Economies of Scale: Research-Driven Social Impact in the Housing Studio

"How do we engage and envision “bottom-up” social change in the context of the academic design studio? What does it look like, and how is it taught? This paper shares a novel research-based studio engaged with large-scale projects in the city of Detroit that diverges from the small-scale, often design-build projects most often undertaken in community- based practice in the academy. Framed by the context of a research-intensive academic institution—the University of Michigan—the pedagogy asks how can we educate students in the potential for social impact and capacity-building at scale? In parallel, how can we leverage the research capacities of a large student body to advance the study of affordable housing and neighborhood development in the context of a city such as Detroit?"

The Ensuing Flood: Increasing Equity and Reducing Impact through Networked Decentralized Infrastructure

"The fourth National Climate Assessment warns of increases in the intensity and duration of precipitation events in the coming decades, leading to a greater severity and frequency of flash floods in portions of the United States. This concern is exacerbated by a national trend in deteriorating stormwater infrastructure and increased urbanization with densification of impervious land cover. In coastal cities with accelerated development, surge events overwhelm infrastructure that was not expanded with changes in land cover. In older cities with combined sewer systems, floods result in outflows of raw sewage into ecological zones. In sprawling cities with extreme seasonal storms, a historic failure to invest in infrastructure during periods of growth causes significant, annual property damage. The damages will worsen with the projected increases in extreme precipitation if innovations are not made. However, municipalities also face resource constraints. Under limited budgets governments increasingly are asked to monitor, prevent, and respond to the impacts of climate change. Is there another answer to urban flooding than massive, top-down, and single-purpose public works? Can municipalities instead address urban challenges with a new paradigm: decentralized, bottom-up, and multi-benefit infrastructure?"

Just a Little Nudge: How Ideas, Elbow Grease, and an Old Gas Station Canopy Turned an Eyesore into an Amenity

"This paper looks at the development of a community based amenity through the application of adaptive design thinking, cleverness in material reuse, and the tactical deployment of heterodoxic assembly methods as significant facets of a well-comprised architectural education. Strategies for how one may engage and enable a community to participate in the design and construction process, through means other than unskilled voluntary labor or simply making a donation, were uncovered and refined through this undertaking. The SuperUse Pavilion at the Oktibbeha County Heritage Museum, located in northeaster Mississippi in the small city of Starkville, Figure 1 outlines the location and context for the project’s development."

Avis + Elsmere: A Collaborative Community Design Precedent

"Vibrant neighborhood spaces pave the way for more resilient and inclusive communities. This paper showcases a neighborhood space resulting from a collaborative, community-led design process that honors local knowledge and responds to contextual challenges. Avis + Elsmere, a project in Detroit, offers a model for collaborative practice as the product of a robust relationship between the client-collaborator – grassroots organization Inside Southwest Detroit – a diverse stakeholder group of neighbors and artists, the Detroit Collaborative Design Center (DCDC) at the University of Detroit Mercy (UDM), and the architecture office Et al. Collaborative"

Collaborative Design: Supporting Lasting Social Change

"Deeply engaged and collaborative design is the hallmark of any good architectural design practice or institution. Private practices are increasingly interested in transforming their pro-bono and public work to meet the rigorous standards necessary to both strive for design excellence and effect meaningful change. This paper offers guiding principles that our practice uses as we work toward lasting social change through collaborative design."

Bottom-Up, Top-Down, and the Messy Reality of the In-Between

"This paper reflects my recent five-year experience as a practicing architect, educator and advocate embedded in the contentious fray of public discourse regarding housing and land use policy in Seattle. During this period I testified before city council regarding proposed housing-focused land use legislation, presented my analysis of that policy in professional and community forums, published opinion pieces in the Seattle Times, coordinated the housing advocacy efforts of AIA Seattle, conducted graduate-level design studios focused on the topic at the University of Washington, and presented the student work (often with students) in venues throughout the city. I ended this period of local advocacy in 2018, when I was appointed to the Seattle Planning Commission, although I continue to help coordinate AIA Seattle’s advocacy efforts as co-chair of its Public Policy Board."

Bottom-Up Social Change: Materials | Buildings | Community

The intent of the 2019 Intersections Symposium was to explore the strengths and weaknesses of bottom-up social drivers as catalysts for development, growth, and transformation of the built environment, and to understand the ways in which these interventions can be more equitable, inclusive, affordable, and sustainable. What we learned from the symposium participants is that architects, educators, and students can and should play a significant role in catalyzing change within their communities, however, they must remain cognizant of their often privileged position when responding to collective needs, as the concepts of ‘bottom-up’ or ‘top-down’ can shift based on one’s own ideological or socio-economic vantage point.

Public Transportation Design as Grassroots Pedagogy

"In the spring of 2014, the Center for Public Interest Design (CPID) was approached by the Sacramento Area Council of Governments to begin the process of exploring how public interest design could be used to address the needs of some of Sacramento’s most disinvested and environmentally impacted neighborhoods. This collaboration began at a crucial time for California as the State was in the process of implementing the first cap and trade legislation in the US. A significant percentage of funds collected through the sale of carbon tax credits associated with this legislation are required to be invested in disadvantaged communities. This paper proposal examines the potential for design to play a role in identifying social investment opportunities to create healthier communities through the CPID’s work with students in Central California."

DENSECITY: Innovation in Practice | A View from the City of Angels

"How can architectural practice inform policy? How can design promote social change and heal those who have suffered through homelessness? How do city bureaucracies innovate and how can architects respond through their practice? The State of California, the City and the County of Los Angeles are requesting innovation from developers and architects through grants and proposal requests. Ballot measures are being passed to fund solutions; architects and developers can leverage this movement to innovate and create solutions for the future."