
11
9 7
Mechanization increased production using fewer workers.
30,000 20,000
13
At the height of coal employment, Harlan was Kentucky’s third largest county.
60,000
Mines open 1912. 10,600 1910
31,500 1920
In the 1930s, Harlan was considered the most violent coalfield in the U.S. 64,600 1930
75,300 1940
71,800 1950
51,100 1960
5
Rising oil prices triggered a coal boom in the 1970s and 80s along with a slight rise in jobs. 37,400 1970
41,900 1980
36,600 1990
33,200 2000
29,300 2010
3 1
TONS COAL IN MILLIONS
15
70,000
0
PROSPECT PILOT 18 | 19
SOCIO – SPATIAL FACTORS
HARLAN
PROSPECT PILOT
SPATIAL ANALYSIS HARLAN A PLACE IN THE WORLD Three creeks. One river. Two defining hills. Kentucky’s highest mountains. One beautiful place.
DOWNTOWN HARLAN Physical and Social Geography
The landscape of Harlan shapes where people live, exposure to flooding, and access to natural light at home.
TO CONTENTS
HILLS • SUNLIGHT • LONG VIEWS Why It Matters: Quality of Life. Mountains block sunlight most of the day to many Harlan homes. Mountains also block long views. Access to daylight and visual spaciousness are local quality of life issues.
HISTORIC GEORGETOWN Why It Matters: Culture, Economy, Displacement. The destruction of Georgetown, Harlan’s historic AfricanAmerican neighborhood, to build a floodwall displaced people and disrupted local cultures and economies.
FLOOD CONTROL • BYPASS • DE-VITALIZATION Why It Matters: Interaction, Opportunity. The Martin’s Fork floodwall and Clover Fork diversion reduced some flooding but weakened the town’s edges. U.S. 421 Bypass directs car, foot, and business traffic out of downtown.
HARLAN: Deep in the Mountains
PINE MOUNTAIN RIDGE
BLACK MOUNTAIN RANGE
CUMBERLAND RIVER
CLOVER FORK DIVERSION UNDER IVY HILL
POOR FORK
FLOOD WALL
IVY
INSET
HARLAN CITY PLAN HIL
CLOVER FORK
L
HARLAN K-12 SCHOOLS
HISTORIC GEORGETOWN
BOYS & GIRLS CLUB FOOTBRIDGE
MARTIN’S FORK
INSET
HWY 38
HWY 421/ HARLAN BYPASS
MAIN STREET
COURTHOUSE SQUARE
LEY
BAI
L
HIL
A footbridge across Hwy 38 provides access to downtown.
N google earth 1
KEY:
COMMERCIAL/ RESIDENTIAL
PRIMARILY RESIDENTIAL
PUBLIC/ GOVERNMENT
FORMER INDUSTRIAL
HARLAN K-12 SCHOOLS
Physical Characteristics. Harlan is situated in a small valley where the Clover Fork (now diverted under Ivy Hill) meets Martin’s Fork. The Poor Fork joins Martin’s Fork just to the north to form the Cumberland River. The town is framed by Bailey and Ivy Hills to the south and north. Pine Mountain sits to the northwest and Black Mountain rises to the east.
PROSPECT PILOT 20 | 21
PROSPECT GATHERINGS
PROSPECT PILOT
MAKE. THEN TALK. Process Implementation
MAKING Fresh Ideas and Strategies
Making augments language and helps express and externalize pre-conscious ideas. Objects elicit responses that amplify the initial idea and suggest action strategies.
TO CONTENTS
ACTIVATING CREATIVE THOUGHT
The creative act of making helps release the grip of old ways of thinking and opens the mind to new possibilities.
NOT A CHARETTE. AND NOT A SWOT.
Unlike a charette that focuses primarily on design specifics or a SWOT, which relies on logical analysis, Prospect begins by using the community’s own creativity to explore deep hopes, discover shared aspirations, and generate new ideas for action and design.
PROCESS INPUTS Prompts • Materials • Creativity Strategies • Facilitation • Participation • Cultural Competencies Designer preparation and participation included development of process framework, research, photo essay of downtown, interviews with residents, development of prompts and creative strategies, materials, experience in diverse cultural settings.
PROSPECT PILOT 22 | 23
HARLAN STORY, PART 1
CREATIVITY :: COMMUNITY Prompts, Objects, Responses
The process involved five prompts to which participants made object responses that they talked about together.
PROSPECT PILOT
PROMPT 1: WHAT MAKES HARLAN HARLAN?
CREATE TOGETHER
Prompt 1 helps identify essences of place, uncovers shared perceptions, expresses varied identities, and evokes deep memory.
Claiming Strength Duct Tape: “We have a huge tough heart.
Wadded Trace: “It makes me think of the morning mist.”
Initially, responses to Prompt 1 objects had a measured neutral tone. But participants soon began to explore serious concerns, questions, values, and longings.
