Speaker will discuss how to 'retrofit' cities to promote interaction
By Michael Schroeder, Herald-Times Staff Writer
October 2, 2004
In cities across America, people hustle to work and hustle home. They are — for the most part — little more than pedestrians and motorists to all they encounter.
The same cement grid structure that promotes efficiency facilitates isolation and division. Neighbors, inevitably, don't know neighbors.
For Mark Lakeman, of Portland, Ore., this is the modern state of affairs in the land of cars and commerce. Lakeman is a co-founder of the City Repair Project, which seeks to "retrofit" cities with grass-roots changes that promote personal interaction, not just robotic interchange.
Lakeman will speak in Room 121 of the Indiana University Law Building Sunday from 7 to 8:30 p.m. as part of a nationwide tour. Refreshments will be served and questions fielded afterwards.
At the heart of the nonprofit organization's work are "intersection repair" projects, wherein neighbors turn intersections into public plazas. Sustainability is also a serious consideration for the projects.
At one intersection near Lakeman's home, a solar-powered self-serve tea house, a small solar-lit outdoor library, a newspaper dispenser shaped like a beehive and shelves of produce and toys adorn corners, with a colorful mural painted in its center. From its beginning in 1996, neighbors have been responsible for its development and upkeep.
"Share-It-Square," as the intersection is called, met with early opposition from Portland's Department of Transportation. But the city has long since embraced such projects.
A Portland ordinance now grants permits and ownership of such projects to neighborhood groups engineering the projects, provided they take care of upkeep and don't impede safe traffic flow. It is up to interested neighbors, then, to raise money, develop and maintain their respective artistic, communal arrangements.
In total, seven full-sized projects have been completed around the city, with an additional 50 smaller projects, including front yard installations and about 10 community meeting houses.
Lakeman said subsequent surveys by the Department of Transportation have shown these intersections to be safer — with motorists slowing down — along with increased dialogue among citizens in the area. Furthermore, his experience has been that more families now move into affected neighborhoods with plans to stay for the long haul.
Neither has vandalism been a problem. "It's kind of hard to attack something, where you get something," he said.
Around the country — from North Carolina to Minnesota to Olympia, Wash., and even outside the country in Ottawa, Ontario — similar intersection projects are now being undertaken.
"The ability to feel that you belong in the place where you live is a very, very powerful thing that I think most Americans are living without," said Lakeman, who has also organized regular potluck dinners in his neighborhood.
Realizing that existing city structures can fly in the face of personal engagement — and that community starts from the ground up — is the first step in enhancing community, Lakeman believes.
Hence, his presentations start with a historical look at city development and delve into practices of traditionally tight-knit communities. For the latter, he draws from personal experiences, including time spent traveling in New Zealand, throughout Europe and North Africa, and living with indigenous Mayan people in southern Mexico and Guatemala.
"People that come to this presentation will get a much better idea of why they tend to be isolated and what they can do," Lakeman said.
Reporter Michael Schroeder can be reached at 331-4371 or by e-mail at mschroeder@heraldt.com.
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City Repair Project presentation
Mark Lakeman, co-founder of the City Repair Project in Portland, Ore., will speak at the IU Law Building Room 121 Sunday from 7 to 8:30 p.m., as part of a nationwide tour.
Lakeman will speak about the history of city construction, the tendency for a grid structure to isolate citizens and ways to regain community from the ground up.
Refreshments will be served and questions will be fielded afterwards.
His presentation is sponsored by various local neighborhood associations, the Council of Neighborhood Associations, Foursquare Painting and Restoration, Sophia Travis and the Center for Sustainable Living.
The event is free, but donations of $5 are encouraged. For more information, call organizer Karen Krieger at 332-2721.
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