Tag Archives: Baptist Town

sidewalks

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sidewalks start

The construction of a sidewalk along one of the entryways into Baptist Town is an exciting ground breaking. Promises of projects in this neighborhood have existed for a long time, and I hope that residents are as happy to see some evidence of all the work that has been going on behind the scenes as I am.

This sidewalk (and street lights and trees soon to follow) will improve the appearance of the entries to the neighborhood, but more importantly they will provide a safe place to walk. Hopefully residents will feel more comfortable walking downtown, to school or to visit friends once they don’t have to walk in the street. The prospect of people saving money, burning calories and not using gasoline reminded me of a study a friend of mine did a few years ago that proposed a lifestyle independent of oil. One of her blog posts discussed the efficiency of walking and biking over driving:

As for biking and walking, they have no competition… Biking (calculating human calorie energy expended) is equivalent to 759,493.7 miles per gallon and walking (burning 100 calories an hour) is equivalent to 314,782.17 miles per gallon.  Biking is 19,230.8 times more efficient than driving your subcompact car and walking is 7,886.4 times more efficient.  Walking burns about 60 more calories per hour than biking making it less ‘energy efficinet’, but as my roommate pointed out looking at these numbers, when it comes to your own energy, suddenly energy expenditure looks like a good thing.  After all, its renewable 🙂 Eat a sandwich. 

miles per gallon comparison

a meeting without an agenda

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Those of us working in the field of social impact design attempt to enhance neighborhoods, introduce design where it is lacking, and reduce social and economic inequities. Though fellows work hard to serve the public and engage communities, the road to realize projects is often rocky, with the interests of various groups and individuals coming into conflict with each other, the project, or the way in which it is being implemented.

In recent weeks, local politics threw a road block in the way of the housing portion of the Baptist Town neighborhood revitalization project in Greenwood, Mississippi . The road block may have been posturing or it may have been the result of poor communication, but in either case, mud was slung and tempers rose over a deed issue. Diplomacy eventually won out, and the project only suffered slight delays. In the midst of navigating this sensitive situation, a community meeting unlike any I had previously experienced was a refreshing reminder of the big picture goals of this neighborhood wide project.

The Kids Only Community meeting on April 20th involved chalk, markers and imaginations. Neighborhood kids were invited to the playground (currently a basketball court, swings and a few spring rockers), to share their ideas of what could exist on the site. Slides and monkey bars were top recommendations, but we also asked students how this park could incorporate their favorite subject in school (The overwhelming response was math!). Project H’s LearningLandscapes served as a great precedent that allowed both the kids and the adults who helped collect feedback understand how a playground could be a fun and active space, while providing opportunities for learning and fit within a limited budget.

We collected dozens of drawings and photographed the chalk art that spread across the basketball court throughout the meeting. Kids were excited to share their ideas, especially when we asked them to dream up things they hadn’t seen before. An addition to the swing set that would make it look like a dragon, an unlimited supply of sidewalk chalk, and hills to roll down were just a few of the ideas we took away.

Though this playground is a smaller scale and less contentious project than the twenty-six home affordable housing effort that is taking place a block away, the enthusiasm and flexibility that the kids of Baptist Town shared with me on Saturday will be a reminder of the best way to approach future challenges as they arise.

bike

another sign of progress

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gw cw sign

Many thanks to Jeanie Riess, a great writer for our local paper, who covered the unveiling of our new sign and ran this image and caption in the Greenwood Commonwealth today. I have had more than a dozen phone calls already from interested applicants, and two completed applications submitted. Thanks to Jeanie and everyone supporting this project!

progress is…

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Cottages for Sale 4_1 small

As I wrote in an earlier post, architect | journalism, a lot of work in public design doesn’t fit within the mold of how architects typically spend their time. Today is no exception, and today, progress is advertising.

In September of 2011, twenty-six Katrina Cottages arrived at the Greenwood-Leflore Airport. They are still sitting near the tarmac today (pictured below), but thanks to many dedicated individuals this project is one big step closer to becoming a reality. Shovels, hammers, and concrete are still a little ways off, but advertising has begun for these new homes. Thank you to Bruce Tolar for his expert advice. We hope someday our neighborhood will be similar to your Cottage Square!

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maymester

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The Carl Small Town Center, based out of Mississippi State University’s College of Architecture, Art + Design, is one of my hosts throughout this fellowship. Their advice and expertise is already providing invaluable support, and I am excited to give back to the school this May as an instructor. Public design will be the focus of this hands-on course that will result in a pocket park in the Baptist Town neighborhood.

maymester poster blog

As I prepared a presentation to introduce myself and the course to Mississippi State students on Friday, I was reminded of how I initially became interested in public architecture. Though I didn’t realize it at the time, the projects I experienced first-hand while studying abroad in South America still inform the way I think about the role of architecture in the public realm. Thank you to my long ago professor Claudio Vekstein.

thank you CDP

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On Martin Luther King Jr. day, I spent the afternoon and evening in Baptist Town. I had visited before, but it was a group of public policy students from Harvard’s Kennedy school, that introduced me to residents in a new way. These students (and their predecessors – the student shown in this video first visited in 2009) have succeeded in community engagement where many others fail because they listen, and because they do not view the people of Baptist Town as a group that knows or cares any less than they do. They have built trust, hope and capacity in the years that they have been working here in Greenwood, and it is this base that will allow the initiatives that I am working on to move forward. I am grateful to them for their encouragement, ideas, and allowing me to be carried forward by their efforts.

Read more about their work here.