PROCESS STEPS Deep Values and Hopes
Design team prompts participants, who make rapid object responses, share what they see in each others’ objects, connect ideas, and reflect together on what it all means.
TO CONTENTS
CREATE Explore and Play
RESPOND Spark Each Other
ITERATE and Deepen
PROSPECT
A Design Thinking Process
CONNECT Ideas and People REFLECT Make Meaning Together MOVE FORWARD To Action
Response to a drawing affirmed local value on kinship—and expressed desire for broader social interaction, which became a recurring theme. Drawing: “ ‘Family is important here,’ and ‘But is family enough for everyone?’ ”
PROMPT 2: WHAT MUST WE PROTECT? WHAT CAN WE LET GO?
Prompt 2 was meant to identify essential aspects of place. But it was heard as: “What is wrong with Harlan?” and generated serious pushback.
Drawing of a family
“THE BAD WITH THE GOOD”
The group strongly objected to any suggestion of talking about problems in Harlan. They countered: “You have to take the bad with the good,” and insisted on focusing only on positives.
Fishing Lure and Zipline
PROMPT 3: THINGS THAT WORK BECAUSE OF WEIGHT?
Prompt 3 responded to the group’s Prompt 2 reaction. The emphasis on weight as useful leverage re-directed energy and made it possible to acknowledge but not be bound by difficult history and circumstances.
SURPRISES AND INSIGHTS Spontaneous Outcomes
“A zipline works on your weight.” “We’re not fishing for ideas, we’re making our own.”
Collaboration and Safe Space. Interaction around objects built shared “ownership,” of solutions, improved on ideas, depersonalized conversations, and allowed for locally “risky” topics to emerge naturally.
Hard Histories. Deep Strength. Real Possibilities. Communities are often defined by and blamed for problems resulting from public policies of exploitation or neglect. Harlan participants strongly resisted being identified by perceived negatives. Yet the legacy of difficult history and circumstance is unavoidable, requiring sensitive acknowledgement and real hope.
PROSPECT PILOT 24 | 25
HARLAN STORY, PART 2 COMMUNITY :: DESIGN Moving to Goals
Although participants had affirmed local strength and insisted on a positive focus, the conversation veered into a “stuck” story of why things would not improve.
PROSPECT PILOT
NEW POSSIBILITY Leveraging Collective Capacity
NEW USES OF CREATIVITY
After ruminating on problems, someone proposed applying creativity to the stuck story itself. Soon the group was bubbling with new ideas and excitement.
Harlan’s Restaurant Dilemma. Energized by re-framing a tired Harlan story, participants came up with an idea for locally-shared food kiosks to support microenterprise, draw more people downtown, and enable residents to eat “out” together. Paper Bag Food Kiosk: “You can buy food or bring your own.”
CREATIVE RELATIONSHIPS New Ways to Know and Relate to Each Other
Participants respond to the ideas expressed in each others’ objects, which amplifies ideas, and builds shared ownership new insight into common values and hopes.
TO CONTENTS
“We want to help lead this in the County.” Ronnie Walker, Prospect Harlan participant
“It’s new, not the same old, same-old. • “Making things was fun and helped us have new ideas.” • “Other people saw things we hadn’t seen in our own objects.” • “It got us on the same page about what we really want.” Participants, Prospect Harlan
PROMPT 4: WHAT DO WE WANT MORE OF THAT IS FREE?
Prompt 4 builds on ideas and values that have surfaced in response to prior prompts and focuses on the experiences and relationships people want. It also underscores community capacity to do for itself and begins to frame space goals around desired experiences and opportunities.
“Bloody Harlan” Blood — Needed Rich Life Connects all Mystery True Old Bankable
“BLOODY HARLAN” CREATIVE FLIP
When a group conversation turned to the locally controversial topic of whether Harlan should exploit its moniker “Bloody Harlan,” a participant applied a creativity strategy to interpret blood’s positive qualities. The shift became a defining moment. galvanizing participants, and giving conceptual shape to design responses.
PROMPT 5: WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED ABOUT THE SPACES WE WANT?
Prompt 5 addresses space needs—but only after participants have exercised their own creativity, generated ideas, practiced design thinking, and collaborated to discover together what they value most about their place and its future.
GOALS: PROSPECT HARLAN
HARLAN PRIMARY GOAL: BRING PEOPLE TOGETHER Places and activities that encourage real conversations • Signal new directions • Places “to go” • Inviting to all • Buy or bring your own food • Help each other make money • Local arts and culture • Outdoor activities in town • Child-friendly but for adults • Shows pride in Harlan County
PROSPECT PILOT 26 | 27
GOALS AND PRINCIPLES PROSPECT HARLAN DESIGN GOALS
PROSPECT PILOT
SITE SELECTION Design for Community
:: Inviting spaces that attract interaction. :: Comfortable places for real conversations. :: Signal pride in Harlan and new directions. :: Support community arts and performance. :: Help each other make money.
