Presentation to the AIAS Grassroots conference, Washington, DC, July 2015 covering global issues, the designer democracy challenge, and inspiring community case studies that demonstrate the collective impact of community collaboration.

1. The Designer Democracy Challenge

2. What do you see?

3. Threats
Global
urbanization
Rising Inequality
Climate Change
Crisis in
Governance

4. Our Urban Reality
• By 2030, 6 in 10 people will live in cities.
• There are currently one billion people living in slums and
squatter settlements and that number is expected to double
by 2030 and reach 3 billion by 2050 – UNHABITAT

5. Example: Pearl River Delta – China

6. Housing Crisis
• Based on current trends in urban migration and income
growth, we estimate that by 2025, about 440 million urban
households around the world—at least 1.6 billion people—
would occupy crowded, inadequate, and unsafe housing or
will be financially stretched. – McKinsey Global
• To replace today’s substandard housing and build additional
units needed by 2025 would require an investment of $9
trillion to $11 trillion for construction; with land, the total
cost could be $16 trillion.– McKinsey Global

8. Climate Change – It’s Science
• 2 degrees Celsius is a given. How much more
is unknown.
• "Present temperature targets may commit
Earth to at least six meters sea level rise“-
scientists
• According to the International Energy Agency,
the world needs $1 trillion a year between
2012 and 2050 to finance a low-emissions
transition.

9. Climate Change Impacts
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

10. • To adapt to a world 2 degrees Celsius warmer,
developing countries will require an estimated
$75–100 billion per year over the next 40 years to
build resilience to these changes, and mitigation
costs are expected to be in the range of $140–175
billion per year by 2030. – World Bank

12. -National Geographic

13. LA…yesterday & today

14. CA, yesterday and …today

15. Alaska and Washington are on fire

16. Rising Inequality
• Since 1990, inequality among households has
grown significantly in the United States.
• The average white household has five times
the wealth of the average Hispanic
household and six times that of the average
African-American household.
• Across neighborhoods, the story is stark

17. “Neighborhood inequality is growing” –
The Urban Institute

18. In Manhattan, the top-fifth
earned nearly $400,000,
versus less than $10,000 for
those in the bottom fifth —
meaning the wealthiest
residents now make more
than 40 times as much as
those on the bottom rung.
OUCH!
from The New York Post

19. Five Pointz, NYC

20. Brightwood, DC

23. The other global warming

24. Global Crisis in Governance
Recent Urban Protests across the world – A Sample

25. Our democracy is…disappearing

26. • Just 13% of Americans say the government
can be trusted to do what is right always or
most of the time. (10% say NEVER)
• Only 17% of Americans believe that big
business can be trusted to do what is right
always or most of the time
Our trust is…disappearing

27. Trust in the Workplace
• Nearly 100 percent (99.1) prefer a workplace in which
people identify and discuss issues truthfully and effectively,
yet less than half said their organization’s tendency is to do
so. (2011 Fierce, Inc customer survey of more than 1,400
corporate executives, employees, and educators )

28. Citizens are pissed

30. These are unaddressed
crises

32. Del Paso Heights, Sacramento

33. Skid Row, Los Angeles

34. Camden, New Jersey

35. Central City, New Orleans

36. Indianapolis

37. Bridgeport, CT

38. Detroit

39. Washington, DC

40. Baltimore

42. “Civilizations rise and fall-and
sometimes if they are lucky-
they renew themselves”
–John W. Gardner

44. In case you didn’t know…It’s up to
you

45. Generational Change in the
workplace/society

46. The Challenge & the Opportunity
• Create a grassroots movement for
community change, driven by citizens at the
local level, across the world, scaling up for
global impact
• You represent an army of design leaders that
can mobilize communities for change and
harness the power of design for real impact

47. Urban Design Matters more than ever

48. Every action has to be climate
positive

49. Place & Identity is @ the core of
design

50. Happiness is a real metric

51. Fremont Troll, Seattle

52. Spruce Street Harbor Park, Philly

53. Independence Beer Garden - Philly

54. Austin, TXAmsterdam
Philadelphia, PA
It should be emotional

55. Make it fun. Celebrate community!

56. It’s about people. It’s not sustainable
unless it involves the community!

57. Cities have the capability of providing something for
everybody, only because, and only when, they are
created by everybody-- Jane Jacobs

