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Design Connect: a fresh look at your community
June 21st, 2010 by Mike Knutson
Does your small town have an ugly concrete wall, like the one to the left, which ruins the aesthetics and design of your community? Maybe it’s a highway that divides the town in half or a wetland that conjures up 
memories from the Swamp Thing.
Regardless of what they are, most communities have design elements that create barriers to how the community functions as well as how other people perceive the community.
I admittedly have miniscule visual design abilities. As I look at the image above, feelings of emptiness and helplessness creep in. I would not be able to help a community figure out how to improve the aesthetics of a wall like this. There are, however, lots of people who look at walls and see opportunities. And luckily they are willing to volunteer in projects like design:SD and Design Connect.
Bringing professional services to underserved rural areas
We’ve talked previously about the Rural Learning Center’s involvement with Design:SD. Today, I want to highlights the efforts of Design Connect, a similar project sponsored by students at Cornell University in Upstate New York.
Similar to design:SD, the project seeks to “create comprehensive and sustainable design solutions” in partnership with underserved rural communities. It differs in three noticeable different ways:
- First, it’s a student led-project. Founded by Jennifer Ng and Chris Hardy, Design Connects links students seeking real life work experiences with communities who lack the resources to hire a professional design firm. For the most part, Design:SD has focused on bringing together community development and design professionals who are already in the field. The opportunity to involve more students in Design:SD should increase as South Dakota State University get’s its architecture program off the ground. (The program’s new dean, Dr. Brian Rex has already expressed interest in design:SD.)
- Second, Design Connect appears to use a broader array of disciplines in their planning teams. The Design Connect website suggests that participating students come from the Real Estate, Architecture, Historic Preservation, City and Regional Planning, Interior Design, Design and Environmental Analysis, Landscape Architecture, Civil Engineering, Environmental Engineering, and Natural Resources Departments. For the most part, DesignSD has relied heavily on architects, landscape architects, and community development professionals. I’m wondering if there’s an opportunity to connect with students in various programs in colleges across South Dakota.
- And finally, the Design Connect project appears to be more project specific. In other words, the community defines a problem and asks Design Connect for assistance. DesignSD takes a more comprehensive look at the community before making its recommendations. I’m not sure if one way is better than the other, but its iteresting to see other approaches.
Design:SD and Design Connect are not the only programs brining volunteers to rural communities to help with design elements. In fact, Minnesota Design Team was instrumental in helping Design:SD get off the ground. If you know of any others, I hope you will share links to them so that other people can benefit from their experience.
Photo Credit: Design Connect website (with permission)
Tags: community design, Design Connect, Design SD, New York
Posted in Community Development, Rural | Comments (
1 )
June 23rd, 2010 at 1:08 pm
I understand that sometimes these walls are needed, as you stated with some examples above, but that doesn’t mean they have to look all drab and boring. For instance, our coffee shop in town has a cement slab in their backyard eating area, but they’ve painted it to look like a quaint little town with shop; I absolutely love it. Something similar could be done in these towns. I’m not sure how “sustainable” painting the walls would be, but I think that would make it all the more fun! Every so often new artists from the community could show off their talents! It would keep things from becoming old and boring that way! It’s great to see organizations like design: SD and Design Connect that realize that aesthetics are an important part of a community as well. You could have the best neighbors and good solid businesses, but if the town is ugly, no one will want to live there.