PRINCIPLES FOR DEMOCRATIC PLACES :: Strong animated central areas. :: Functional links across parts of town. :: Welcoming, versatile, accessible public spaces. :: Supportive of the practices of community. :: Create shared stake in the common good.
ANALYSIS & CRITERIA Community and Democratic Purposes
Walkable and Car Accessible Draw Users From All Parts of Town Able to Invigorate Surrounding Areas Potential to Serve Community Purposes For Sale
TO CONTENTS
SITE SELECTION Both downtown sites were selected for their potential to meet community purposes. The Modern Electric Building is vacant and at-risk. Its loss would be catastrophic—which creates an urgent need for giving it a useful economic purpose. The Vacant Lot, on a flat sunny piece of prime downtown real estate, had once been a used car lot.
LL
VY
I
A
HI
LL
E
IL
G
D
I BR
B
EY
T O
BA
FO
HI
GREATER DOWNTOWN RESIDENTIAL MIXED PUBLIC
COURTHOUSE SQUARE
INDUSTRIAL
N google earth 2
SCHOOLS
A Modern Electric Building This former depar tment store, located on the Cour thouse Square, is essential to a thriving downtown. B Vacant Lot This former car lot, adjacent to the Cour thouse Square is near the footbridge and schools.
LE —
LE —
—
SA FOR
—
SA FOR
* BOTH PROPERTIES WERE FOR SALE AT THE TIME PROSPECT DESIGN PROPOSALS WERE CREATED.
PROSPECT PILOT 28 | 29
KEY IDEAS LOCAL GOALS Support and Extend
QUALITY OF LIFE Enhance Life for Everyone
INTERACTION Democratic Foundations
TO CONTENTS
PROSPECT DESIGN COMMUNITY AND PUBLIC SPACES Design in Response to Prospect Harlan Design proposals reflect goals and concepts framed by Prospect participants and address core functions of community and public space.
COMMUNITY SPACE Modern Electric Building
Community Space, owned privately or in public-private partnership, enhances the social, cultural, and economic life of place by creating a welcoming sense of connection across user groups. The Modern Electric proposal focuses on achievability and immediate impact by using available resources to affirm local capacity and offer an economy for the building. The design signals new directions with an easy welcoming aesthetic and flexible spaces for social and cultural activities.
PUBLIC SPACE Vacant Lot
Public Space, owned by everyone, serves broad civic purposes, enlivens surrounding areas, enhances quality of life, and creates shared stake in the common good when it offers enticing and adaptable destinations. The Vacant Lot proposal is aspirational revealing an overlooked downtown asset. The design accentuates these assets and incorporates symbolic references to Harlan’s history and future. It aims to inspire hope and united action as the community discovers and rebuilds its prospects.
DESIGN 30 1 31
COMMUNITY SPACE SOCIAL • CULTURAL • ECONOMIC
Modern Electric Building, Harlan, Kentucky This 1920s-era Italianate building has three floors (~ 4,500 sq ft each), a largely gutted interior, and a working elevator. Exterior has unfortunate window replacements, but other architectural detail is intact. Inspiration: The Prospect idea for food kiosks to make it easier for people to eat out together and “buy or bring their own food.”
Clockwise: Modern Electric from Courthouse Square; Detail; Entry
TO CONTENTS
PUBLIC SPACE
QUALITY OF LIFE • COMMON GOOD
Vacant Former Car Lot, Harlan, Kentucky This former car lot sits on a small bluff above the Clover Fork creek bed. Centrally located in Harlan, it has three assets rare in the County: a long perspective view, an open southern exposure, and a flat expanse. Inspiration: The creative flip of the county’s moniker, “Bloody Harlan” from violence and strife to connection and life.
Clockwise: Southeast from Courthouse; From Below Bluff; Down Clover Street
PROSPECT DESIGN 32 | 33
grit crossroads
MODERN ELECTRIC BUILDING COURTHOUSE SQUARE
A beautiful building. An anchor for vitalizing the center of town. A potential draw for tourists and residents. At risk.
TO CONTENTS
PROSPECT DESIGN: COMMUNITY SPACE 34 | 35
grit crossroads
COMMUNITY & DESIGN
MODERN ELECTRIC BUILDING GOALS Achievability • Inviting Aesthetic • Social and Cultural Activity CONDITIONS Wood Floors • Working HVAC • Needs Plumbing and Electrical Repairs ISSUES Economy • Mood/Ambience • Interaction • Flexibility
TO CONTENTS
MAIN: Current Conditions. ABOVE: Modern Electric entry on Central Street.
PROSPECT DESIGN: COMMUNITY SPACE 36 | 37
grit crossroads
grit crossroads
TO CONTENTS
PROSPECT DESIGN: COMMUNITY SPACE 38 | 39
GRIT grit CROSSROADS crossroads
PROSPECT DESIGN Achievable Appeal An inviting unvarnished aesthetic reflects Harlan’s grit and character. Kiosks expand food options. GOALS “WE CAN DO THIS!” SOCIAL & CULTURAL ACTIVITIES PLACES TO EAT TOGETHER
1
2
PLAN DESCRIPTION Emphasizes achievability with available resources and flexibility for multiple uses.