58. People Power

60. 100+K people from 182 countries
=€2million in 2 weeks

61. Pallet Pavilion, Christchurch

63. Started in 2010, rapidly spreading
US, Canada, Australia, Iran (seriously)

64. The Highline: New York City

65. Citizen-Led Change Resources
• Volunteerism = $171 billion
(only 64 mill people)
• Total Charitable Giving =
$298.42 billion.
• Non-profits = $300 billion in
investment into local
communities
• Over half of all states have
enacted legislation to enable
private-sector participation in
infrastructure projects, where
there is an estimated $180
billion to be leveraged
• Crowdfunding - $3 billion in
2012 alone!

66. Civil Society - Example
• Global crowdfunding experienced accelerated
growth in 2014, expanding by 167 percent to
reach $16.2 billion raised, up from $6.1 billion
in 2013. In 2015, the industry is set to more
than double once again, on its way to raising
$34.4 billion. - Massolution’s 2015CF –
Crowdfunding Industry Report

67. The Difference Community Makes:
Broadmoor, New Orleans
• 13,000 volunteers mobilized
• Revitalization Plan
• Formed CDC
• Charter School
• Education Corridor
• Formed Improvement District
• In 7 years, 85% of the 2,400 homes
were rebuilt and occupied

68. Designer Democracy

69. The Design Assistance Program
• Began in 1967 – inspired by civil rights movement. First
community was a post-flood recovery for a downtown.
Over 200 communities in US & Canada since. Adapted
across the world.

70. Framework Principles
• Holistic, Interdisciplinary Approach to Community Design
(Customization)
• Neutral Outsiders (Pro Bono Public Service)
• COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION (Citizen Experts, Authentic
community-owned process, meaningful participation &
broad investment)

71. South Africa-US-UK Connection

72. “Thanks in part to your superb efforts, we have concrete
proof that group facilitation and group process
methodologies yield significant, measurable results”
“inspiring”…”exceptional”
“A replicable set of values and a process that can be
broadly applied to urban design and sustainable
communities; and the development of a participatory
culture and applied values that explicitly recognize the
central place of the public in the design of the built
environment.”

73. Endorsed by even the toughest
critics
“They had ideas that we will incorporate on the
waterfront and the park. We give them credit
for working hard and diligently on the site.
We’re going to look at it strongly and we think
the job will be a tremendous success.” –Donald
Trump, 1990s, following a NYC UDAT project

75. Most Communities Today
“If we can just get that
one, big, transformational
investment done, it will
change everything for us.”
[years of effort…no visual
progress during this
time…loss of
excitement…bottom falls
out.]

76. The Snowball Effect
“a figurative term for a process
that starts from an initial state
of small significance and builds
upon itself, becoming larger
and faster at every stage”
Applied to a community, this is
a transformational principle…

77. MOMENTUM!
MOMENTUM
MOMENTUM
MOMENTUM

78. We are…
designers
activists
urbanists
volunteers
organized by
young professionals
We are Grassroots
The Power of Citizen Architects

79. Urban Charrette can seem like
a guerrilla movement in its
approach to influencing urban
development, compared to the
usual process of meetings,
hearings and deals between
politicians, officials and
developers that often take
place in paneled and
upholstered chambers. -83 Degrees

80. Creative Conversations to change
the dialogue

82. Mobility Market

83. Street Design Festival

87. Raising the Visibility of Design

88. Tampa SDAT

89. ‘gallery’ of accomplishments

90. Bikeshare

91. From Parking Lots to Parks

92. Re-connecting to the Waterfront

95. CASE STUDY:
Port Angeles, Washington
(Population: 17,000)
2009 Project

96. Prioritization Survey

98. Port Angeles, WA 2009 Project: 2 months later, 43 buildings repainted with
volunteers and donated paint, (at least 3,500 volunteer hours, or roughly
$66,500 worth of donated labor) led to a façade improvement program, then
private $

100. Bike Facilities

101. Wayfinding & Signage

102. Implementation
Today, major investments all over town
Some
Examples:
Waterfront
Redevelopment
$17 million
Marine
Campus
Facility
$12 million

