OpenIDEO - How might we restore vibrancy in cities and regions facing economic decline? - Inspiration

The Challenge

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How might we restore vibrancy in cities and regions facing economic decline?

Inspiration 894 inspirations

Concepting 329 concepts

Applause 329 final concepts

Refinement 20 final concepts

Evaluation 20 final concepts

Winning Concepts Announced!

Realisation Ongoing

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Mission #1

Explore Vibrancy

Share your definition of what vibrancy looks like where you live. Find out more...

Mission #2

Share Stories

Tell us about the cities and communities you know are currently struggling or in the process of revitalising.

Mission #3

Get Active

Take some time to get active and explore your own community – then report back what you learned. Find out more...

Mission #4

Collect Insights

Interview someone living in a struggling city or region to learn more. Find out more...

Mission #5

Surprise Us

Got an Inspiration that doesn't fit the other Missions? Find out more...

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Mission #2 Share Stories

Transform a Space

Check out these examples of taking abandoned buildings and transforming them into something useful for the city!

Project Row Houses (photo courtesy of projectrowhouses.org)

Artist Dove who came from California to New Orleans as an artist, working at the Studio at Colton

Project Row House, Houston, Texas

Transforming abandoned houses into residencies, art spaces and offices.

"Artist and community activist Rick Lowe spearheaded the pursuit of this vision when he discovered the abandoned 1 1/2 block site of twenty-two shotgun-style houses in Houston’s Third Ward. The shotgun houses became the perfect opportunity to pursue the creation of a new form of art. They had two key elements: 1) a beautiful form recognized by the renowned Houston artist Dr. John Biggers to be filled with architectural, spiritual, and social significance, and 2) a need for social action among the community to bring the project to life."

Check it out: http://projectrowhouses.org/

Studio at Colton, New Orleans, Louisiana

A destroyed school turned artist studio

"Studio At Colton (was) a program which converted a vacant public school building into artist studios and office space for creative professionals and cultural community organizations. In exchange for free space, tenants were required to offer free project-based arts training and educational programming to the youth of Katrina-flooded, long-disinvested neighborhoods including the 7th, 8th and 9thward neighborhoods surrounding St. Claude Avenue, and parts of Central City in New Orleans."

Check it out: http://cano-la.org/2010/01/studio-at-colton/

*Unfortunately the Studio at Colton is no longer in operation but there are hopes to continue programs like it

There is also a program that takes over abandoned homes and lets homeless people move in. If anyone has more information on this program (i can't remember its name) or any other examples of this transformation of abandoned space, please chime in!

Mission #2 Share Stories

Comments

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Blanca

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November 11, 2011, 10:01PM

Very interesting, also applicable to interior design, it can change so much even the smallest of the spaces...Thank you for sharing!

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Meena Kadri

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November 08, 2011, 10:37PM

Great stuff, Danielle! Tip: we don't support HTML coding but have a rich text formatting bar above the Description field. A good way to remove formatting before you start is to cut & paste it into a plain text program (like Text Edit on a Mac) before adding it here. You can make any changes to your entry by hitting the Update Entry button on the right of your post.

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