8
10
7 11
9
3
RESTROOMS/KITCHEN
1 SIDE ENTRY
5
3
ELV.
Coffee Lounge 1 at front windows with comfortable seating, tables, and books.
4
PLAN
TO CONTENTS
NICHE
6
2 3 4 5 6
CAFE FOOD KIOSK QUIET SEATING “LIVING ROOM” COFFEE LOUNGE
7 MAIN ENTRY 8 DISPLAY WALL 9 INDUSTRIAL TABLES/STOOLS 10 TABLES/CHAIRS 11 GATHERING
“LIVING ROOM” AREA SHELTERED SEATING NICHE COFFEE LOUNGE [OUT OF PICTURE]
FOOD & BEVERAGE KIOSK COMMERICAL KITCHEN & RESTROOMS COUNTER HEIGHT WORK TABLES & STOOLS FOR GROUP WORK/STUDY
FOOD & BEVERAGE KIOSK ELEVATOR TO 2ND & 3RD FLOORS RE-USED LOCAL FURNISHINGS, INDUSTRIAL & COMMERCIAL
CAFE TABLES & CHAIRS
COMMERCIAL TABLES/ CHAIRS SIDE ENTRY AT CENTRAL STREET
LOCAL ART DISPLAY WALL & WINDOWS
SOCIAL, DINING, & INDIVIDUAL WORK SPACES
PROSPECT DESIGN: COMMUNITY SPACE 40 | 41
grit crossroads
PROSPECT DESIGN Versatility.Variety. Multi-purpose moveable furnishings and programmable lighting provide flexibility for varied activities and experiences. PERFORMANCES COFFEE HOUSE GROUP ACTIVITY SPACE
1
STAGE
2
Food Kiosks can be open at night for events like performances, coffee houses, readings, group meetings, and parties.
PLAN DESCRIPTION Flexible lighting and furniture make possible very different activities and experiences.
8 7
4 3 5
ELV.
3 RESTROOMS/KITCHEN
PLAN
TO CONTENTS
6
1 SIDE ENTRY
2 CAFE DINING 3 FOOD KIOSK 4 AUDIENCE
5 6 7 8
STANDING SIDE SEATING GATHERING DISPLAY
FLEXIBLE SEATING GROUPED EASY ACCESS SEATING KIOSKS OPEN FOR SPECIAL EVENTS
STANDING SPACE FOR MINGLING OPEN CENTER SPACE FOR DANCING COMMERCIAL COUCHES OFFER STURDY INVITING SEATING
SOFAS REARRANGED FOR VIEWING COMMERCIAL SEATING/ TABLES STURDY COFFEE TABLES DOUBLE AS BENCH SEATING
CAFE STYLE TABLES/ CHAIRS FRONT ENTRY AT FIRST STREET
WINDOWS SHOWCASE ACTIVITY
COFFEE LOUNGE IS IDEAL FOR SMALL GROUPS
PROSPECT DESIGN: COMMUNITY SPACE 42 | 43
PUBLIC SPACE DOWNTOWN VACANT LOT COURTHOUSE SQUARE
A flat space. A long view. A southern exposure. In close mountains, that’s gold.
TO CONTENTS
PROSPECT DESIGN: PUBLIC SPACE 44 | 45
COMMUNITY & DESIGN
DOWNTOWN VACANT LOT GOALS Aspiration • Showcase Harlan’s Beauty • Adult-Oriented & Child-Friendly CONDITIONS Southern Exposure • Prospective view • Flat Open Expanse ISSUES Image • Comfort • Interaction • Territory-Group/Individual
HARLAN DOWNTOWN PARK
TO CONTENTS
PROSPECT DESIGN: PUBLIC SPACE 46 | 47
HARLAN DOWNTOWN PARK
TO CONTENTS
PROSPECT DESIGN: PUBLIC SPACE 48 | 49
“THE GOOD WITH THE BAD” BLOODY HARLAN Hard History:Violence. Harlan was dubbed “bloody” in the 1930s when organizing efforts of starving miners were violently squelched. The moniker stuck and was applied to subsequent “mine wars” and family conflicts. Mining. Even in peaceful times, mining is difficult and dangerous. Roof falls, explosions, and black lung claim lives, as do “kettlebottoms,” mineral deposits encased in coal that crash dangerously when mining breaks coal seams.
KETTLEBOTTOMS— beautiful and dangerous ovoid mineral deposits found in coal seams— flank the park entrance.
PARK ENTRY Clear Sight Lines, Easy Paths, Open Lawn The use of kettlebottoms acknowledges the co-existence of beauty and danger, life and death—the good with the bad. TO CONTENTS
1 6 2
5 A B 9
4 9F
C 9 D 9 3
9E
PARK OVERLOOK Sunny Getaways
SYMBOLISM 1 2 3 4 5 6
Kettlebottoms define entry and rock gardens. The undulating Arbor Cafe echoes Black Mountain Paths mimic the county’s three watersheds. Linearity reflects the Pine Mountain ridge. Focal Wall: Nature and Industry in Harlan County. Horizontal Circular Swings emerge like water.