103. Waterfront: from Team Process to
Masterplan to groundbreaking , to…

104. Realizing Their Aspirations, in
5 years

105. Bringing People Back to the
Waterfront

106. Transforming Downtown:
Before

107. Transforming Downtown: After

108. Now they are having fun!

109. Sasquatch on a bike? That’s fun!

112. Snowball Effect: $100 Million+
Leveraging Investment for
Placemaking

113. They are already in construction
for phase 2

117. MOMENTUM!
MOMENTUM
MOMENTUM
MOMENTUM

118. CASE STUDY:
Newport, VT R/UDAT
Pop: 5,000
(2009)

120. 2009 - Civic Pride Paradox
“I’ve seen Newport come, and I’ve seen it go.”
- Lifelong Newport resident

121. ‘Sugar on Snow’ Event Kickoff –
Newport, VT

122. R/UDAT Process

123. High School Design Competition

124. Catalyst for Action
• “I don’t think this is one of those things that
will sit on a shelf…this is about stimulating
thought about what could happen. Above all,
you have to be patient. When you see the
right things coming together – and you see
that in Newport – it’s cause for hope.” –Kevin
Dorn, Secretary of Commerce & Community
Development, State of Vermont

125. Newport – Two Years Later
• Civic “Attitude Adjustment”
– “When you have people working together, things
can happen and do happen. That’s the most
important change that has occurred – a change in
attitude. All of a sudden, nothing is impossible.” –
Newport Citizen

126. Wayfinding &
Signage

127. Form Based Code

134. 2014 – Speed Skating Marathon

135. February 21, 2015 – 1st sanctioned
Winter Swimming Championship
in North America
Now it’s fun!

136. • 2011 – Newport receives Foreign Trade Zone status
• 2011 – Canadian manufacturing firm co-locates here
• 2011 – 2012 – Vermont biotech firm re-locates here
• 2012 – 2013 – South Korean biotech firm co-locates
here
• 2013 – Senior residential resort is built
• 2014 – Waterfront resort conference center opens
• 2014 – Re-development of blighted block on Newport’s
Main St.
Newport 2.0: $250 Million in New Investments

137. a six-story commercial and residential
block -$70 million

138. Momentum!

139. Portland, OR - 1983
“Ever squinted your eyes and tried to imagine something that’s
only in your head? That’s how it was for those of us who looked
over the rail yards and abandoned warehouses of inner
northwest Portland some 20 years ago. Rundown and
dilapidated, it was a sight that even the best of us squinters had
trouble overcoming.” – History of the Pearl District

140. Portland Impact
“Much of the re-development of the Pearl District was the result of collaboration
between the city and private sectors. In the early 1980s, the Pearl District became
the focus of planning efforts by the Portland Development Commission. Work that
ensued included an urban design study, followed by the 1988 Central City Plan,
the 1992 River District Vision Plan and 1994 River District Development Plan.”

141. Today: The Pearl District
“And yet, slowly, a largely forgotten part of Portland’s past became an urban
icon of living unlike anything the country had ever seen: A unique blend of
verve and vibrancy, with more than a passing nod to Portland’s uncommon
brand of originality…. Today, the Pearl District has earned a worldwide
reputation for urban renaissance. Diverse, architecturally significant,
residential communities thrive here. Galleries rub shoulders with
restaurants, shops open to parks, and no one has to squint anymore to see
the magic that’s taken hold.”

142. Austin, TX
“When looking back on how far downtown Austin has come in
the last 20 years, many newcomers to Austin would be
surprised by the state of downtown in 1993. Few people
resided in downtown and retail in the urban core was nearly
non-existent. Needless to say, Austin was faced with a fairly
dormant downtown…. From the [R/UDAT] plan came a number
of recommendations that began the wheels of transformation
to create the vibrant downtown we all know today.”
– Charles Betts, Downtown Austin Magazine

143. San Francisco - 1984

144. Today: Iconic Place

145. “You gave us hope. Back in 1992, your ideas seemed
like dreams. Now we are living those dreams.”
– Rick Smith, San Angelo Times-Standard, 2012

146. Through grassroots designer
democracy, we have the potential to
change the world. The challenges are
stark. The opportunity is clear. And
it’s up to you.
A National Call to Action

148. DIY Start-Up Inspiration Kit
• Livability 101
• Tee Shirts
• Urbanism on Tap coasters

149. Questions?