CITYbuild Consortium of Schools

Small Center Engagement

Small Center hosted, and was the founding supporter of, the CITYbuild Consortium, and helped partner Consortium members directly with local community groups to address their immediate and long term needs. The CITYbuild Consortium emerged in the Fall of 2005 from among a group of design and planning schools seeking to understand how to respond to the overwhelming cleanup and rebuilding needs of a great, but crippled, American city. In the face of the enormous destruction, the desire to help was met with the unavoidable need to work together. Through multi-disciplinary collaborations and the coordination of work in concentrated areas, it was envisioned that every individual effort might be exponentially increased to meet the scale of need and have a significant impact. And through this work a model for inter-university collaboration might be formalized which could be applied to other urban centers in crisis as a result of natural or man-made disasters.

Partner Organization

Design Corps’ mission is to create positive change in communities by providing architecture and planning services. The vision is realized when people are involved in the decisions that shape their lives, including the built environment.

Outcome

By the end of 2006, CITYbuild had involved 30 national and international design based programs (representing 60 faculty and more than 600 students) partnering with 20 local, community-based organizations. The results of these partnerships include approximately 16 structures built or rehabilitated, from urban furniture to housing, and more than 200 design and project proposals. CITYbuild was a success in the post-storm years in facilitating partnerships but once interest in New Orleans and the Storm passed CITYbuild was put into a ‘dormant phase’ that could be re-established in the next disaster stricken place.

Collaborators

University of Arkansas: School of Architecture

Boston Architectural College: School of Landscape Architecture

Design Corps

Georgia Institute of Technology: College of Architecture

University of Kansas: School of Architecture and Urban Design

University of Kentucky: School of Architecture

Massachusetts Institute of Technology: Department of Urban Studies and Planning

University of Minnesota: School of Architecture

University of Montana: Environmental Studies Program

Project Locus

University of Southern California: School of Policy, Planning, and Development

University of Texas at Arlington: School of Architecture

University of Texas at Austin: School of Architecture

Tulane School of Architecture

Washington University: College of Architecture and Urban Planning

Wentworth Institute of Technology: Department of Architecture

A Shared Initiative, Inc.

Gert Town Revival Initiative

House of Dance and Feathers

Neighborhood Housing Services

Neighborhood Story Project

Porch Cultural Organization

Ujamaa Community Development Corporation