PHYSICAL FEATURES A B 9 C 9 D 9 9E 9F
Easy paths for residents with mobility challenges. A spacious flat lawn is a rare local luxury. Construction with retired mine structures. Gardens for herbs, flowers, and vegetables. Multiple destinations, sheltered and open. Modular stage disassembles for varied activities. PROSPECT DESIGN: PUBLIC SPACE 50 | 51
HARLAN DOWNTOWN PARK
IN PERSPECTIVE. CONNECTING ALL. The painful realities of Harlan’s history are transformed in the park’s structure and symbols. Perspective views take in all parts of town, and paths like circulating blood—and the county’s sometimes troubled waterways—connect all. Inspired by Prospect “Bloody Harlan” creative insight.
“Bloody Harlan” Blood — Needed Rich Life Connects all Mystery True Old Bankable
Another Kind of Place-Specific Design Shelter. Some people find openness uncomfortable. The park offers a variety of sheltered places to sit, gather, or work while enjoying the sun and the views. Destinations. Varied attractive destinations are a key feature of highquality public space. Such places are especially important for people whose personal space could use more comfort, privacy, or beauty.
TO CONTENTS
Nature and Industry. Harlan’s twin— sometimes competing— identities are expressed in the park’s focal wall.
PROSPECT DESIGN: PUBLIC SPACE 52 | 53
Conversation and Perspective. Showcasing assets that have been present all along.
The psychological value of a long perspective. Freedom and imagination in the here and the there. The beauty of our place; its connection to yours. The long arc of history, the wide arc of earth. The right spot: what a place wants to be.
TO CONTENTS
HARLAN DOWNTOWN PARK
PROSPECT DESIGN: PUBLIC SPACE 54 | 55
TO CONTENTS
PROSPECT APPENDICES Supportng Documents Endnotes & Partially Annotated Bibliography
APPENDICES 56 1 57
NOTES 1. Kentucky Department of Energy. Kentucky Coal Facts, 11th Edition Pocket Guide. http://energy.ky.gov/Coal%20Facts%20Library/ Kentucky%20Coal%20 2. Google Earth, (4-12-2013). 3. Ibid.
ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY Aaronson, Deborah (for Architecture for Humanity). Design Like You Give a Damn [2]: Building Change from the Ground Up. NY: Abrams, 2012. AIA Latrobe Prize Presentation, 2011: “FR217 Public Interest Practices in Architecture: 2011 Latrobe Prize Presentation,” 2011. Accessed October 12, 2012 at http://www.aia.org/searchresults/index.htm?Ntt =public+interest&Nty=1&Ntx=mode%2Bmatchallpartial&Ntk=Ma in_Search. “Building for Social Change,” Architectural Record, March 2012, multiple authors. Summary: The entire issue is devoted “social change” projects, which are broadly defined and include re-building plans for areas affected by natural disasters, including Tuscaloosa and Joplin, as well as housing, playgrounds, agricultural buildings, and other buildings. Architecture for Humanity. Accessed October 12, 2012, http:// architectureforhumanity.org/. Summary: A nonprofit design firm, established in 1991. Coordinates 50,000 professional volunteers. Predates the 2005 Harvard Conference that launched the Public Interest Architecture movement. Works with a range of non-profits. Sponsors Open Architecture Network (www. openarchitecturenetwork.org), which offers open source plans, drawings, CAD files and other tools for collaboration and remove project management. Has 73 chapters in 25 countries. Association for Community Design. Accessed October 10, 2012, http:// www.communitydesign.org/. Summary: Established in 1977, works to “Identify and solve social, economic, and political problems, as they relate to the built environment… Helps to establish partnerships with community residents and institutions.” Membership includes firms, non-profits, foundations, and university-based community design centers.
TO CONTENTS
Barton, Craig E., ed. Sites of Memory: Perspectives on Architecture and Race. NY: Princeton Architectural Press, 2001. Summary: This collection of essays explores “the capacity of the built environment to serve as a repository of our collective and individual cultural history and memory,” (p. xv) and explores the built environments of several cities, college campuses, and other quasi-public spaces as expressions culture, law, oppression, and history and the multiple memories embodied therein. Helpful in exploring the multiplicity of meanings embedded in the built environment. Bell, Bryan, ed. Good Deeds, Good Design. New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2004. Summary: Seems to be the most influential current book on public-interest architecture. Includes chapters by many leaders in the public-interest architecture movement as well as chapters by students and fellowship recipients in Rural Studio and Design Corps describing their work in communities. It includes a section, “Building With Community,” that describes several approaches to architecture that engage users not typically served directly by architects. Block, Peter. Community: The Structure of Belonging. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc., 2009. Summary: This book provides insights into community transformation and frames community, first, as conversation. The book compiles insights of previous researchers, describes “stuck” communities, critiques many common “community change” strategies (processes should support emergent approaches rather than predetermined ends), and offers a framework of conversations that can help restore relationships and create new opportunities. Chapter 14, “Designing Physical Space that Supports Community,” includes includes a description of a process that has worked to help communities re-imagine the future of their physical spaces. Caicco, Gregory, ed. Architecture, Ethics and the Personhood of Place. Lebanon, NH: University Press of New England, 2007. Cary, John, and Courtney E. Martin, “Dignifying Design,” New York Times Sunday Review, October 6, 2912. Accessed October 11, 2012, http:// www.nytimes.com/2012/10/07/opinion/sunday/dignifying-design. html?_r=0. Accompanying Slide Show, http://www.nytimes.com/ slideshow/2012/10/07/opinion/sunday/20121007_DESIGN.html. Summary: Describes the building of Butaro Hospital in Rwanda, beginning in 2006, by recent architecture graduates and the subsequent influence of the project and the architects on the development of the emerging field of “public-interest architecture.” Carson, Shelley. Your Creative Brain: Seven Steps to Maximize Imagination, Productivity, and Innovation in Your Life. Boston, MA: Harvard Health Publications, 2010.
Summary: Carson provides explanations of current brain science to explain creative processes, offers updated interpretations of classic theories of creativity, and presents techniques for activating brain processes used in creative thought. Co-Intelligence Institute. Accessed September 20, 2012, http://cointelligence.org. Comerio, Mary C. “Community Design: Idealism and Entrepreneurship,” Journal of Architecture + Planning Research 1 (1984): 227-243. Accessed at the website of the Association for Community Design, October 10, 2012, http://www.scribd.com/doc/80049731/ComerioCommunity-Design-r Community Development Society. Accessed September 15, 2012, http:// www.comm-dev.org/. Summary: A non-profit organization that “provides leadership to professionals and citizens across the spectrum of community development.” Multi-disciplinary. Cross, Nigel. Design Thinking. NY: Berg, 2011. Summary: Defines and provides multiple examples of design strategies and thinking. Emphasizes importance of iteration, externalization, tolerance for ambiguity, persistence, and possibilities of collaborative design processes to depersonalize and help resolve conflicts. Deakin, Mark, and Sam Allwinkle. “Urban Regeneration and Sustainable Communities: The Role of Networks, Innovation, and Creativity in Building Successful Partnerships,” Journal of Urban Technology 14 (June 2007): 77-91. Summary: Case studies of neighborhoods in Edinburgh, Soctland and Birmingham, England suggest that urban development is most successful when it is “place-based” and authentically involves residents in the development of communities and neighborhoods “as part of an ongoing search for ecological integrity and equity.” The authors argue that successful development should build social capital. Design Corps. Accessed October 12, 2012, http://www.designcorps.org/. Summary: Founded by Bryan Bell in 1991, Design Corps “brings skills of recent architecture and planning graduates to communities in need” through a fellowship program. Primarily serves small, low-income, rural communities. Cosponsor of SEED awards/Structures for Inclusion conferences. Enterprise Rose Architectural Fellowship. Accessed October 12, 2012, http://www.enter prisecommunity.com/solutions-and-innovation/designleadership/rose-architectural-fellowship. Summary: Three-year fellowships for young architects to work on affordable housing and community development. One of the few organizations providing fellowship support for public-interest and community development projects.
Florida, Richard. The Rise of the Creative Class. New York: Basic Books, 2002. Summary: This influential book asserts that cities thrive, and attract creative young professionals, when they offer many cultural and lifestyle amenities. Describes a cycle of conditions in which creative young people move into lowrent neighborhoods and vitalize them with cultural activities, businesses, and social amenities. Cities can support creative endeavors as a development/re-development strategy. Ho, Denny K. L., and Yanki C. Lee. “The Quality of Design Participation: Intersubjectivity in Design Practice,” International Journal of Design 6:1 (2012): 71-83. Summary: Explores the impact of designer attitudes toward client, using Buber’s I-Thou frame. Finds that designs are less successful when designers define clients primarily by their need or disability. Some student design groups responded well to empathy interventions and created more successful designs. Suggests that empathy rather than pity produces better design solutions. Hussain, Sofia, Elizabeth B. N. Sanders, and Martin Steinert. “Participatory Design with Marginalized People in Developing Countries: Challenges and Opportunities Experienced in a Field Study in Cambodia,” International Journal of Design 6:2 (2012): 91-109. Summary: This paper addresses difficulties and successes of a design team working to develop better prosthetic legs for rural Cambodian children. It defines typical Western “participatory design” and assumed preconditions. Researchers identified four barriers to participatory design process and offer analysis of how Western participatory processes may need to be adapted in diverse cultural settings. The paper emphasizes the need for designers to develop a deep understanding of user cultures and circumstances. The paper finds that providing some education and direct experience in design and creativity processes supports participants to more fully express their ideas and can be an important empowerment mechanism. Interesting appendices explore the design contributions of various participant groups. IDEO.org. Accessed October 13, 2012, https://www.ideo.org/. Summary: The 2012 non-profit spinoff of IDEO. com. “Our mission to bring human-centered design to the people who need it most – those facing poverty everyday.” Partners with non-profits, foundations, and other organizations. Human Centered Design Toolkit, is available for download. Kentucky Department of Energy.
APPENDIX B: BIBLIOGRAPHY 60 | 61
BIBLIOGRAPHY, continued Kentucky Coal Facts, 11th Edition - Pocket Guide. http://energy.ky.gov/ Coal%20Facts%20Library/Kentucky%20Coal%20Facts%20-%2011th%20 Edition%20(2009-2010).pdf LeBarre, Suzanne. “Life After Sambo,” Metropolis, July 22, 2009. Accessed October 11, 2012, http://www.metropolismag.com/story/20090722/ life-after-sambo Summary: Describes the leadership style of Andrew Freear, who took over as Director of Auburn’s Rural Studio, after Samuel Mockbee died. Describes the shift of the Studio’s work toward architecture that is practical and maintainable for owners. Acknowledges some of the issues with earlier Rural Studio projects (poverty tourism, maintenance). Speaks to the Studio’s attempts to design a $20K house, which will be replicable and less visually iconic that early Rural Studio houses. Liu, Eric and Scott Noppe-Brandon. Imagination First: Unlocking the Power of Possibility. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2009. Listening Project, Southern Rural Voice for Peace, accessed October 12, 2012, http://www.listeningproject.info/. London, Scott. “The New Science of Leadership: An Interview with Margaret Wheatley.” On the website of Scott London and based on an interview on Insight & Outlook, a National Public Radio program hosted by London (undated). Accessed September 15, 2012, http:// www.scottlondon.com/interviews/wheatley.html. Summary: Wheatley, a management consultant who studies organizational behavior from a variety of perspectives, including quantum physics and chaos theory, is referenced in organizational transformation literature and practice. She emphasizes relatedness, process, the innate desire of humans to act creatively rather than follow direction, and, therefore, a need to “de-engineer” our thinking and organizations. Michalko, Michael. Thinkertoys, 2nd ed. NY: Ten Speed Press, 2006. Oppenheimer Dean, Andrea and Timothy Hursley. Rural Studio: Samuel Mockbee and an Architecture of Decency. New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2002. Planners Network, The Organization of Progressive Planning. Accessed October 12, 2012, http://www.plannersnetwork.org/index.html. Summary: An association of professionals, activists, academics, and students involved in physical, social, economic, and environmental planning in urban and rural areas, who promote fundamental change in our political and economic systems.” Publish Progressive Planning magazine. TO CONTENTS
Pollack, Stephanie. “Reflections on Community Process in the MultiLayered Communities of a Major Urban Development Project.” Boston College Environmental Affairs Law Review. 32 (2005): 347-354. Summary: This paper applies a community process analysis to Boston’s “Big Dig” project. Deconstructs the phrase “community process.” A successful process is transparent, offers comprehensible outcomes, identifies the decisionmakers, defines the series of actions that will be taken, engages stakeholders in all communities, and ensures that participants can influence the outcomes and/or the implementation. Defines three types of communities: geographic communities, affinity, and expertise. Community process is described along a spectrum from communitycoming-to-the-process to bringing-the-process-to-thecommunity, with the latter generating more successful outcomes. Evaluation factors include inclusiveness, integrity, influence, and implementation. Project H Design. Accessed, http://www.projecthdesign.org/ Summary: K-12 based. Begun in Bertie County, North Carolina. Public Architecture.Org Accessed October 11, 2012, http://www. publicarchitecture.org/. Summary: A non-profit established in 2005. Supported by foundation, corporate, and individual grants and donations. Seeks out work. Encourages architecture and design firms to donate 1% of their time to pro bono service (www. theonepercent.org). Their Mission Statement reads: “Public Architecture puts the resources of architecture in the service of the public interest. We identify and solve practical problems of human interaction in the built environment and act as a catalyst for public discourses through education, advocacy and the design of public spaces and amenities.” Public Interest Design.com. Accessed October 8, 2012, http://www. publicinterestdesign.com/. Summary: A training program in public interest design. Bryan Bell featured. Training offered through university design colleges and formed around the SEED metric. A primary training program of Bell and the public-interest architecture movement. Also seems to be very architecture-centric. Public Interest Design.org. Accessed October 8, 2012, http://www. publicinterestdesign.org/. Summary: A comprehensive. Heavily architecture-centered. One of the best sites for finding links to a variety of information sources related to “public-interest architecture.” Quirk, Vanessa. “After the Meltdown: Where does Architecture go from Here?” archdaily, April 17, 2012. Accessed October 10, 2012, http://www.archdaily.com/226248/after-the-meltdown-where-doesarchitecture-go-from-here/
Summary: A brief history of community/public-interest architecture. A critique that claims architectural education, largely, fails to prepare students for the kinds of architecture the world needs, and calls for more architects to get involved in public interest architecture. Rios, Michael. “Where Do We Go From Here? An Evaluative Framework for Community-Based Design,” from (Re)constructing Communities – Design Participation in the Face of Change, 2003. Accessed from the website of the Association for Community Design, September 26, 2012, http://lda.ucdavis.edu/people/websites/rios/Rios_From%20the%20 Studio%20to%20the%20Streets.pdf. Summary: This paper examines university-community partnerships and offers a preliminary framework for ealuation. Rios, Michael and Scott Ball. “Scale and Participatory Engagement: A Dialogue between Michael Rios and Scott Ball.” Progressive Planning. 166 (2006): 37-39. Rural Studio, 1993: Accessed, http://apps.cadc.auburn.edu/rural-studio/ Default.aspx. Relevance: Rural Studio is generally credited with starting the Public Interest Architecture movement. Sangiorgi, Daniela. “Transformative Services and Transformation Design,” International Journal of Design 5:2 (2011) 29-40. Summary: This paper provides working definitions for the terms transformation services, transformation design, and transformational change; explores the role of designers in change processes within corporations, social service agencies, and communities; explores existing theories and practices of change in the fields of organizational development, public health, and participatory action research; and discusses the relevance these fields to design. In addition, Sangiorgi, Identifies seven principles that unify the fields; emphasizes the need for relationship-building; offers models for evaluation; and, calls for the design profession, especially as it engages in transformation design with organizations, to become more self-evaluative and self-critical. Very useful in drawing relevant knowledge from related fields, offering evaluative methods, and questioning the ways in which many designers are entering transformation processes. sappi | ideas that matter. Accessed October 11, 2012, http://www.na.sappi. com/ideasthatmatterNA/. Summary: A program established in 1999 by Sappi Fine Paper, North America to provide grants to support graphic designers to do work for approved non-profits and charities.
Summary: Research is situated in Hong Kong and explores how students can be better prepared to understand and participate in cross-cultural international design collaborations. Offers analyses of impediments to collaboration and “patterns” (tools, methods, and graphic interfaces) that enable participants with varied cultural (and personal) backgrounds (and styles) to feel comfortable and participate fully. SEED Network. Accessed October 10, 2012, http://www.seed-network. org/. Summary: A Bryan Bell initiative, begun in 2005 as part of the Harvard Graduate School of Design conference that claims to have launched Public Interest Architecture. “Provides a common standard to guide, evaluate and measure the social, economic and environmental impact of design projects.” Five guiding principles to “respond to the triple bottom line of social, economic, and environmental justice.” Sponsors SEED Awards; categories include places, products, and processes (including public policy). Eligibility here: http://www. publicinterestdesign.org/tag/structures-for-inclusion/. Posters of submissions/winners here: https://designcorps.org/awards/ seed-poster-gallery/: Shea, Andrew. Designing for Social Change: Strategies for CommunityBased Graphic Design. New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2012. Shiffman, Ron. “Community Engagement.” Progressive Planning. 166 (2006): 4-5. Simmons, Christopher. Just Design: Socially Conscious Design for Critical Causes. Cincinnati: HOW Books, 2011. Thompson, Catharine Ward and Penny Travlou, eds. Open Space: People Space. London: Taylor & Francis, 2007. Toker, Zeynep. “Recent trends in community design: the eminence of participation,” Design Studies 28 (2007): 309-323. Summary: A survey of community design practitioners to determine the most influential designers and practices in the field. The article also offers a brief history and definition of community design. Suggests some shift away from earlier definitions and broader inclusion of additional approaches, including New Urbanism. Urhahn Urban Design. The Spontaneous City. BIS Publishers, 2012. Walzer, Norman & Sam M. Cordes. “Overview of innovative community change programs.” Community Development 43 (2012): 2-11.
Schadewitz, Nichole. “Design Patterns for Cross-cultural Collaboration,” International Journal of Design, 3:3 (2009): 37-53.
APPENDIX B: BIBLIOGRAPHY 62 | 63
PROSPECT BECOME YOUR PLACE... VIBRANT Inspire and create. INNOVATIVE Generate new possibilities. HAPPY Broaden and strengthen relationships. HARMONIOUS Discover areas of agreement. READY Greet opportunity and meet challenge. ENTREPRENEURIAL Inform economic opportunity. VARIED Offer more experiences and activities. ROOTED Focus on your uniqueness. UNITED Create shared stake in success. CARING Surface what people really value.
ROBIN LAMBERT r_lambert@gmx.com linkedin.com/in/robinlambert1
ABOVE: Proposed Development, Harlan Downtown Park, Harlan, Kentucky, a Prospect Harlan design proposal.
3 2
OUTDOOR DESTINATIONS. A variety of “places to go” for personal getaways, social gatherings, and cultural activities.
5 4
PLAN 1
12
6
11
8
7 N
10 PLAN
9